The Future of News? Examining Ritualistic News Consumption in Traditional and New Media

• In Event: Ab Commutatus: A Study of Change in the Future of "Real World" Communication (Part Two)

Abstract

The print newspaper industry is in crisis. This paper proposes that the key to the revival of the newspaper industry lies in understanding "why" people read the news. As the first quantitative study to examine ritualistic news consumption, the author describes three ritualistic news usages as ways to understand news consumers. New directions for future ritual and news consumption studies are discussed, as well as recommendations for ways to combat the 21st century newspaper crisis.

Author

• Angela M. Lee, University of Pennsylvania