Via NiemanLab, a survey tried to distinguish active vs passive news consumers. Do you spend money and time seeking out news, or do you happen to hear about things?
The separation is clear, though the author didn’t seem to catch it. Upper status people spend money and time seeking “news”. Lower status people don’t bother.
Fact: “News” is nothing more than soap opera about the fictional characters of politics. “News” is a fanfic. “News” wants us to be outraged that Politician 4 failed to condemn Politician 7 when Politician 9 made a snarky remark about Politician 2.
Why does this divide by status?
High status people believe they are able to influence politicians, so they invest money and time. Influence is real for the extremely rich. Influence seems like a rational aspiration for social climbers. (In the 80s when I falsely believed that I had influence, I paid close attention to the news and engaged in futile activism.)
Lower status people want to know what’s happening in the real world. “News” doesn’t tell us what’s happening in the real world. Lower folks get enough soap opera from their families and jobs. They recognize ACCURATELY that there’s no value in the political soap opera because they can’t do shit about it.
Polistra's Mill 