Chapter 4 centers on news reception. The survey indicates that broadcast media represent the dominant source of information and that socioeconomic status is more important in predicting patterns of news consumption than age and gender. The interviews highlight the continued centrality of routines that organize reception practices. These routines are ambient and derivative. In addition, there is a widespread assumption of intentionality in the reporting of current events and the perception that bias in the resulting stories is not the exception but the norm. There is also a strongly negative affect that is tied to the experience of consuming news. The chapter concludes that the perception and practice of ambient content, the enactment of derivative routines, the management of what is viewed as systemic bias, and dominance of negative affect combine to generate an experiential devaluation of the news in everyday life.
