Showing papers by "Michael A. Xenos published in 2006"
TL;DR: This paper found that viewers were more likely than non-viewers to base their evaluations of George W. Bush on character traits after he appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman.
Abstract: Having become fully integrated into the contemporary political landscape, infotainmentoriented media extend Americans’ traditional news (e.g. newspaper, radio, and television) to include a greater number of sources for political information, and in some cases, political mobilization. Given the increasing prominence of infotainment-oriented media in contemporary politics, this study addresses the effects of one particular type of infotainment—late-night comedy—during the 2000 presidential campaign. Specifically, we are interested in whether watching late-night comedy shows influences viewers’ evaluations of the candidates who have appeared on these shows; in particular, we investigate priming as the mechanism by which such influences occur. Findings from the 2000 National Annenberg Election Survey (N = 11,482) indicate that evaluations of candidates are based in part on respondents’ sociodemographics, perceptions of candidates to handle certain issues, and their character traits. There was a main effect of watching latenight comedy on evaluations of candidates; more importantly, viewers were more likely than nonviewers to base their evaluations of George W. Bush on character traits after he appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman. A large corpus of political communication scholarship grounded in the election
148 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that systematic human coding and interpretation of linked-to producer types affords a more concrete and specific basis for hypothesizing about linking strategies than machine mapping, while providing a more robust attempt to generalize across the universe of candidate Web sites than ethnographic analysis.
Abstract: This article offers preliminary insights and a possible empirical model for managing the conceptual, methodological, and technological challenges entailed in developmental analysis of link-mediated relations. We offer a “mid-range” approach to making sense of linking practices, midway between close rhetorical/ethnographic analysis of links and large-scale link mapping. We suggest that systematic human coding and interpretation of linked-to producer types affords a more concrete and specific basis for hypothesizing about linking strategies than machine mapping, while providing a more robust attempt to generalize across the universe of candidate Web sites than ethnographic analysis. To illustrate this two-pronged approach to link analysis, we examine the linking practices exhibited on Web sites produced by U.S. Congressional candidates during the 2002 campaign season, focusing on the extent and development of links from candidate Web sites to other types of political Web sites during the three months prior to the November, 2002 election.
110 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the effects of two forms of interactivity commonly found on political candidate campaign Web sites in the 2002 U.S. House election cycle, focusing on features or mechanisms used to enable or facilitate communication between site users and the campaign.
Abstract: This study examined the effects on users of two forms of interactivity commonly found on political candidate campaign Web sites in the 2002 U.S. House election cycle. The first form, campaign-to-user interactivity, focuses on features or mechanisms used to enable or facilitate communication between site users and the campaign. The second form, text-based interactivity, focuses on how site content is verbally and visually expressed. Study participants viewed one of four versions of either a Democratic or Republican campaign website. Both text-based and campaign-to-user interactivity increased the amount of time users spent on the site and their accurate recall of candidates' issue stances. The co-occurrence of both forms of interactivity, however, showed a noticeably lower level of issue recall, confirming earlier findings that too much interactivity can interfere with user recall of site content.
65 citations