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.

2025

• Hallvard Moe; Brita Ytre-Arne (2025). Too uncertain: Doubt as a key to understanding news repletion. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2025). Nyhetsvegring når nyhetsbildet er mørkt. (external link)
• Mehri Agai; Brita Ytre-Arne (2025). The feeling of AI: A qualitative study of young people's evaluations of authenticity in online media content. (external link)

2020

• Brita Ytre-Arne (2020). Jeg savner til og med kolleger jeg ikke liker. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne; Ranjana Das (2020). Audiences’ Communicative Agency in a Datafied Age: Interpretative, Relational and Increasingly Prospective. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2020). Digital mediebruk - kampen om oppmerksomheten. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne; Trine Syvertsen; Hallvard Moe et al. (2020). Temporal ambivalences in smartphone use: Conflicting flows, conflicting responsibilities. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2020). Et kjempenettverk rett i lomma. (external link)

2017

• Dag Arne Christensen; Tord Skogedal Lindén; Brita Ytre-Arne et al. (2017). Tjenestedemokratiet. Velferdsstaten som arena for deltakelse. (external link)
• Hilde Sakariassen; Brita Ytre-Arne (2017). Mer enn ekkokamre og falske nyheter. (external link)
• Helle Sjøvaag; Brita Ytre-Arne (2017). Mediene og velferdsstaten - hva mener publikum?. (external link)

2018

• Torgeir Uberg Nærland; Brita Ytre-Arne; Hallvard Moe (2018). Annoying clowning far away, world chattering shock and regained stability: Three phases of Norwegians Audiences' Sense-Making of the 2016 US Presidential election. (external link)

2019

• Hallvard Moe; Jan Fredrik Hovden; Brita Ytre-Arne et al. (2019). Informerte borgere? Offentlig tilknytning, mediebruk og demokrati. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2019). Media use in changing everyday life: How biographical disruption could destabilize media repertoires and public connection. (external link)
• Hallvard Moe; Brita Ytre-Arne (2019). Folk theories of algorithms. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2019). The public sphere as seen from everyday life. (external link)

2024

• Brita Ytre-Arne; Hallvard Moe (2024). Blir du mett av nyheter? Du er ikke alene.. (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)

2006

• Knut Helland; Brita Ytre-Arne (2006). Sportsjournalistikk og presseetikk. En analyse av TV 2s fotballsendinger. (external link)

2023

• Michael Brüggemann; Mike S. Schäfer; Brita Ytre-Arne (2023). The changing role of climate journalism. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2023). Media Use in Digital Everyday Life. (external link)

2016

• Hilde Danielsen; Kari Jegerstedt; Ragnhild Louise Muriaas et al. (2016). Gendered Citizenship and the Politics of Representation. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne; Ranjana Das (2016). After the excitement: An introduction to the work of CEDAR. (external link)

2015

• Erik Knudsen; Torgeir Uberg Nærland; Helle Sjøvaag et al. (2015). Mediating the Nordic Welfare Model: Journalistic Representations and Public Attitudes. (external link)

2022

• John Arne Moen; Ingvild Næss; Toril Nag et al. (2022). NOU 2022: 11 Ditt personvern – vårt felles ansvar — Tid for en personvernpolitikk. (external link)

2013

• Brita Ytre-Arne (2013). Social media and the welfare state: The online experiences of long-term-patients. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2013). Social media and the welfare state: A (media) user perspective. (external link)
• Brita Ytre-Arne (2013). Speaking of the unspeakable? Reflections on unacknowledged dimensions of media experiences. (external link)

2009

• Brita Ytre-Arne (2009). Slaget om kvinnene. (external link)

2021

• 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)

See a complete overview of publications in NVA.

"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.