PROMISING AREAS FOR NEWS CONSUMPTION RESEARCH IN HIGH-CHOICE MEDIA ENVIRONMENT

The high-choice media environment has transformed the process of news consumption. This article attempts to map out the field of contemporary news consumption research and identify trends that deserve further study. The following promising areas of research have been identified: (1) choice from an excess number of options, (2) new media repertoires and styles of news consumption, (3) unintentional news consumption, (4) the problem of false, incomplete and unreliable information, (5) media fragmentation, (6) crisis of trust in news. For each of these areas, a conceptual framework is proposed in Russian and English, as well as aspects that can be focused on and examples of research questions are identified. In addition, the article pointed out two more general problems. First, the need to reconceptualize many of the terms that were originally proposed for traditional media and have lost clarity and unambiguity within the high-choice media environment. Secondly, the importance of abandoning normativism and evaluativeness when considering new trends in media consumption. This article may be useful for forming a general understanding of the current state of research on news consumption, as well as when planning your own research - choosing a topic, stating a problem and searching for relevant literature