Hargreaves and Thomas ( 2002) note that while individuals want to be informed about significant events in the news, the ambient nature of news today may lead some people to believe they do not need to regularly follow the news to stay informed (p.
Ambient news suggests that news today is ubiquitous, pervasive, and constantly all around us ( Hermida, 2010). The availability and abundance of news in people's lives has created what some scholars have labeled “ambient news” ( Hargreaves & Thomas, 2002). As a result, users within these social networks can be exposed to news directly by actively seeking it, or incidentally, without any explicit effort of their own, through their use of these sites (Kim, Chen, & Gil de Zúñiga, 2013 Tewksbury et al., 2001). Social media create a confluence of news by simultaneously providing users news not only from traditional media outlets but also news created and shared by others in the social network. Although traditional news outlets such as television news and newspapers continue to remain popular among certain segments of the population, many Americans, especially younger adults, are also increasingly exposed to news via websites, apps, and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter (Pew, 2016) these social media in particular have changed how people receive news. Within this context, one unexplored possibility is that the glut of news, particularly on the Internet and within social media, may negatively impact whether people actively seek news and ultimately whether they learn from it. If scholars are interested in whether or not political learning is predicated on active news engagement, it also becomes necessary to better understand how citizens' perceptions of the contemporary media environment relate to news exposure patterns. Thus, one of the central aspects of this debate is whether political learning is dependent on citizens actively seeking news and political information or whether people can passively learn about politics through incidental exposure ( Shehata et al., 2015). Hopmann, Wonneberger, Shehata, & Höijer, 2016 Prior, 2007 Wei & Hindman, 2011).
Here, individuals who seek out and take advantage of the plethora of news available may benefit most from political news, while those who do not purposefully seek news will not see gains in political knowledge despite the wealth of information in the media environment (e.g. While the abundance of media options may provide citizens more opportunities to learn from the news, some scholars argue that this high-choice media environment may instead have negative democratic consequences by enhancing political knowledge gaps based on content preferences, interest, and usage patterns. At first glance, the widespread availability of news might be considered ideal for producing better-informed citizens, especially given that both the volume and breadth of news in the media environment promote learning about politics ( Barabas & Jerit, 2009) and that unintentional news exposure can facilitate political knowledge ( Shehata, Hopmann, Nord, & Höijer, 2015 Tewksbury, Weaver, & Maddex, 2001). In addition to traditional media outlets such as television, newspapers, and radio, the ubiquity of news on the Internet and within social media offer people the possibility to be exposed to news whether or not they actively seek it out ( Hermida, 2010 Gil de Zúñiga & Hinsley, 2013 Pew, 2016). Citizens today arguably have more opportunities to encounter news and political information than ever before.
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