News Media Consumption and Political Interest in Latin America

For media communication researchers, a relationship between media consumption and democratic politics is expected and evidenced. Explanations for that relationship are elusive. This is especially true in developing regions such as Latin America where our understanding of how news media consumption affects individuals is only now beginning to take shape. Building on extant work regarding news media and democratic politics, this project embraces the idea that political interest is the key to understanding how media consumption affects individuals politically and thus requires focused attention in scholarly research. News media are viewed as a socializing force that influence political interest by providing information about current events that are generally relatable to politics. From this perspective, the relationship between news media consumption and political interest is tested using robust survey data taken from the Latin American Public Opinion Project 2008 dataset. Statistical analysis reveals that Latin Americans who consume news media do have greater interest in politics. However, one type of news media fails to demonstrate an effect which calls into question the qualities of each news media type.  Keywords:  news media, individual consumption, political interest, Latin America, regression analysis. Submission date: 2012-02-24 Acceptance date: 2012-03-14