Originally published in Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 1994, Vol 39(2), 225. Reviews the book, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion by John Zaller (1992). The author's commendable effort to specify a model of mass opinion formation offers readers an introduction to the prevailing vi

The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion.

PART ONE: MASS COMMUNICATION AND SOCIETY Public Communication and Public Interest Contested Territory Media Performance Traditions of Enquiry The `Public Interest' in Communication PART TWO: MEDIA PERFORMANCE NORMS Performance Norms in Media Policy Discourse The Newspaper Press Performance Norms in Media Policy Discourse Broadcasting A Framework of Principle for Media Assessment PART THREE: RESEARCH MODELS AND METHODS Media Organizational Performance Models and Research Options PART FOUR: MEDIA FREEDOM Concepts and Models of Media Freedom Media Freedom From Structure to Performance Media Freedom The Organizational Environment PART FIVE: DIVERSITY Varieties and Processes of Diversity Taking the Measure of Diversity Media Reflection Media Access and Audience Choice PART SIX: OBJECTIVITY Concepts of Objectivity A Framework for Objectivity Research Measuring Objectivity News as Information Measuring Objectivity The Evaluative Dimension of News PART SEVEN: MASS MEDIA, ORDER AND SOCIAL CONTROL Media and the Maintenance of Public Order Policing the Symbolic Environment Solidarity and Social Identity PART EIGHT: MEDIA AND CULTURE Questions of Culture and Mass Communication Cultural Identity and Autonomy Whose Media Culture? PART NINE: IN CONCLUSION Changing Media, Changing Mores Implications for Assessment

Media performance : mass communication and the public interest / Denis Mcquail

The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect. Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel. New York: Crown Publishers, 2001. 205 pp. $20 hbk. Inherent in the behavior and process we call "journalism" is controversy. Journalism's inexact, less-than-scientific character almost assures it will occasionally enter a crisis, becoming awash in change, its self-identity threatened or its credibility challenged. Just as naturally, we can depend on someone to attempt to right the ship, calm the waters, and smooth the sails. Enter The Elements of Journalism, which simply lists and details what the authors consider journalism's ten guiding principles and purpose for the enlightenment of journalists and the general public. For the former, the book serves as a Journalism 101 moral refresher: Journalism's purpose is truth, produced by those loyal to that purpose and to the citizens (not to profits). Committee of Concerned journalists Chairman Bill Kovach and Project for Excellence in journalism Director Tom Rosenstiel assert, however, that truth is not enough: There is also verification, to which they devote a chapter that's as good a reporting primer as any textbook. The authors explain "the intellectual principles of a science of reporting" gleaned from numerous discussions with and surveys of editors, journalists, and members of the public. As a CCJ member, I applaud the effort: Journalists need to be reminded of their profession's high ethical objective. Any craft-journalism included-requires a howto inventory. For the public, the book provides a glimpse into why serious journalists behave as they do; journalism has a purpose over and above selling newspapers and airtime. The lay reader discovers there is a rationale for what journalists cover and that not only is journalism a map with which to navigate society, but that good journalism strives to be accurate and comprehensive. But it is not enough to index-as the text does-all the proper characteristics. To be sure, the authors credibly explain each item. For example, they say journalists have an obligation to monitor the powerful because-as investigative reporting gets trivialized (thanks to consumer-oriented topics such as the honesty of auto brake mechanics) and challenged-journalism's function as a public forum becomes weakened, giving way to "a new wave of journalism as assertion." But as if it were Moses coming down from the Big Newsroom In The Sky, the book comes off as so many pronouncements. This is no text for a skeptic; while each element gets its due in terms of description and analysis, there is no Burning Bush-no original explanation exists for the list as a whole. By its structure, the text expects the reader to accept the idea that journalism is a recipe. The book makes a weak attempt at synthesis in the last chapter, in which the authors claim that journalists' responsibility to conscience ties all the other elements together. On its face, this makes sense: For example, what journalist would not say his or her conscience is the reason for his or her search (via journalism) for truth? But the final chapter does not engage in such analytical application of the elements, choosing instead to elaborate on the role of conscience in newsrooms and the threat certain newsroom cultures pose against individual conscience. …

The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect

The Language of Morals

The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion: Preface

In contemporary high-choice media environments, the issue of media trust and its impact on people's media use has taken on new importance. At the same time, the extent to which people trust the new...

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/23808985.2020.1755338

News media trust and its impact on media use: toward a framework for future research

Research indicates that the reach of fake news websites is limited to small parts of the population. On the other hand, data demonstrate that large proportions of the public know about notable fake...

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/23808985.2020.1759443

Causes and consequences of mainstream media dissemination of fake news: literature review and synthesis

This article investigates the possibilities that political parties have to sell specific policies to a broad electorate by use of persuasive words in election pledges. Prior research has shown that parties can increase their electoral support by targeting different groups of voters with different policies or by moderating policy platforms to the center. We investigate whether voters’ appreciation of specific policy pledges increases when rhetoric is used to appeal broadly. Inspired by literature on philosophy of language and linguistic semantics, we designed a survey experiment in which 1,960 Swedish citizens evaluated election pledges. We randomized whether the policy was described using universal persuasive words. Results showed that universal persuasive words increase the appreciation of specific policy pledges, particularly among individuals oriented close to and at the center of the ideological left–right scale (the median voters). The effects decrease with ideological (left and right) extremity. In times when center voters become increasingly important for election outcomes, indications that they are susceptible to universal, but left–right ideology-neutral, rhetoric are interesting both for parties and scholars of the same.

Election Pledge Rhetoric: Selling Policy with Words

Campaigning in Poetry, Governing in Prose: Pre- and Post-Election Effects of Election Pledge Rhetoric

Falling participation rates is one of the most significant challenges facing survey research today. To curb this negative trend, scholars have searched for factors that can increase and decrease ci...

Elina Lindgren

Papers

News media trust and its impact on media use: toward a framework for future research

Causes and consequences of mainstream media dissemination of fake news: literature review and synthesis

Election Pledge Rhetoric: Selling Policy with Words

Campaigning in Poetry, Governing in Prose: Pre- and Post-Election Effects of Election Pledge Rhetoric

Invitation Timing and Participation Rates in Online Panels: Findings From Two Survey Experiments: