Mobile Devices Offer Little In-depth News: Sensational, Breaking and Entertainment News Dominate Mobile News Sites

Abstract

The smartphone is now an indispensable part of everyday life. Such mobile devices are increasingly used to consume news. Newspapers have embraced the mobile devices to augment their print and online versions. Newspapers, however, appear to offer different news content to mobile newsreaders when compared to their own print and online content. Mobile newsreaders are provided significantly more sensational, breaking, and entertainment-oriented news. Mobile devices on the mobile web also provide significantly less public affairs content as top stories. Analyzing a sample of 50 U.S. newspapers over a six-month period, this content analysis quantifies the heterogeneity of news content in print, online, and mobile platforms.