Editing Knowledge gap hypothesis (section)

==Theoretical Concepts==

Tichenor, Donohue, and Olien suggest five factors why the knowledge gap should exist:

# Communication skills: "Persons with more formal education would be expected to have higher reading and comprehension abilities necessary to acquire public affairs or science knowledge." (Tichenor, Donohue, and Olien 1970, pp.&nbsp;162)<ref name="Tichenor Donohue Olien 19702">{{cite journal |last=Tichenor |first=P.A. |author2=Donohue, G.A. |author3=Olien, C.N. |year=1970 |title=Mass media flow and differential growth in knowledge |journal=Public Opinion Quarterly |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=159–170 |doi=10.1086/267786}}</ref>  For example, higher socioeconomic status, SES, people generally have more education, which improves their reading, writing, and comprehension skills.
# Amount of stored information: "Persons who are already better informed are more likely to be aware of a topic when it appears in mass media and are better prepared to understand it."(Tichenor, Donohue, and Olien 1970, pp.&nbsp;162)<ref name="Tichenor Donohue Olien 19702" /> For example, more informed people are more likely to already know of news stories through previous media exposure or through formal education and can relate new information to past exposure.
# Relevant social contact: "Education generally indicates a broader sphere of everyday activity, a greater number of reference groups and more interpersonal contacts, which increase the likelihood of discussing public affairs topics with others." (Tichenor, Donohue, and Olien 1970, pp.&nbsp;162)<ref name="Tichenor Donohue Olien 19702" />  For example, higher socioeconomic status, SES, people generally have a network of friends or colleagues that are more likely to have access to more information on news stories and more skilled to research the topics.
# Selective exposure, acceptance, and retention of information: "A persistent theme in mass media research is the apparent tendency to interpret and recall information in ways congruent with existing beliefs and values."(Tichenor, Donohue, and Olien 1970, pp.&nbsp;162)<ref name="Tichenor Donohue Olien 19702" /> For example, a viewer of a news program will pay attention more to story that interests them.
# Nature of the mass media system that delivers information.  Different media has specific target markets.(Tichenor, Donohue, and Olien 1970, pp.&nbsp;162)<ref name="Tichenor Donohue Olien 19702" /> For example, social media platforms like Tik Tok targets a younger audience whereas daytime television targets an older audience. In the 1970, print media was written for an audience with a higher education level.