South American News Audiences: Digital-Native News Functions in Consensus Building

Digital-native news organizations in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia are successful in satisfying the gratification sought of ease of access to news, being nimble to innovate how audiences find it easier and better to access, use and potentially interact with news online. They have also shown to be able to diversify the news media environment. While digital news has the potential to reach audiences who may otherwise be disengaging with news, especially younger audiences, or those who were excluded from the traditional media environment, can they fulfil some of the societal functions once exerted by mass media? Can they correlate, bring together, different segments of society into a common ground, creating consensus? This chapter, based on original survey conducted with audiences in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia tests the consensus building proposition for digital-native news. It finds support for consensus building especially and clearly for education.