News Surveillance and Democracy: The Effect of News Negativity and Political Trust on Intentional News Avoidance

This study investigates how intentional news avoidance behavior is affected by the perceived negativity of news media and political trust and how the impact of news negativity is conditioned by people’s political ideology. The literature treats the deterrent effect of news negativity and the demobilizing role of distrust as standard explanations for news avoidance. However, we argue that as a form of political engagement, avoidance decisions are also shaped by political factors. Drawing upon a unique 2-wave panel survey conducted in Spain, the study shows that while the main effect of perceived news negativity is significant, it is moderated by political ideology. People with right-wing ideologies are not deterred from news consumption by their perception of news negativity, whereas leftists are more likely to intentionally avoid news when feeling overly negative. In addition, political distrust can make people less likely to turn off the news, whereas people with a high level of political trust are more likely to avoid news programs. This finding can be explained by a monitorial attitude, a sense of civic duty, activated when people distrust the political elite.