I am professor of media studies, researching audiences and cross-media use. My research explores 1) how people connect to society and use and avoid news, 2) meanings of media in everyday life, and 3) people's perceptions of datafication, algorithms and digital technologies. I work primarily with qualitative methods.

NEW BOOK: In fall 2026, Hallvard Moe and I will publish Too Much News: Understanding News Saturation with Bristol University Press. This book is based on in-depth research into news experiences in everyday contexts, and explains why many feel overwhelmed by news in the digital attention economy. The e-book will be open access and free to read online. 

My former book Media Use in Digital Everyday Life is also published with open access, and can be downloaded or read free of charge here. In the book, I discuss how media use has changed since smartphones, social media and digital platforms became part of our lives. 

I am one of the series editors for Transforming Communications - Studies in Cross-Media Research, a book series published by Palgrave/Springer to advance international scholarship on cross-media and datafication. Please contact us if you have a book idea to discuss! 

Together with my colleague Hallvard Moe I lead Bergen Media Studies Research Group, an active research environment for media use and audience research at the University of Bergen. We collaborate with international colleagues and support young researchers. 

I am PI for two research projects funded by the Research Council of Norway: IMAGINE (Citizen perceptions of AI in everyday media life) explores emerging folk theories of AI, while Media Use in Crisis Situations analyses how people relate to climate change and other societal crises through everyday media use. 

Previously, I was work package leader in MediaFutures, a research centre for research-driven innovation. Other former projects include MeCIn, a broad study of media use and public connection in Norway, and Digitox, on intrusive media and digital disconnection. I was co-director of CEDAR - Consortium on Emerging Directions in Audience Research (2014-2017), an European network and research project that conducted a foresight analysis of audience research. Read more in our book The Future of Audiences, or our agenda for research priorities.

Book anthology

• Dag Arne Christensen; Tord Skogedal Lindén; Brita Ytre-Arne et al. (2017). Tjenestedemokratiet. Velferdsstaten som arena for deltakelse. (external link)
• Hilde Danielsen; Kari Jegerstedt; Ragnhild Louise Muriaas et al. (2016). Gendered Citizenship and the Politics of Representation. (external link)
• Ranjana Das; Brita Ytre-Arne (2018). The Future of Audiences. A Foresight Analysis of Interfaces and Engagement. (external link)

Academic monograph

• Hallvard Moe; Jan Fredrik Hovden; Brita Ytre-Arne et al. (2019). Informerte borgere? Offentlig tilknytning, mediebruk og demokrati. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2023). Media Use in Digital Everyday Life. (external link)

Academic article

• Brita Ytre-Arne; Ranjana Das (2020). Audiences’ Communicative Agency in a Datafied Age: Interpretative, Relational and Increasingly Prospective. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2019). Media use in changing everyday life: How biographical disruption could destabilize media repertoires and public connection. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne; Trine Syvertsen; Hallvard Moe et al. (2020). Temporal ambivalences in smartphone use: Conflicting flows, conflicting responsibilities. (external link)
• Hilde Sakariassen; Brita Ytre-Arne (2024). Transferred expectations of human presence: Folk theories among older adults who are inexperienced users of online services. (external link)
• Hallvard Moe; Brita Ytre-Arne (2021). The Democratic Significance of Everyday News Use: Using Diaries to Understand Public Connection over Time and beyond Journalism. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne; Ranjana Das (2016). After the excitement: An introduction to the work of CEDAR. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2014). Positioning the self. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2011). Women's magazines and their readers. The relationship between textual features and practices of reading. (external link)
• Stine Lomborg; Brita Ytre-Arne (2021). Advancing digital disconnection research: Introduction to the special issue. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne; Knut Helland (2007). Fotballavtalen, journalistikk og presseetikk. En analyse av TV 2 og fotballproduktet. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne; Hallvard Moe (2020). Folk theories of algorithms: Understanding digital irritation. (external link)
• Hallvard Moe; Synnøve Skarsbø Lindtner; Brita Ytre-Arne (2023). Polarisation and echo chambers? Making sense of the climate issue with social media in everyday life. (external link)
• Solveig Kristine Bortne Høegh-Krohn; Håvard Haarstad; Brita Ytre-Arne (2025). Climate Change Is an Intangible News Topic: A Qualitative Analysis of Audience Perceptions. (external link)
• Ranjana Das; Brita Ytre-Arne (2017). Critical, agentic and trans-media: Frameworks and findings from a foresight analysis exercise on audiences. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2022). Tre spørsmål om metodeutvikling. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne; Hallvard Moe (2018). Approximately Informed, Occasionally Monitorial? Reconsidering Normative Citizen Ideals. (external link)
• John Magnus Ragnhildson Dahl; Brita Ytre-Arne (2023). Monitoring the infection rate: Explaining the meaning of metrics in pandemic news experiences. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2015). Mammaforum som politisk debattarena - En analyse av nettdebatt om velferdsstaten. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2011). Women's magazines and the public sphere. (external link)
• Hallvard Moe; Torgeir Uberg Nærland; Brita Ytre-Arne (2023). Ritual check-in, shocked immersion, regained stability: A sequential typology of news experiences in crisis situations. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2011). Et eget rom? : lesernes erfaringer med kvinneblader. (external link)
• Hallvard Moe; Brita Ytre-Arne; Torgeir Uberg Nærland (2019). Between ritual and information: Three phases of Norwegian news audiences’ sense-making of the election of Donald Trump. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne; Ranjana Das (2018). An Agenda in the Interest of Audiences: Facing the Challenges of Intrusive Media Technologies. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2016). The social media experiences of long-term patients: Illness, identity, and participation. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne; Hallvard Moe (2021). Doomscrolling, Monitoring and Avoiding: News Use in COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown. (external link)
• Trine Syvertsen; Brita Ytre-Arne (2023). Medierepertoar i forandring - da koronapandemien kom til Norge. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2012). Positioning the self. Identity and women's magazine reading. (external link)
• Hallvard Moe; Brita Ytre-Arne; Solveig Kristine Bortne Høegh-Krohn (2025). How people make sense of climate issues in the news. (external link)
• Faltin Karlsen; Brita Ytre-Arne (2021). Intrusive media and knowledge work: how knowledge workers negotiate digital media norms in the pursuit of focused work. (external link)
• Ole Jacob Madsen; Brita Ytre-Arne (2012). Me at my best: therapeutic ideals in Norwegian women's magazines. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2013). Changing magazine journalism : key trends in Norwegian women's magazines. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2013). «Vi er altsaa dog allerede midt ude i det offentlige Liv» - Medieomtale av kvinnestemmerett, 1890–1913. (external link)

Research report

• John Arne Moen; Ingvild Næss; Toril Nag et al. (2022). NOU 2022: 11 Ditt personvern – vårt felles ansvar — Tid for en personvernpolitikk. (external link)
• Ranjana Das; Brita Ytre-Arne (2017). Audiences, towards 2030. Priorities for audience analysis.. (external link)
• Synnøve Kristine Nepstad Bendixsen; Halvar Andreassen Kjærre; Brita Ytre-Arne (2014). OUT-reach: Informasjon om frivillig retur til irregulære migranter utenfor mottak.. (external link)
• Knut Helland; Brita Ytre-Arne (2007). Sport, attraksjon og journalistikk. Om sportsrettigheter og publisistiske idealer. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne; Jan Fredrik Hovden; Hallvard Moe et al. (2017). Mediebruk og offentlig tilknytning:. (external link)

Academic book chapter

• Helle Sjøvaag; Brita Ytre-Arne (2017). Mediene og velferdsstaten - hva mener publikum?. (external link)
• Harry Arne Solberg; Knut Helland; Brita Ytre-Arne (2008). Integration between broadcasters and transmission companies involved in sports broadcasting. (external link)
• Dag Arne Christensen; Tord Skogedal Lindén; Brita Ytre-Arne et al. (2017). Tjenestedemokratiet. (external link)
• Trine Syvertsen; Brita Ytre-Arne (2021). Privacy, energy, time and moments stolen: Social media experiences pushing towards disconnection. (external link)
• Dag Arne Christensen; Tord Skogedal Lindén; Brita Ytre-Arne et al. (2017). Avslutning: velferdsstaten som kanal for deltakelse. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2017). Sosiale medier og brukerperspektiver i velferdsdebatten. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne; Hallvard Moe (2023). Citizens’ news use during Covid-19 Concerns about misinformation and reliance on local news in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. (external link)
• Harry Arne Solberg; Knut Helland; Brita Ytre-Arne (2008). Integration between broadcasters and transmission companies involved in sports broadcasting. (external link)
• Harry Arne Solberg; Knut Helland; Brita Ytre-Arne (2008). Integration between broadcasters and transmission companies involved in sports broadcasting. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2009). Personlig og politisk. Samfunnsjournalistikk i magasiner og ukeblader. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2016). Blogs, books and journalism: Media platform interactions in public debate. (external link)
• Ranjana Das; Brita Ytre-Arne; David Mathieu et al. (2018). Designing a Foresight Analysis Exercise on Audiences and Emerging Technologies: CEDAR's Analytical-Intuitive Balance. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne; Niklas Alexander Chimirri; Inês Amaral et al. (2018). Everyday Lives of Audiences in a Future Europe: Tracing Emerging Issues from Scenarios to Experiences in 2030. (external link)

Academic literature review

• Kim Andersen; Benjamin Toff; Brita Ytre-Arne (2024). Introduction: What We (Don’t) Know About News Avoidance. (external link)

Doctoral thesis (PhD)

• Brita Ytre-Arne (2012). Women’s magazines and their readers. Experiences, identity and everyday life. (external link)

Textbook

• Ture Schwebs; Brita Ytre-Arne; Helge Østbye (2020). Media i samfunnet. 8. utgave.. (external link)

See a complete overview of publications in NVA.

My books in English: 

Moe, Hallvard og Brita Ytre-Arne (2026) Too Much News: Understanding News Saturation. Bristol University Press. Åpen tilgang, les boken gratis på nettet. 

Ytre-Arne, Brita (2023) Media Use in Digital Everyday Life. Emerald. Åpen tilgang, les boken gratis på nettet. 

Das, Ranjana and Brita Ytre-Arne (red.) (2018) The Future of Audiences: A Foresight Analysis of Interfaces and Engagements. Palgrave Macmillan.

Danielsen, Hilde, Kari Jegerstedt, Ragnhild Muriaas and Brita Ytre-Arne (red) (2016) Gendered Citizenship and the Politics of Representation. Palgrave Macmillan.

"Citizen Perceptions of AI in Everyday Media Life (Imagine)". PI, research project (2025-2029) funded by the Norwegian Research Council. 

"Media Use in Crisis Situations: Resolving Information Paradoxes, Comparing Climate Change and COVID-19". PI, research project (2021-2025) funded by the Norwegian Research Council.

"Understanding Media Experiences", Work Package 1 in SFI MediaFutures, centre for research-driven innovation, funded by the Norwegian Research Council, the University of Bergen and industry partners in the Norwegian media sector.

"Digitox: Intrusive media, ambivalent users, and digital detox". Research project (2019-2023) led by Trine Syvertsen, funded by the Norwegian Research Council.

"Media Use, Culture and Public Connection: Freedom of Information in the 'Age of Big Data'". Research project (2015-2018) led by Hallvard Moe, funded by the Norwegian Research Council.

"Consortium on Emerging Directions in Audience Research". Consortium (2014-2017) led by Ranjana Das (University of Surrey) and Brita Ytre-Arne, funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK.