This is the beginning of my post critiquing the New York Times article “We Avoid News We Don’t Like. Some Trump-Era Evidence.”
The subject hits on the idea that people live in echo-chambers, consuming news that only serves to reinforce their ideologies. The article and data breaks it down even further by attempting to explain it in terms of supply and demand. How much do these outlets write about a certain subject and how much do their readers want to hear about it.
I wonder how much chart beat data, tracking users’ demands, could influence what and how much outlets write about a specific subject. Outlets could be reluctant to continue publishing stories about a topic, if they see the demand is not there, to the detriment of keeping their users informed.
It was a little confusing as to how they were calculating a person “avoiding” an article or subject actively or just not seeing it in their feed. I am not sure how one can quantify that when it’s been shown that Facebook feed—where most people get their news from—algorithms are based on prior clicks and likes.
The “alignments” chart, while not offering any new information, was an interesting addition to the piece. Although the people surveyed were called on to “self-identify” which can be an issue when gathering data.