Complementing or Substituting? News in an Era of Multiple Platforms and Second Screens

The article analyzes contemporary patterns of news watching, concentrating on the experience of watching news through multiple platforms and second screens (i.e., not only via TV sets but across additional new media channels), and while performing additional communication activities simultaneously (i.e., media multitasking). The data is based on the documentation of viewings through a dedicated smartphone application by 110 subjects for 4 days. Only 10 of them can be labeled “traditional” viewers who did not report even once on viewing news video content not on television or performing other media activities parallel to viewing. The findings demonstrate that contemporary news consumers are not loyal to television as a medium of exposure to news video content, and have diverse repertoires of news viewing, where new media platforms play a significant role.