From Information Poverty to Information Deficit: An Intersectional Analysis of Women of Color’s News Information-Seeking Habits in the Digital Age

Authors

  • Chelsea Peterson-Salahuddin University of Michigan

Keywords:

information seeking, news, information poverty, intersectionality, focus group methods

Abstract

Scholars have used information poverty theory for decades to understand when and why marginalized individuals feel disconnected from news and information. However, by focusing on how individuals create information-poor environments, these studies shift attention away from the role of institutions in sustaining informational deficits. This article engages intersectionality as a systemic analysis of power to understand the structural, societal-level dimension of women of color’s news information-seeking habits in the digital age. Through eight focus groups with N = 45 women of color, this study elucidates the dynamic role of intersecting forms of systemic marginalization in informing women of color’s information-seeking habits. This study contributes to our understanding of the role of media institutions in creating and sustaining informational inequities.  

Author Biography

Chelsea Peterson-Salahuddin, University of Michigan

Chelsea Peterson-Salahuddin is President’s Postdoctoral Fellow and Incoming Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information. Dr. Peterson-Salahuddin’s research focuses on the culturally specific ways marginalized communities, most often Black women, femmes, and queer folks engage with mass and digital communications technologies to seek information, produce knowledge, and build community, as well as ways the infrastructure of these technologies help these communities to overcome or continue to replicate systemic barriers to equity. Chelsea holds a  Ph.D. in Media, Technology, and Society from Northwestern University. 

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Published

2024-02-14

Issue

Vol. 18 (2024)

Section

Articles

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