Digital divide has been a common concern during the past two or three decades; traditionally, it refers to a gap between developed and developing countries in the adoption and use of digital technologies. Given the importance of the topic, digital divide has been also extensively studied, although, hitherto, there is no previous research that would have linked the concept to online media. Given this gap in the literature, this paper evaluates the "maturity" of online media in 134 countries between 2007 and 2016. Maturity is defined according to the levels of national online media consumption, diversity of political perspectives presented in national online media, and consensus in reporting major political events in national online media. These aspects are explained by considering explanatory factors related to economy, infrastructure, politics, and administration. According to the empirical results based on a dynamic panel data methodology, all aspects except administration are also associated with the maturity of national online media.
翻译:过去二三十年来,数字鸿沟一直是一个共同关切的问题;传统上,它是指发达国家和发展中国家在采用和使用数字技术方面的差距;鉴于这一专题的重要性,也广泛研究了数字鸿沟,尽管此前没有研究将这一概念与在线媒体联系起来,但此前没有研究将这一概念与在线媒体联系起来;鉴于文献中的这一差距,本文件评估了2007年至2016年期间134个国家的在线媒体的“成熟性”;成熟性的定义取决于国家在线媒体的消费水平、国家在线媒体中政治观点的多样性,以及国家在线媒体在报道重大政治事件方面的共识;这些方面的解释是考虑与经济、基础设施、政治和行政有关的解释性因素;根据基于动态小组数据方法的经验性结果,除行政管理外,所有方面都与国家在线媒体的成熟有关。