We got to make this Shtim

At first glance, Reeher's study on Internet use and political activism seems at odds with the conclusions found in Priors study on news and entertainment. Reehers found that increased consumption of Internet news was not correlated with political activism. Although "occasional" gathers of news on the Internet did engage in more political activism, "frequent" gathers did not. Prior, on the other hand, found that for those with an interest in news [the assumption being that these are the same people who are in the "frequent" category of Reehers study] did engage in political activities [in the form of voting] more often. According to Prior, it would seem that Reehers should find a steady pattern of correlation between the frequency of Internet usage and political activism. Fortunately, we can make these studies shtim by highlighting the difference in their aims: Reehers measured the effect of Internet usage on political activism, and Prior measured the effect mainly on political knowledge. Although polling is a political activity, we can assume that its importance removes it from the type of voluntary work Reehers measured. The message from the two surveys together is that increased Internet activity- for those with an interest in news- increases political knowledge, but does not necessarily increase political activity [with the exception of voting].