News on the Internet: Information and Citizenship in the 20th Century by David Tewksbury and Jason Rittenberg

News on the Internet: Information and Citizenship in the 20th Century is a timely entry in Oxford University Press’s Studies in Digital Politics series. Reviewed against the backdrop of a government shutdown, the authors’ discussion of the impact of Internet news on citizenship, particularly the potential for fragmentation and ideological polarization, has immediate relevance. David Tewksbury and Jason Rittenberg have written numerous articles on Internet news and bring substantial expertise to this important subject. Tewksbury is an associate professor of communication at the University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign. Rittenberg is a PhD student at the same university and also serves as research and resources coordinator for the Council of Development Finance Agencies, an organization of governmental agencies and private organizations in the United States that provide or support the financing of economic development

Tewksbury and Rittenberg are clear about their objective, “to organize and review what is known and said about news on the internet,” with a central focus on “the study of the potential effects of internet presentation of the news.” (p. 4; p. 9) In their introduction, they review the “features of news on the internet” that will be analyzed in succeeding chapters, which they do effectively throughout the book’s nine chapters. They begin with a discussion of shifting media audiences, then describe in detail the landscape of Internet news, including user behavior and news content. They move on to discuss the impact of Internet news on learning and audience behavior, and finally evaluate its impact on citizenship in a political system that relies on an informed public. Each topic is dealt with in depth and contains numerous citations; information professions with an interest in informationseeking behavior on the Internet will appreciate the discussion and the review of the scholarship.

The authors are at their best when presenting nuanced discussions on topics such as “Information Democratization” (chapter 8), the acquisition and spread of information among ordinary people, taking a balanced approach in their interpretation of research and issues. For instance, even as the authors point out that the Internet has effectively removed news from the control of the elite, empowering people to find or create news—or both—on a greater scale than ever before in history, they are quick to add that empowered consumers may lead to more fragmentation and polarization. Thus, information democratization may potentially lead to a less functional democracy. For Tewksbury and Rittenberg, Internet news holds a good deal of risk and reward; the theme of uncertainty reverberates throughout the book.

Equally interesting are passages where the authors speculate on the future. They outline several possibilities for the future of traditional news: an increasing reliance on news services such as Associated Press (AP) and Thomson Reuters; growing government support of news creation; the possibility that traditional outlets may risk operating at a loss to produce a high quality service in the public interest; and a greater emphasis on citizen journalism. The potential for traditional news providers to become drivers of change is particularly interesting; it would mark a real transition from their hitherto reactionary posture.

The books in the Oxford Digital Politics series are intended, the publisher says, to “summarize and criticize existing literature as well as provide new departures.” Tewksbury and Rittenberg do an excellent job of surveying the research, discussing the themes they choose, and then bringing together the various arguments and speculating on future developments. While the text is tightly written and well structured, nonspecialists may find it slow going when the focus turns to theory. Ultimately, however, News on the Internet is a thoughtprovoking book and highly recommended for information professionals with an interest in Internet news or general informationseeking behavior on the Internet.