Political news refers to the information published in newspapers, radio and television programs that pertain to politics, public affairs and political science. It is a sub-genre of journalism that explores the political sphere and how it relates to the social and economic development of societies.
The media environment in which people consume political news is constantly changing. Gone are the days when most political information was confined to network TV and major national newspapers. Now, 24-hour cable news channels and a myriad of online sources compete for political attention. In addition, online news consumers can customize their news sourcing with RSS feeds and aggregators, post their own political content on personal websites or social networking sites and watch video news clips at any time of day.
Young adults and those with relatively high levels of income and education are more likely than others to go online for political and election news. Moreover, they are more intense internet users and are more likely to access news on their mobile devices than is the case with the general population.
As a result, more Americans than ever rely on the internet for their political news. They are more likely to visit portal news services, personal blogs and online social networking sites to sift through the long tail of political commentary. They are also more likely to use tools to search for and filter political news – using a variety of methods such as keywords, topical categories and filters – and more likely to share the information they find online with others.