The Role of Geographic Information in News Consumption

Gebrekirstos G. Gebremeskel, Arjen P. de Vries

Abstract: We investigate the role of geographic proximity in news consumption. Using a month-long log of user interactions with news items of ten information portals, we study the relationship between users' geographic locations and the geographic foci of information portals and local news categories. We find that the location of news consumers correlates with the geographical information of the information portals at two levels: the portal and the local news category. At the portal level, traditional mainstream news portals have a more geographically focused readership than special interest portals, such as sports and technology. At a finer level, the mainstream news portals have local news sections that have even more geographically focused readerships.