Does Variety Matter? Young Adults' News Platform Repertoires and Their Citizen Competence

Abstract

The study examined news platform repertoires among South Korean young adults and their effects on political competence. Four distinct repertoires were identified: aggregator & video, all but print & radio, aggregator & social media, and aggregator-only. The findings indicate that using a wider variety of platforms does not necessarily lead to greater competence. Participants who relied on the broadest range of platforms (i.e. all but print & radio) demonstrated lower objective political knowledge (factual understanding). However, this group reported higher levels of subjective knowledge (perceived understanding) and political participation than those in other repertoires, despite their lower objective knowledge. The results suggest that strategically combining a few platforms is more effective for acquiring objective political knowledge than simply consuming news from all available sources. In particular, the combined use of aggregators and video (i.e. aggregator & video) enhanced both objective and subjective political knowledge. Interestingly, individuals who relied on the repertoire with the lowest level of variety (i.e. aggregator-only) exhibited relatively high objective political knowledge yet perceived themselves as less knowledgeable and were less politically engaged. The implications of these findings are discussed.