Understanding news consumption among
low literate
people
in the Netherlands
A dimensional model of ability and motivation for news consumption
behaviour
Milou M. Brand
Student number: s2027712
MA Thesis Journalism
Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen
Supervisor: Dr. A. M. L. Van Cauwenberge
2
“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”
- Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
“We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge;
quantity is being confused with abundance and wealth with happiness.”
3
Foreword and acknowledgements
Before you lies my thesis about news consumption of low literate people. Before anything else, I
wrote it as a completion to the master Journalism, at the university of Groningen. However, I also
wrote it out of genuine curiosity for how and why low literate people consume news, and out of a
sense of urgency. Urgency, because I find the number of low literate people in the Netherlands
unexpectedly high: one out of seven people has difficulty reading and writing due to insufficient skills.
Please note that these people do not lack intelligence: they simply lack skills.
To make a long story short, my curiosity for this topic was first aroused by a message of a Dutch
newspaper De Telegraaf at the 16
thof May in 2015, about the large and growing population of low
literate people. People who, for instance, cannot easily read the headlines in a newspaper. Almost
instantly, I wondered how these people inform themselves about news and actualities. Simultaneously,
three fellow students and I were busy working on an assignment for our course Entrepreneurial
Journalism. The assignment: come up with a (preferably revolutionary) new idea for journalism.
One thing led to another and not much later, me and my fellow students found ourselves thinking
about how we were going to bring news to this new target group. However, in our initial enthusiasm
we overlooked one rather important thing: do low literate people even want to consume news? And if
so, why, and how? That is what prompted the idea for this thesis‟ topic. News consumption of low
literate people has hardly been topic of research, which is in my opinion at least remarkable, since
according to most recent numbers published by de Algemene Rekenkamer (Israël, Kingma, Zielman &
Van As, 2016), 2,5 million belong to this group. That is approximately one out of seven people in The
Netherlands.
After I had started to gather information on the subject, I began to understand what might have
deterred researchers to investigate this topic: finding participants is rather difficult. Low literate people
live largely under the radar for two reasons: either because they are ashamed and they developed
coping mechanisms that hide their condition, or they do not think of themselves as having poor
reading skills. In addition, recruiting them via internet is hard since that involves reading for eventual
participants. Nevertheless, I managed to find participants and I was able to conduct interviews with
them.
However, what I found most difficult was analysing the results. Despite the experience with doing
research I accumulated during my bachelor‟s degree in Psychology, I had never done a qualitative data
analysis before. Nevertheless, with help and advice of my supervisor Anna van Cauwenberge, who has
been there for me whenever I struggled with a part of my thesis, this was not an obstacle. Now, I can
say that this has been an enriching experience for me. Not only for further developing my academic
skills, but also for understanding low literate people. I am confident that this research delivers insights
that help us provide low literate people with news, in the appropriate way. The goal that I am trying to
achieve with my three fellow students.
Milou Brand
4
Abstract
In the Netherlands, there are roughly 2,5 billion low literate people. Despite efforts, the Dutch
government has been unsuccessful in reducing this number. Low literacy is a large issue, on the
personal and societal level. Difficulties with reading entail consequences for low literate people‟s
news consumption, with regard to motivations to use news, functions of news in daily life and
comprehension of news. This is problematic since information about actualities in society is crucial
for civic engagement. This qualitative, audience-centred study aims to explore and understand why
and how low literate people consume news. The constructive aim is to provide news producers with
recommendations on how to adapt news to the abilities of low literate people. For the study,
semi-structured interviews were held with nine Dutch low literate people. These took place participant‟s
home environments, to understand the role of personal context in news consumption behaviour.
The most important contribution of this study to theoretical knowledge is its Dimensional Model of
Ability and Motivation, which explains news consumption behaviour as a product of ability to
comprehend news and motivation to consume news. Four types of news consumption behaviour were
distinguished: avoidance, indifference, problem-solving and activation. The problem-solving strategies
we found among low literate people, in combination with all platform-specific choices low literate
people are forced to make due to functional accessibility, indicate how inaccessible news messages
and platforms can be for low literate people.
This study shows that there is a demand for news that is currently not adequately met. Difficulties with
news consumption are related to language clarity and message speed. There is much to gain in
supplying news for low literate people via more and better use of visual material. On the basis of the
findings it is recommended to news producers to use visual material as the guiding principle in
5
Contents
List of figures and tables ... 7
1
Introduction ... 8
1.1
Low literate people‟s reality ... 8
1.1.1
Low literacy ... 9
1.1.2
The issue at stake ... 9
2
Literature review ... 12
2.1
Uses and gratifications-research ... 13
2.2
News in context: experiences, interpretations and contexts of news in daily life ... 16
2.2.1
The changing role of news in people‟s lives ... 17
2.2.2
News in daily routes and routines ... 19
2.2.3
Control over news consumption ... 20
2.2.4
Perception and interpretation of news ... 21
2.3
Cognitive abilities: the processing of information and the role of ability ... 22
2.3.1
Cognitive processing of information ... 22
2.3.2
The process of interpretation ... 25
2.3.3
Motivation and ability ... 26
3
Research design ... 28
3.1
Main goals ... 28
3.1.1
Research questions ... 28
3.1.2
Constructive aim ... 30
3.2
Methods ... 30
4 Results ... 33
4.1
Motivations for news consumption ... 34
4.1.1
Monitoring and information motivations ... 34
4.1.2
Social motivations ... 36
4.1.3
Entertainment and ritual motivations ... 40
4.3
The meaning of news in daily life ... 43
4.3.1
Integration of news in daily routines and structures ... 43
4.3.2
How news consumption is experienced... 45
4.4
Ability to comprehend ... 49
4.4.1
Functional accessibility: print, television and online news ... 49
4.5
Introducing a Dimensional Model of Ability and Motivation for News Consumption... 53
4.5.1
Coping strategies ... 55
6
5
Conclusion and Discussion... 58
5.1
Value of news ... 58
5.2
News consumption: difficulties and coping strategies ... 60
5.3
Towards comprehensible and accessible news ... 61
5.4
Limitations and further research ... 63
Afterword ... 65
References ... 66
Appendix 1 Interviews ... 71
1.1
Participant overview ... 71
1.2
Interview guide ... 73
1.3
Transcriptions of interviews ... 77
1.3.1
Frits ... 77
1.3.2
Gezina ... 86
1.3.3
Teun ... 93
1.3.4
Loes ... 100
1.3.5
Lydia ... 106
1.3.6
Annick ... 116
1.3.7
Gert ... 124
1.3.8
Joey ... 132
1.3.9
Cecilia ... 142
Appendix 2 Coding process ... 154
2.1
First round of coding ... 154
2.2
Second round of coding ... 161
2.3
Third round of coding ... 169
7
List of figures and tables
Figure 1: Suggested dimensional model of ability and motivation for news consumption behaviour...27
Figure 2: Reading level on a scale from 1 to 10 ...33
Figure 3: Model of news consumption behaviour...48
Figure 4: Role of ability in the model of news consumption behaviour...49
Figure 5: Dimensional Model of ability ad Motivation for news consumption behaviour...54
Table 1: Characteristics per participant...31
Table 2: Social motivations...33
Table 3: Reasons to consume local newspapers...38
Table 4: Platform-specific motivations...41
Table 5: Cues that guide habitual news consumption...44
Table 6: Difficulties with newspapers...51
Table 7: Benefits and hindrances regarding functional accessibility of television...52
Table 8: Dimensional categories of news consumption behaviour...55
8
1
Introduction
Imagine a world where news media do not exist. No newspapers, no online media, no watching the
evening news broadcast. Knowing what events are taking place, both locally and around the world,
can no longer be taken for granted. Knowing what pros and cons a Brexit has, takes effort. Knowing
about recent developments in the oil industry, requires active investigation. Luckily, this is not our
reality. In contemporary societies, news media are omnipresent. And a world in which people do not
have access to news is hard to imagine, or unthinkable.
1.1
Low literate people’s reality
However, this imaginary situation is not so unthinkable for people who do not have the appropriate
skills to follow news like the general public does. For instance, for people with insufficient reading
skills. Since following news often involves reading in one way or another, these people cannot take
their access to news for granted. To them, the scenario above could be reality.
“More and more low literate people”, is one of the headings in the Dutch newspaper De
Telegraaf on the 30th of May (“Steeds meer Laaggeletterden”, 2015). The amount of Dutch people
with reading and writing skills that are insufficient for ordinary, practical needs is on the rise. These
low literate people have, for example, trouble reading the menu in a restaurant or writing a letter.
Correspondingly, it is not surprising that they encounter difficulties following the news. Low literate
people have difficulty reading news texts in newspapers and on other (online) media platforms.
Luckily, one could argue, there are other sources they can turn to for their news intake, such as
broadcasts on radio and television. However, this thesis assumes that this is not always a solution for
them. In the Netherlands the eight o‟clock news is designed for comprehension levels of people with
an education level of mbo-4 or higher. This is comparable with a vocational education in the USA.
Unfortunately, eighty percent of low literate people in the Netherlands have a level of mbo-1 or lower
(Houtkoop & Buisman, 2014; Buisman, Allen, Fouarge, Houtkoop & Van der Velden, 2013), which is
comparable to an education level of high school or under in the USA. Accordingly, this thesis assumes
that the eight o‟clock news broadcast on television is comprehensible for a mere twenty percent of the
low literate people. The other 80 percent is not sufficiently educated to fully comprehend the news
messages.
9
This thesis has a threefold aim: (a) to map out current news consumption behaviour of low
literate people in The Netherlands (b) to understand what meanings and functions news can have for
them in their daily lives, and (c) to identify the obstacles they encounter consuming the news. The
latter will help to provide recommendations for news producers for adapting news to the needs and
abilities of low literate people. In this first chapter this thesis introduces the topic, news consumption
of low literate people, and elaborate on the current problem, which pinpoints the relevance of this
research.
1.1.1 Low literacy
According to the Dutch foundation for reading and writing (Stichting Lezen & Schrijven, 2015),
people who are low literate encounter difficulties with reading. In the Netherlands, a person that is low
literate has the language level 1F (taalniveau 1F), which is more or less the same as the level children
have when they finish primary school. They have difficulty with the processing of written or print
information (Stichting Lezen & Schrijven, 2015): it requires more effort than it does for people with
normal reading skills. Hence, low literacy is not the same as illiteracy or analphabetism, which is a full
inability to read or write. that low literacy does not indicate a lack of intelligence. Rather, it is a lack of
skills: reading and comprehension skills are underdeveloped.
Contrary to what some might think, the size of the problem of low literacy is large. In total in
The Netherlands, about 2,5 million people are low literate, which means that one out of every seven
people is low literate (Israël, Kingma, Zielman & Van As, 2016). They accumulated a delay in
language development predominantly because they could not keep pace with the rest of class in
school, due to issues such as dyslexia and attentional problems, but also due to less clear-cut reasons.
In addition, as mentioned above, the group of low literate people is growing. For instance in 2015,
there were 200.000 more low literate people when compared to five years earlier (“Steeds meer
Laaggeletterden”, 2015).
As stated, besides lower reading levels, low literate people can also encounter difficulties with
comprehending news messages because the messages can be too difficult to understand. Therefore,
from now on this thesis will focus on difficulty with comprehension of news messages that low literate
people encounter. This approach helps to grasp the problem more inclusively than an approach in
which is merely focused on difficulty with reading news messages.
1.1.2 The issue at stake
10
debate. Not being able to engage with others in the talk of the day can eventually lead to social
isolation (Vos, De Vries & Duvekot, 2007).
The second side of the problem manifests itself on a larger, societal level, concerning civic
engagement. Thussu (2008) notes that the media contribute to the connection of citizens to society,
through information about actualities in the world. Think for instance of the role of news media during
national elections. Platforms such as newspapers, television and online media play a significant role in
these times, for instance in election campaigns, because they inform and educate citizens about
prominent politicians and the election procedure. This enables them to make informed decisions about
the future government. When people cannot properly comprehend news messages, the eventual,
subsequent ignorance makes it harder for them to make rational, informed political decisions
(Scheufele, Shanahan & Kim, 2002). For instance, Anderson (2007) found that people find it hard to
decide who to vote for during elections when they are not able to acquire sufficient information about
governmental functioning.
In addition, since low literate people have a harder time keeping track of developments and
actualities in society through news consumption, they are presumably less likely to be an engaged and
participating citizen. This endangers, what Dahlgren (2005) calls, one of the basic premises of
democracies: the premise that democracies reside with informed citizens who engage in talk with each
other (Dahlgren, 2005). Moreover, research has revealed that over time, when people devote attention
to political news in traditional news media, their political engagement increases (Holt, Shehata,
Strömbäck & Ljunberg, 2013). This finding is further explained by Putnam (2000), who asserts that
people who are less informed about actualities and issues in society are less likely to actively engage
and participate in democracy. When citizens are not informed about current affairs, public opinion and
debate are impaired.
Thus, low literacy can be detrimental to democracy, since informed and active citizens are
crucial to the health and functioning of democratic political systems (Moeller, De Vreese, Esser &
Kunz, 2014). The fact that many of them have a hard time participating in the talk of the day only
complicates this even further, since the social isolation hampers discussion of political topics and other
important issues in society (Vos, De Vries & Duvekot, 2007).
While the above refers to people as citizens on a national level, it is important not to neglect
the local level at which people participate in society, for instance in their hometowns. Previous
11
promotion of political participation. Newspapers are the type of medium that require most reading
skills. Therefore, from this can be deducted that low literate people participate less in politics because
they are less able to comprehend such news.
Research in the area of low literate people‟s news consumption currently hardly exists, nor has
their need and demand for news been investigated. This becomes problematic when we take into
account the role news has in connecting citizens with society on a local and national level, as
discussed above. Because this problem is very relevant to the health of democracies and to the
personal wellbeing of low literate people, it is important to investigate their news consumption
behaviour. Secondly, the role that difficulty with reading plays in news consumption needs
investigation. Is the large effort reading requires for low literate people an obstacle for news
consumption, leading to a diminished motivation? Or do they lack motivation anyway, regardless of
their ability to comprehend news?
To this point, the introduction has demonstrated the societal relevance of this study. The
literature review that follows (Chapter 2) discusses the literature relevant to map out news
consumption behaviour of low literate people in the Netherlands. The order of the review is as
follows: Firstly, this thesis discusses literature on motivations that play a role in guiding news
12
2
Literature review
This study sets out to acquire an understanding of what news consumption of low literate people looks
like. As briefly stated in the introduction of this thesis, many factors play a role in news consumption
behaviour. This varies from different reasons or motivations people have to consume news, to their
(in)ability to comprehend news, to the varying functions news has in their life. In order to fully grasp
news consumption behaviour of low literate people, this thesis uses a theoretical framework that
combines three different research paradigms: (a) uses and gratifications-research, (b) audience studies
and (c) studies on information processing.
Uses and gratifications-research makes use of one of the most prominent theoretical
approaches designed to explain news media consumption (Katz, 1959; Ruggiero, 2000). In this
perspective, news consumption can be explained by individual and social needs people have, which
are considered to be the driving force behind motivations for news consumption. According to
McClelland, motivations are an important predictor of behaviour (McClelland, 1985). However, to
take into account how people‟s personal contexts and individual differences affect news consumption
behaviour, this paradigm needs to be complemented by a review of audience studies. Such studies
focus on the audience‟s perspective in news consumption behaviour, investigating how people
experience, interpret and make sense of news. This helps us understand what news means in their life.
The difference between people in general and low literate people relevant for this study, is that the
latter have trouble comprehending news messages, due to lack of reading skills and a potentially low
level of education. However, we cannot candidly assume that this prevents them from all forms of
news consumption. Especially in the contemporary digitalizing media landscape, people have found
many ways to consume news. This entails that people have many different experiences with news and
devote different amounts of attention to varying media platforms. It is well possible that low literate
people found ways to deal with their low literacy and developed different ways (that do not involve
reading and are more easily comprehensible) to consume news. Audience studies help to elucidate this
aspect of news consumption behaviour.
13
Due to the lack of literature on news consumption behaviour of low literate people, this thesis
discusses studies from the three different research paradigms done for the general public. Although
this thesis fundamentally revolves around the news consumption of low literate people, such a review
is relevant because it helps explain why people in general use news. To keep sight of the goal of
investigating news use of low literate people, this thesis will constantly consider the implications of
these studies for low literate people.
2.1
Uses and gratifications-research
The uses and gratifications-approach is an audience-centred approach that strives to investigate why
and how people use the media (Katz, 1959; Ruggiero, 2000.) It focuses on the role the audience plays
in choosing a media type and using it, assuming that this is driven by individual needs and
gratification-seeking motives (Blumler & Katz, 1974; Lin, 1999). The approach operates under the
main assumption that the audience consists of active media consumers who select their news media
based on their needs, and on the gratifications they expect to receive from the specific media. Within
the uses and gratifications-tradition a distinction is made between instrumental gratifications, such as
media use for informational goals (e.g. surveillance), social purposes (e.g. relationships), and ritual
gratifications, such as countering boredom and passing time (Ruggiero, 2000; Rubin, 2009). In other
words, McDonald (1990) argues that audiences are active in selecting among news sources to fulfil
their specific needs for information, interaction with others, entertainment and to escape daily life.
The uses and gratifications-approach is useful in the light of the current research when it
comes to identifying the main news consumption motivations of people. Lee (2013) integrated the in
her opinion key studies in uses and gratifications and media rituals researches, and identified four
chief motives: (a) information-motivated, (b) entertainment-motivated, (c) opinion-motivated and (d)
social-motivated news consumption. This thesis proceeds by expanding on these four themes in order
to gain insight into the audience‟s general news consumption motivations. By extension, we elaborate
on whether specific motivations are linked to specific platform: newspapers, television and online.
With regard to information-motivated news consumption the individual is motivated to
consume news to keep track of actualities in the world, to comprehend them, to satisfy the need to
know and to stay informed about governmental performance (Lee, 2013; Katz, Gurevitch & Haas,
1973). Platform-specific research on college-students has revealed that over all, the informational
motivation is a strong predictor of news consumption on each of the three platforms (Vincent & Basil,
1997). Similarly, Van Cauwenberge (2015) found young people‟s time expenditure on news platforms
was best predicted by this motivation. Therefore it seems news on all platforms is mainly consumed to
gratify informational needs. Although this research concerns only the young segment of the public,
this information is useful because it could very well be indicative of a future trend.
14
entertainment talk shows, such as The Tonight Show (Hmielowski, Holbert & Lee, 2011). This type of
news targets people with goals like satisfying the need for leisure, amusement, excitement, recreation
and diversion or escapism (Katz, Gurevitch & Haas, 1973; Lin, Salwen & Abdulla, 2005). Rubin &
Perse (1987) found that TV news was most popular to turn to for entertainment and relaxation needs.
In addition, Van Cauwenberge (2015) found that from all motivations except for the
information-motivation, the need to escape from daily routines (which is an entertainment-motivation) was the
only reliable motivation for young people to follow news on TV and online platforms. According to
Vincent & Basil (1997) entertainment motivation is indeed a driving force for online news
consumption.
Opinion-motivated news consumption pertains to the use of news media for the goal of
making up one‟s mind about particular issues. Such news consumption is oriented towards forming or
affirming an opinion (Lee, 2013). The Internet is found to be a suitable platform for forming an
opinion about issues, with the multitude of opinions that are ventilated online (Flanagin & Metzger,
2001).
Lastly, social-motivated news consumption revolves around the use of news out of social
considerations. Such motives are for example maintaining good relationships with others, being able
to participate in discussions and conversations, to come across informed and sophisticated and to be
more sociable in general (Lee, 2009; Martin, 2008). Young people with a desire to use news for social
purposes devoted most time to newspapers and online platforms, as opposed to TV news (Van
Cauwenberge, 2015).
When it comes to the type of platforms low literate people choose to gratify their needs, this
thesis assumes slight differences between low literate people and the general audience. Newspapers
are not likely to gratify any of the needs easily, since they are presumably most difficult to
comprehend. Probably, television news is most used for informational needs, since it does not require
reading as much as online news and newspapers. This may hold true for the other motivations as well.
Besides television news, thesis assumes that news consumption for the information- and
opinion-motivated goals will not be among low literate people‟s main incentives to use newspapers
and the Internet. Inability to comprehend information in news messages hinders the formation of a
personal opinion and will not provide a low literate person with understandable information. It seems
more likely that they engage in other, less demanding, ways of acquiring news information, for
example through entering discussion with others, which is also a way to inform oneself about news
and actualities (Eveland, 2004; Robinson & Levy, 1986; Katz & Lazarsfeld, 1955).
15
is more relevant for low literate people than entertainment motivations. Oftentimes, low literate people
are ashamed of the fact that they are functionally illiterate, according to co-workers of the Dutch
foundation for reading and writing (Stichting Lezen en Schrijven). They assert that low literate people
have developed several smart techniques that help them conceal their functional illiteracy.
Accordingly, they search to hide their functional illiteracy. The statements of these co-workers are
supported by a research in America, revealing that 75 percent of the low literate people try to conceal
that they cannot properly read or write (Parikh, Parker, Nurss, Baker & Williams, 1996). Being
informed about the latest news can therefore be important to them, because this information enables
them to engage in conversations with others about actualities. In addition, this can help them to come
across knowledgeable and intelligent. This reasoning implies that social considerations and
motivations play a role in the news consumption of low literate people.
The literature on uses and gratifications implies different platforms can gratify one and the
same need. Part of the platform-specific uses and gratifications-research focuses on this. Since
attention and time to expend on news consumption is limited, scientists identify some kind of
competition between different media platforms for the audiences‟ attention. Scholars refer to this as
„displacement effects‟: one media platform can possibly displace another in gratifying the same need.
Scholars have examined (a) displacement effects of media, investigating whether one type of media
can function as an alternative for another, and (b) supplemental effects, to find out whether different
media „assist‟ each other in providing information. For instance, Cai (2005) found that digital media
are effective alternatives for other traditional media as a source of information. Accordingly, people
who gravitate to the Internet for their share of news watch relatively less television news broadcasts
(Dimmick, Chen & Li, 2004) and read less newspapers (Dimmick et al., 2004; Lin et al. 2005) than
people who do not use Internet. Such displacement effects also relate to the assumption that using new
news platforms is at the expense of time for using traditional media (De Waal & Schoenbach, 2010).
16
Uses and gratifications research is suitable for use in surveys and for the classification of news
motivations and different functions that specific media have. For the current research it is relevant
because it provides us with an overview of which needs motivate news consumption. However, it is
too narrow an approach to achieve a comprehensive view of low literate people‟s news consumption
behaviour. Therefore, we depart from uses and gratification-studies and use this paradigm as a basis,
which can, when complemented with audience studies, help to fully grasp why and how people use
which kinds of news, what meaning news has to them and how it is experienced and interpreted.
So far, we have neglected people‟s personal and social contexts as an influence in news use. Therefore
audience studies can contribute greatly to the literature discussed. For instance, news consumption can
occur unplanned, for instance when someone‟s partner is watching the television news and the other
listens in without intent. Or one can listen to television news inadvertently, because the television is
left on for noise in the home. The next section devotes attention to audience studies that take contexts
and the subjective nature of news consumption further into account, to discuss how people use,
experience and make sense of news, and how it is integrated in their life.
2.2
News in context: experiences, interpretations and contexts of news in daily life
News consumption behaviour can be explained as stemming from what meaning people give to news
and how news consumption is embedded in their daily life. Thus, one‟s personal context plays an
important role. This is a complex topic with multiple facets, that has attracted the attention of scholars,
especially because of a possible trend of citizens disengaging from and being less interested in
society, and the media‟s role in this (e.g. Putnam, 2000). Scholars have focused on how changes in the
media landscape are reflected in news consumption behaviour, noting for instance that newspapers are
slowly but surely disappearing (Banaji & Cammaerts, 2015). Relevant for the current study are the
audience studies discussed below which focus on what these changes entail for the general audience
(e.g. Costera Meijer, 2007). In addition, Pink & Leder Mackley (2013) assert in their
non-media-centric approach how news consumption can be embedded in routes and routines that help people to
create the appropriate atmospheres and environments. Subsequently we focus on literature that
discusses the extent to which people strive to control their news intake and for what reasons (Marchi,
2012), which is helpful for, identifying normative values of news and finding out what people deem
important. Lastly, we probe into how news interpretations and perceptions are an element of news
consumption behaviour. This is relevant because it determines what people „take out‟ of news
messages and gives insight in what news people think is relevant to devote attention to. Throughout
this discussion of literature, the focus is on audience‟s perspectives.
17
future. This literature is relevant for the current study because trends identified among the young can
very well be indicative of similar trends among the (future) general audience.
2.2.1 The changing role of news in people’s lives
Research has revealed that people who follow the news are more involved in and concerned with the
society they live in than people who do not (Mindich, 2005). As already outlined in the introduction of
this thesis, this is one of the key arguments why journalism and news media matter in society. The
literature discussed in this section is illustrative of what role news plays in people‟s lives, and what
this may look like for low literate people. The role of news in one‟s life pertains to how media fit into
people‟s personal daily structures and routines. On the other hand, news consumption plays a role on
the societal level. These aspects are considered in the this paragraph. In addition, this thesis takes into
account the changes that have occurred in the media landscape. Fact is that since this landscape has
been changing and developing, audiences‟ wants and needs have not remained unchanged either.
The demand for traditional media platforms such as print newspapers is persistant. However,
these platforms are increasingly being faced with a loss in popularity (Mindich, 2005; Nossek, Adoni
& Nimrod, 2015). On the one hand, authors assert that this is a result of the fact that people are
disengaging from society and that they choose entertainment over information (Putnam 2000). On the
other hand, other authors arguee that it is not a form of disengagement, nor a sign that people are no
longer interested in news. Costera Meijer (2007) conducted research on this issue with young people
and found that instead of looking at the loss in popularity of traditional media as a form of civic
disengagement, rather it should be viewed as a sign of the media‟s unsuitability for people‟s living
contexts, in the light of the problems and challenges they face on a daily basis. Banaji & Cammaerts
(2015) concluded the same for youngsters. In other words, what traditional media offer does not align
with what the young segment of the audience wants and/or needs.
However, the word „traditional media‟ indicates that there are untraditional, new and improved
media as well: digitalization and the Internet led to the advent of new media platforms, which enabled
new possibilities for news to fit in people‟s lives. For example, it gave rise to the 24-hour news cycle.
News has become available everywhere, at all times. This gives people more control over their own
day planning, since they are no longer confined to the set times at which news is broadcasted or when
the newspaper arrives. Such development offer opportunities for low literate people, who may want to
increase their control over news consumption as well, just like the general audience. In addition, they
can control their own pace of message processing, which can be a considerable advantage for news
comprehension when messages are difficult to understand.
18
However, applying the findings mentioned above to low literate people, the finding that traditional
media are losing in popularity does not entail a general disinterest for news and information. Instead,
an interest in news can manifest itself in other news behaviours and activities. For instance,
Buckingham (2000) asserts that news can be obtained in everyday, interpersonal communication with
peers, friends and family. Banaji & Cammaerts (2015) complement this list by mentioning churches,
trade unions, political parties and social movements. In accordance with these assertions, Bausinger
(1984) posits the general statement that news consumption is connected to and influenced by
„non-media related forms of behaviour‟. This means that news can be integrated into people‟s (so also low
literate people‟s) lives, in ways that are not so clear-cut and traditional.
The ways in which news is integrated into life is a main topic in audience studies. Costera
Meijer (2007) conducted such studies and has built up a considerable amount of research on news
consumption from the audience‟s perspective, that revolves around people‟s subjective news
experiences. Simultaneously with the changes offered by digital media, the audiences‟ desires of how
they want to experience the news have changed. In this context, Costera Meijer mentions the young
public‟s desire to be part of the news. Digitalized media have opened the door for such news
experiences. This desire to live through the event is, more specifically, a need to experience the news
from the perspective of the protagonists of a news story, which she refers to as „bodysnatching‟. This
helps them to get a proper impression of the news event. Costera Meijer (2007) compares this
experience to playing video or computer games. Despite its popularity among youngsters, older news
users discard bodysnatching as a malicious development that is motivated by sensational lust. The
bodysnatching experience is improved by for instance the use of many images and live, on-site footage
(Costera Meijer, 2007). This can be appealing to low literate people as well, because such visual
imagery does not require reading skills. This facilitates comprehension and in addition, it can help
them to form a proper impression.
Another opportunity the digitalized media landscape has brought is the 24-hour news service
that news media provide. The audience is increasingly moving from conventional news broadcasts to
24-hour news channels, (Lewis, Cushion & Thomas, 2005) such as text TV (teletext) and the Internet.
Costera Meijer (2007) argues that people value this development because it enables them to stay
informed of the latest news updates. For instance, in her research 25-year-old Erik visits nu.nl (a
Dutch online news platform) at least ten times a day and says: “It is very easy to check; you see
immediately when something has happened” (Costera Meijer, 2007, p 109). This kind of news use is
in the literature referred to as „snacking‟ of news. For people who are news snackers, news is
19
2007). Such features, albeit being blurry and less sharp, add a sense of realness to the news message.
Costera Meijer adds that the goal of snacking is not merely to be informed, but to be able to join in
conversations with others. It does not lead to real, in-depth knowledge, but helps people to get a broad
sense of actualities by leaving impressions of what is going on (Costera Meijer, 2007).
On the other hand, people can also have the need to understand the complexities of a story. For
instance when the issue has great personal relevance. In this case, a mere impression of news is not
enough and instead, people will try to acquire a more multidimensional view. This, Costera Meijer
refers to as „slow news‟ consumption. Slow news consumption contributes to a multifaceted view of a
story, containing perspectives from political, to personal, to economic, to social dimensions. Such
news use pertains to a different kind of information need than news snacking does (Costera Meijer,
2007).
Snack news and slow news can both be relevant for low literate people. Firstly, snacking
provides opportunities. The possibility of clicking through topics on the Internet at people‟s own pace
increases comprehension, because it gives them the time they need to process the message. In addition,
low literate people probably appreciate the possibility of selecting topics that are most appealing to
them, and skipping the ones that seem to be complex and difficult. However, the fast aspect of
snacking is less present for low literate people, since quickly scanning headlines is not an option for
them. Nevertheless it is interesting to investigate the possibility that low literate people can fastly
snack news in different ways. With regard to slow news the Internet is useful for low literate people
because similarly, they can control their own pace. Hence they have better opportunity to acquire a
multidimensional view of events, if they aspire to do so. In other words, in snack and slow news,
people have greater control over how they use news, which is advantageous for low literate people.
2.2.2 News in daily routes and routines
20
News consumption as part of routine activities is related to habitual news use. Deuze (2011)
argues that „people do not recognize their media habits because they are a constitutive part of them‟. In
other words, news habits are a type of behaviour one is unaware of. Every habit is driven by a cue, and
identifying these cues is insightful for understanding this unconscious behaviour. Van Cauwenberge
(2015) found two types of cues among participants: internal cues such as managing and controlling
emotions, and circumstantial cues, such as reading the news during lunch. These are cues that
automatically instigate news consumption behaviour. Identifying cues that trigger news consumption
behaviour of low literate people is insightful for understanding and explaining how they give meaning
to news in their lives.
2.2.3 Control over news consumption
Another dimension on which people‟s news message experiences can vary is about the extent to which
people (want to) have control over their news intake. Investigating this helps to understand which
news media people select and attend to. Marchi (2012) found that young people prefer to actively
select the bits and pieces of news they want to consume, striving for personal control over what news
they take in. The Internet gives them the opportunity to do so. Moreover, Marchi (2012) adds, internet
enables people to share and communicate news themselves. Since the Internet is a rather recent
development, this may not account for the older segment of the audience. However, the relevance of
discussing it in the light of the current study is that it is probably indicative of a trend that will only
further develop, with the increasing importance of the Internet and online platforms. Therefore,
Marchi‟s (2012) findings could well predict the future, for low literate people as well.
On the dimension of control over news intake, we can make a distinction between active and
passive news consumption. The active news consumption whereby people gather the pieces that make
up their news intake themselves stands in contrast to a more passive form of news consumption that
can be identified for traditional media such as newspapers and television news broadcasts. These
different news experiences lead to distinct news perceptions. Namely, Marchi (2012) found that
young people prefer to use the Internet for their share of news because by going online they expose
themselves to a variety of standpoints. This helps them to form their own opinion. Or, as the
17-year-old Michelle from Marchi‟s research puts it: “I just love to know people‟s points of views, even if it‟s
bad, so I can know where I stand”.
21
literate people prefer active news consumption because it enables them to pick easy, comprehensible
messages over the more difficult ones.
2.2.4 Perception and interpretation of news
News consumption behaviour is partly constituted by people‟s interpretations of news. This is of
interest for this thesis from two angles: (a) the cognitive process of interpreting a message, in which a
person relates events or information from the news to his/her already existing knowledge and how
he/she thus creates an interpretation, and (b) how people cognitively interpret different messages. This
paragraph focuses on the former; the latter will be attended to later in this review.
Van Cauwenberge (2015) found that the young Dutch and Flemish respondents in her research
regularly used the words „relevant‟, „objective‟ and „accessible‟ when thinking about news. According
to them, these were the main components of which news should ideally consist. These concepts prove
useful in understanding why people decide to consume news and if so, which platforms they choose.
Deciding whether a news item or platform is for instance objective or not, stems from how people
interpret it. Relevance of news revolves around to what extent people assess a platform to be of good
quality. For instance, a tabloid newspaper is considered to be of less quality than a quality newspaper
(Van Cauwenberge, 2015). Thus, whether or not people want to use relevant news influences their
platform choice. This is also true for objectivity of news, according to Van Cauwenberge (2015). The
young adults in her research associated objective news with news that contains neutral facts, varying
perspectives and necessary background information. This all contributes to a comprehensive
understanding of a news fact.
The last and probably the most important perception of news for low literate people concerns
accessibility. Such news is, according to respondents, news that can be consumed without too much
mental effort, and/or news that is easily accessible in the physical environment (Van Cauwenberge,
2015). Especially the first aspect is influential in deciding what news media low literate people
consume, because although physical access to messages and platforms is the same as it is for the
general audience, mental, functional access to news is for low literate people is much more restricted.
They have to work with the options that are comprehensible to them, and therefore the perception of
functional accessibility probably plays a larger role in their media choice than objectivity and
relevance of news media do.
How people perceive news can tell us a lot about what people value in news media and
journalism, and what they value less. According to Costera Meijer (2012), news consumption is highly
connected to a quality experience of news. She asserts that news users perceive a journalistic product
as having more quality when it makes use of their wisdom („participation‟), when it takes into account
their views and opinions („representation‟) and when it is presented in a captivating way
22
this thesis assumes that low literate people are less likely to have knowledge and wisdom that
facilitates a feeling of participation, since they are impeded to properly follow the news. In addition,
they are probably less captivated by highly textual presentations since text and content is less
comprehensible for them than for the general audience. Therefore, low literate people do not value
news as much as the general audience does. However, when presented in a highly visual way,
illustrated with images and video content, low literate people are more captivated by the message.
When moulded in such shapes, we assume these messages are more likely to be valued by low literate
people.
2.3
Cognitive abilities: the processing of information and the role of ability
The literature above is useful for understanding why people use news, how they experience and
interpret it and how this can guide news consumption behaviour. However, since low literate people
deal with an impediment in comprehension of news messages, this thesis interlaced the review of
literature above with connections to low literate people. Assertions in that literature seem to be
relevant in varying degrees for low literate people. This thesis now turns to a more in-depth analysis of
how the (in)ability to comprehend news messages can influence news consumption behaviour.
If people cannot read or understand what is presented to them by the media, comprehension of
the message is impeded (Lang, 2000). Yet ironically, motivations for what media message to attend to
are pre-eminently determined by the extent to which one is able to make sense of the message and
engage his sensory receptors in encoding it (Lang, 2000). Thus we theorize that people for whom
words and sentences do not make sense are not likely to devote attention to texts, because the words
and sentences do not engage their sensory receptors. This reasoning is complemented by the theory of
self-efficacy of psychologist Albert Bandura (1977), who asserts that when one‟s belief in
accomplishing a task is low, he/she is less motivated to expend effort on the task. Consequently,
message comprehension has an influential role in constituting news consumption behaviour,
moderating the motivations. It is interesting to investigate this role for low literate people, since they
are not completely unable to comprehend news messages. They are not illiterate. However, they do
face impediments consuming news. To improve understanding of the interplay between motivations
and comprehension for low literate people, this thesis elaborates on the literature about the process of
message comprehension. Therefore it first turns to a review of literature about the cognitive processing
of messages.
2.3.1 Cognitive processing of information
23
Thus it is important for message comprehension. “All the bits of information in a mediated message
must engage the sensory receptors and enter the sensory store”, Lang explains. Subsequently, a
fraction of the message is selected and turned into mental representations in the working memory
(Lang, 2000).
There is a great variety of ways for messages to engage the sensory receptors. Media messages
occur in a multitude of shapes and forms. This is a consequence of the fact that the contemporary
media landscape is large and complex, with many aspects - television, magazines, newspapers, online,
radio and more (Dahlgren, 2009). For media messages this entails that messages can be mainly read,
listened to, or viewed. While low literate people have a problem with the former in particular, listening
to and watching news messages are less problematic since these forms of processing do not make an
appeal to reading skills. A distinction between different media types is useful because previous
research shows that the adjustment of news message presentation to cognitive processing capacities of
the news consumer is essential for comprehension of the message (Eveland, Marton & Seo, 2004;
Robinson & Levy, 1986). In turn, as asserted above by Lang (2000), message comprehension is
crucial for a consumer‟s willingness to attend to the message. This thesis will focus on the most
prominent types of media platforms – newspapers, television and online – in order to gain insight in
how news motivations and ability to comprehend play a role in these different media messages. Our
second goal is constructive in nature and aims to find out how messages can be adapted to the abilities
of low literate people.
Newspaper texts
In general, for people with normal reading skills reading a newspaper is not a difficult task. Since they
can make sense out of written and print text, it is easy for them to let the bits of information enter the
sensory store and turn them into mental representation. The typical skilled reader knows about 30,000
words and needs less than half a second to recognize one (Rayner & Pollatsek, 1989). Moreover,
visual word recognition happens outside the control of the skilled reader (Stroop, 1935; MacLeod,
1991): it happens automatically.
But when words and sentences do not make much sense, it is a different story. This is the case
for low literate people. They know less words, and have (in varying degrees) more difficulty with
reading them. In general, word recognition takes effort: it is certainly not an automatic process.
Therefore they are less likely to easily understand a media message. Understanding the message would
require more effort for a low literate person than for a skilled reader, and effort requires motivation
(Brehm & Self, 1989). In their research Brehm & Self (1989) show that the more difficult the
24
determining the reader‟s effort (Brehm & Self, 1989). On the basis of this literature we theorize that
since ability to read (and comprehend) is low, the motivation to consume the newspaper message
needs to be high before a low literate person is willing to put in effort to read and understand a news
text.
Lastly, with regard to the differences between media, Chaffee and Schleuder (1986) argue that
an important difference between newspapers and television is that newspapers demand attention, and
for television attention is optional. This delivers insights in how effortful news message processing is:
television viewing requires less effort and can be performed as a more passive activity for people in
general. However, this might not completely emulate the amount of effort it takes for low literate
people to process the same television information. This can influence the way news is interpreted, on
which is elaborated in the next section.
Television
News on television come in many different shapes, such as news broadcasts, talk shows, current
affairs programs and more. But this variety of news programs have at least one thing in common: they
combine audio and visuals to communicate their messages. Audio and visual material is often used in
such a way that they support each other in getting a message across. According to Graber (1988),
visuals help to make news producer‟s portrayal of events „real‟, pertaining to the credibility of the
message. Audio material enables people to hear text instead of having to read it. In addition, when
both are in correspondence with each other, the given information is better memorized (Grimes, 1990).
Salomon (1984) conducted research on perceptions of print news versus television news. He found
that television was perceived as easier more realistic. Print, on the contrary, demanded more effort and
was considered “tougher” (Salomon, 1984). This somewhat outdated research is supported by a more
recent study of Beentjes & Van der Voort (1993), who assert that less mental effort is needed to
process television messages compared to non-visual messages.
The above suggests that receiving news through television viewing is probably „easier‟ than
through print. In addition, it endorses the notion of platform-specific uses and gratification-research
that people like to watch TV news to relax (Rubin & Perse, 1987). Consequently, following Brehm &
Self (1989), since less effort is required, motivation does not need to be as high as for print. Assuming
that reading requires even more effort for low literate people than for the general population, television
messages require less motivation when compared to print messages. Their ability to understand
television images presumably lowers the threshold for low literate people to consume news via
television media.
On the other hand, news messages on television are not for everyone equally easy to
25
many low literate people since they do not take the low level of education into account, which makes
the messages more difficult to understand. Therefore more effort is required to fully comprehend these
messages, which in turn requires a higher motivation to consume the television news.
Online
The internet gave rise to the so-called new media. Online news platforms provide the public with news
on demand, 24 hours a day. In addition, online news is mobile. From the bathroom to the backseat of a
car: news can be consumed wherever people like. The only conditions are a phone or tablet and a
working internet connection. With such possibilities, it is no wonder that online news media are
gaining popularity and acceptance among the public (Salman, Ibrahim, Abdullah, Mustaffa &
Mahbob, 2011). In addition, as discussed dearlier, another advantage that online media offer is the
possibility to actively control news intake. Thus, online news consumption provides low literate
people with the opportunity to select news messages they can comprehend without too much effort,
and neglect the parts that are too demanding.
As online news platforms are becoming more established and ingrained in societies they are
increasingly replacing offline, traditional media. De Waal & Schoenbach (2010) point out in their
research that the more time people invest in online news (such as newspaper websites), the more
consumption of offline news (such as print newspapers) diminishes. In addition, Ha & Fang (2012)
found that online news consumption is most popular among news users who have more than five years
of experience with the internet. Therefore it is a plausible assumption that the more accustomed people
are to online news platforms, the more likely they are to cold-shoulder offline news.
News content on the internet appears in many forms. Newspaper websites consists of text,
audio and video items, sometimes a combination of those. Such multimedia content is one of the two
most salient features of online news media: the other one is interactivity (Boczkowski, 2004).
Interactivity refers to the many-to-many and one-to-one communication spaces on the internet on
which news is communicated and discussed, such as platforms like Twitter and forums.
However, both multimedia content and interactivity make a considerable appeal to one‟s
reading skills. Firstly, low literate people would already encounter difficulties with for instance typing
a web-address. In addition, it is more difficult to find a video one wants to watch, when the headline
accompanying the video is difficult to read. Moreover, a survey shows that 73 percent of low literate
people in the Netherlands has a digital backlog, which means that most low literate people do not have
sufficient knowledge and skills to handle a computer (Buisman & Houtkoop, 2014).
2.3.2 The process of interpretation
26
developed. By means of think-aloud protocols she could study the interpreting process. She asked
participants to verbalize their thoughts during news broadcasts – all thoughts. This gives information
about people‟s spontaneous organizing of information to understand events. Relating these ideas to
Lang‟s limited capacity model of motivated mediated message (2006), the influence of how low
literate people deal with information that is difficult to comprehend on interpretation of the message
can be analysed. For instance, when information is hard to comprehend, less information will be
encoded because this is too effortful, possibly resulting in an incomplete perception of the message. In
turn, this affects the interpretation of it. This thesis investigates this aspect of news information
processing with regard to low literate people.
Eveland (2002) analysed what the process through which people learn news looks like and
came up with the cognitive mediation model. What people learn from the news constitutes their
knowledge of public affairs. Assuming that learning news in this context is similar to interpreting
news since it must consist of people‟s interpretations, we include Eveland‟s model in the current
literature review. The cognitive mediation model is aimed at determining what people learn from news
content, or in the light of the current research, how people interpret it. Firstly, a goal to learn
information from the news needs to be present. Secondly, the news information must be consciously
attended to. Lastly, one must elaborate on the information and process it deeply. This involves linking
the new information to knowledge that is already present in one‟s memory (Eveland, 2002). These
three aspects influence whether an interpretation is made, reveal how much effort is spent interpreting
the message and ultimately, what that interpretation looks like. This model therefore assumes there is a
strong link between motivations and interpretation. Combining the model with the finding that ability
to comprehend news can moderate motivations for news consumption (Lang, 2000), this thesis
assumes that ability to comprehend news items can influence whether one is motivated to make an
interpretation, and how much attention and effort is devoted to the process of interpretation. This
invokes the idea that difficulties with comprehension bring about difficulties with interpretation.
2.3.3 Motivation and ability
From the above two key factors can be deducted that are involved in low literate people‟s news
consumption behaviour: ability to comprehend and motivations. Following the literature, this thesis
asserts that these dimensions construct four categories that lead to certain news consumption
behaviour. From this assumption flows a dimensional model of motivation and ability, which is
illustrated below. It helps to understand news behaviour of low literate people and can contribute to an
indication of what they need regarding form and shape of the message type.
27
Figure 1, suggested dimensional model of ability andmotivation for news consumption behaviour
literate people are motivated to consume news. The dimensional model is helpful to get an overview
of how ability and motivation lead to (eventually different) news consumption behaviours. Especially
relating this to the more qualitative factors that are involved in determining news consumption
behaviour, such as people‟s personal context, but also interpretations of and experiences with news is
very insightful for identifying the role news plays in low literate people‟s daily life.
Low motivation
High motivation
28
3
Research design
This section outlines the design of this research, by firstly setting out its main goals. In order to
achieve the these goals, this thesis formulates research questions, which are described below. Lastly
this section describes the methods by which the research is conducted.
3.1
Main goals
This thesis aims to map out news consumption behaviours, motivations for news use and
sense-making of news in the lives of low literate people. This leads us to the formulation of the following
main research question: “How and why do low literate people use news(media?)” More specifically,
this is a fivefold goal: (a) to understand news motivations low literate people hold and (b) their
platform-specific motivations, and (c) to explore how low literate people give meaning to news and
what role it has in their daily life. Above all, this thesis‟ added value to existing literature is (d) its
suggestion of a dimensional model of ability and motivation, to help understand news consumption
behaviour as being partly determined by ability to comprehend and motivations. Audience-centred,
qualitative studies in general and a lack of research on news use of low literate people in particular
demand an open-minded approach, since unknown influential factors, relationships and behaviours
can turn out to be relevant. Therefore, these goals are explorative in nature. The fifth goal is a
constructive one: this thesis intends (e) to develop recommendations on how to adapt news messages
to low literate people‟s comprehension abilities. In the next paragraph this thesis breaks down the
main goals into five workable research questions, combining the three theoretical paradigms discussed
earlier.
3.1.1 Research questions
As mentioned earlier, news use of low literate people has not received much scholarly attention. Due
to a lack of research on this topic, this thesis refrains from constructing hypotheses and corresponding
expectations. Instead it formulates research questions, combining the three theoretical paradigms
discussed in the literature review, that help to achieve the explorative aims of this thesis.
Building on uses and gratifications-studies (Katz, 1959; Ruggiero, 2000, the first aim of this
thesis is to explore the motivations and platform-specific motivations low literate people hold for
using news:
RQ 1 Why do Dutch low literate people consume news?
RQ 2 Which platform-specific motivations do Dutch low literate people hold for news use?
29
purposes such as relaxation may turn out to have a larger role in guiding news consumption for low
literate people, because they are likely to encounter difficulties when using news media for
information acquisition purposes.
In order to answer this question, this thesis examines which news motivations low literate
people hold for news use. We investigate whether this is different from news media behaviour of the
general public as studied in platform-specific uses and gratifications-studies (Van Cauwenberge, 2015;
Vincent & Basil, 1997; Rubin & Perse, 1987). Moreover, this thesis aims to find out whether some
reasons play a larger role than others in triggering news media consumption of low literate people, to
what extent this is platform-specific, and whether this differs from the general audience‟s news
consumption behaviour.
Secondly, this thesis aims to map out how people experience the news and what meaning news
has to them, or in other words: how it is integrated in their daily routines and structures. In doing so,
we depart from audience studies that focus on how people (want to) experience news (Costera Meijer,
2007), involvement in news intake (Marchi, 2012) and how interpretations and perceptions play a role
(Van Cauwenberge, 2015; Costera Meijer, 2012). These studies provide a basis for the interviews with
low literate people. However, our explorative question aims to extend its view beyond these studies,
since low literate people do not belong to the previously studied people. To understand their news
experiences and behaviours, we use an audience-centred qualitative approach. Therefore this thesis
formulates the next research questions:
RQ 3 How do Dutch low literate people give meaning to and integrate news in their daily life?
