Cross-media News Repertoires as Democratic Resources. Report for French-speaking Belgium

Abstract

This report presents the findings from an empirical study of news media consumption and its relation to democratic life in French-speaking Belgium. Q methodology was used to build up a typology of news media repertoires, and the democratic activities were captured through a survey questionnaire. The 36 informants were recruited in order to reach a diversity in terms of gender, age, location and education. Four news media repertoires emerged out of the statistical analysis: the 'traditionalist news viewers', the 'new generation quality news readers', the 'audiovisual and social media lovers', and the 'digital news omnivores'. The report examines the profiles of these repertoires individually, delineates the collective repertoire of French-speaking Belgium, and details the analytical findings from the survey of democratic activities. The overall pattern mostly reflects continuities in the evolution of the French-speaking Belgian media landscape, although some interesting changes are taking place at the intersection of legacy and new media forms.