Faculty Research Highlight: Chelsea Peterson-Salahuddin

University of Michigan School of Information assistant professor Chelsea Peterson-Salahuddin has published new work with the International Journal of Communication. 

Her paper, “From Information Poverty to Information Deficit: An Intersectional Analysis of Women of Color’s News Information-Seeking Habits in the Digital Age,” examines the role of news institutions in contributing to the marginalization of women of color exploring knowledge in an era of technology.  

The paper builds on Elfreda Chatman’s work on the information-seeking behaviors of minority groups, which argues their “outsider” position stratifies them from mainstream information sources, which could lead to “information poverty."

Due to their race and gender marginalization, women of color could experience “information poverty,” which creates “barriers to accessing important, useful, or beneficial information because they belong to a marginalized or ‘outsider’ community,’” according to Peterson-Salahuddin’s paper. 

At the same time, women of color’s recent high levels of social and political activity could indicate that they live information-rich lives. Therein, the study also draws on intersectional analysis and recent work by Amelia Gibson and John D. Martin that places attention on “the role of institutions in sustaining informational deficits,” to understand the role of marginalization and news institutions in shaping women of color’s news-information seeking habits. 

For the paper, Peterson-Salahuddin conducted eight focus groups with women from different race, gender and class experiences who identify as non-white. The purpose of these groups was to better understand how their identities influence their news information seeking habits. 

According to the paper, women of color highly value information and seek it out, but often feel alienated by mainstream outlets because U.S news “reports information that centers on the lived experiences and perspectives of White, middle-class Americans.” This creates skepticism and criticism of news outlets. 

“Previous research didn’t always take into account how these larger structures and systems are playing big roles in the way people are engaging with information seeking,” Peterson-Salahuddin says. “It’s not that these women are avoidant of the news, but that they found themselves in this constant informational deficit because a lot of information was not really made for them and doesn’t represent them.” 

The paper concludes with recommendations for media outlets to add more journalists of color to their staff, and to better support them. 

“I argue that it is the responsibility of the news institution, not the individual, to shift their relationship to information,” Peterson-Salahuddin says. “Only through inclusive reporting will news and information outlets in this country move closer to fulfilling their stated goal of working toward an informed democracy by providing news that speaks to all—not just a few.” 

RELATED

Read more about Chelsea Peterson-Salahuddin’s work 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 by visiting her UMSI faculty profile and reading her UMSI faculty interview. 

Read Peterson-Salahuddin’s paper, ““From Information Poverty to Information Deficit: An Intersectional Analysis of Women of Color’s News Information-Seeking Habits in the Digital Age” at the International Journal of Communication.