POLTRACK Study on Alternative News Consumption Featured on NiemanLab

Harvard’s NiemanLab has featured research from the POLTRACK project by Cornelius Puschmann, Patrick Zerrer, Sebastien Stier and Helena Rauxloh on predictors of alternative news consumption in a recent newsletter.

The article by Cornelius Puschmann, Patrick Zerrer, Sebastian Stier and Helena Rauxloh investigates predictors of alternative news consumption and appears in the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media under the title “Politicised and Paranoid? Assessing Attitudinal Predictors of Alternative News Consumption”.

The study addresses a critical research gap by combining online tracking with survey data from 2,009 German panel participants to explore factors that influence alternative news consumption. The results show that conspiratorial thinking and pro-Russian sentiment are significant predictors, both in absolute and relative terms, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of the attitudes and motivations of alternative news consumers.

The feature was part of NiemanLab’s recent Newsletter “What Audiences Really Want: For Journalists to Connect with Them as People,” by Mark Coddington (Lee University) and Seth Lewis (University of Oregon). NiemanLab, an initiative of Harvard University’s Nieman Foundation, focuses on the future of journalism, exploring trends, innovations and challenges in digital media. It serves journalists, academics and media professionals seeking insights into the evolving media landscape.