Showing papers in "Political Communication in 2001"
TL;DR: The authors explored the relationship between Internet use and individual-level production of social capital and found that informational uses of the Internet are positively related to individual differences in the production of Social capital, whereas social-recreational uses are negatively related to these civic indicators.
Abstract: This article explores the relationship between Internet use and the individual-level production of social capital. To do so, the authors adopt a motivational perspective to distinguish among types of Internet use when examining the factors predicting civic engagement, interpersonal trust, and life contentment. The predictive power of new media use is then analyzed relative to key demographic, contextual, and traditional media use variables using the 1999 DDB Life Style Study. Although the size of associations is generally small, the data suggest that informational uses of the Internet are positively related to individual differences in the production of social capital, whereas social-recreational uses are negatively related to these civic indicators. Analyses within subsamples defined by generational age breaks further suggest that social capital production is related to Internet use among Generation X, while it is tied to television use among Baby Boomers and newspaper use among members of the Civic Gene...
972 citations
TL;DR: This article investigated the visibility of political and economic news in general and of the launch of the euro in particular, and found variations across countries in the emphasis on political news, with the proportion of the newscast normally devoted to these subjects ranging from 45% to 60%.
Abstract: This study of the main evening television news programs in four European countries focuses on the framing of news surrounding a major European event, the January 1, 1999, introduction of the common European currency, the euro. We investigated the visibility of political and economic news in general and of the launch of the euro in particular. We found variations across countries in the emphasis on political and economic news, with the proportion of the newscast normally devoted to these subjects ranging from 45% to 60%. Journalists in all countries were more likely to emphasize conflict (rather than economic consequences) in framing general political and economic news. In the coverage of the launch of the euro, there was a greater emphasis on framing the news in terms of economic consequences. The findings are discussed in terms of influences on framing practices internal and external to journalism and the value of the cross-national comparative approach.
569 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the way in which the news media frame public policy issues and the extent to which other political players (e.g., interest groups, politicians) influence this issue framing process, finding that both sets of political players employed several interpretative issue frames and worked hard to put their preferred themes on the agenda.
Abstract: This article examines the way in which the news media frame public policy issues and the extent to which other political players (e.g., interest groups, politicians) influence this issue framing process. Our analysis focuses on the issue of gun control, comparing the rhetoric generated by interest groups and public officials on the Brady Bill and Assault Weapons Ban with actual network news coverage of this legislation from 1988 to 1996. Results indicate that both sets of political players employed several interpretative issue frames and worked hard to put their preferred themes on the agenda. However, at times, the media intervened in the framing process, especially as the debate matured. Specifically, the news media (a) structured the overall tone of the gun control debate, (b) adopted a distribution of framing perspectives different from that of politicians and interest groups, and (c) packaged policy discourse more often than not in terms of the "culture of violence" theme. These findings point toward...
334 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored the impact of strategy-based campaign coverage on voter turnout and confidence in government, and found that the effect of strategy frames will be moderated by political involvement and sophistication.
Abstract: This article explores the impact of strategy-based campaign coverage on turnout and confidence in government. Recent theoretical advances suggest that variables such as sophistication and involvement frequently moderate media exposure effects. We hypothesize that the impact of strategy frames will be moderated by political involvement and sophistication. In an experiment, we precisely isolate and manipulate particular story elements that have been said to foster public cynicism: the strategic interpretation of candidate motives, the presence of polling results, and the use of war or game metaphors to describe the campaign. Relative to the issue-oriented coverage, strategy frames boost the number of strategy-based comments people offer when describing the campaign and depress issue-based commentary. As expected, framing effects on turnout, trust in government, civic duty, and the perceived meaningfulness of elections are moderated by involvement and sophistication. Nonpartisans and those with less than a c...
259 citations
TL;DR: This article examined how communication patterns mediate the influences of values on political participation and found that the positive effects of postmaterial values on participation are mediated by communication patterns, while the negative effects of values were mediated by post-material values.
Abstract: This article examines how communication patterns mediate the influences of values on political participation. We find that the positive effects of postmaterial values on participation are mediated ...
240 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a survey of 592 registered voters in Washington state tested a set of relationships among political involvement, perceived media importance, political disaffection, and efficacy, and found that political involvement was positively associated with the perceived importance of newspapers and radio talk shows.
Abstract: Mass media have been blamed for distancing people from the political process by increasing cynicism and voter apathy. A telephone survey of 592 registered voters in Washington state tested a set of relationships among political involvement, perceived media importance, political disaffection, and efficacy. As hypothesized, political involvement was positively associated with the perceived importance of newspapers and radio talk shows. These, in turn, were negatively associated with cynicism and positively associated with efficacy. Cynicism was negatively associated with efficacy, while efficacy was positively associated with involvement. The results suggest that involvement is a key variable in the political decision making process through its relationships with orientations toward information sources. Thus, media can serve as a catalyst for involved citizen decision making. Scholars should attend to the motivational context individuals bring to the media when examining the role of the media in political d...
146 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed data from the EU member states to assess the relationship between preference for either public or commercial television and political knowledge and found that in most countries preference for public television goes hand-in-hand with greater knowledge of EU political matters.
Abstract: The introduction of commercial television in West European countries during the 1980s was accompanied by a fierce discussion about the consequences of ending the monopoly of public broadcasting. While proponents of market liberation argued that the outcome would produce greater diversity of contents and audiences, opponents feared negative consequences from this development. Against this background, the study reported here analyzes data from the EU member states to assess the relationship between preference for either public or commercial television and political knowledge. Findings show that in most countries preference for public television goes hand-in-hand with greater knowledge of EU political matters. The conclusion considers the consequences of these findings.
135 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that positive attention to counter-attitudinal political messages is worthy of study, in part because normative theories of democracy value exposure to information that might disturb citizens' political predispositions.
Abstract: Research following the "selective exposure" model has focused on avoidance of political messages with which a person might disagree. But positive attention to such "counter-attitudinal" messages is worthy of study, in part because normative theories of democracy value exposure to information that might disturb citizens' political predispositions. Surveys of youth (N = 417) and parents (N = 430) examine attention to newspaper, television, and Web messages about candidates. While there is somewhat more attention to messages about and for a person's favored political candidate or party, forms of political involvement (knowledge, curiosity, and discussion) that predict this "attitude-consistent" attention also predict counter-attitudinal attention at least as strongly. Parents' education and students' exposure to civics lessons also predict both kinds of attention. These results suggest that attention to counterattitudinal political messages is worthy of further study as an important goal of political sociali...
112 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an analysis of Congressional web sites reveals that women members, just as men in Congress do, portray themselves as having diverse interests and participating zealously in the Washington power struggle.
Abstract: According to previous studies, women in the U.S. Congress are often cast by the media and by voters as quite distinct from men, with a unique focus on women's issues and an outsider approach to governing. Contrary to the media's depiction and voters' expectations, however, an analysis of Congressional web sites reveals that women members, just as men in Congress do, portray themselves as having diverse interests and participating zealously in the Washington power struggle. Thus, women's self-presentations on the web do not support the notion that the images proffered by members contribute to media and voter stereotypes of women representatives.
83 citations
TL;DR: For instance, this article found that people who adhere to traditional moral codes and are misanthropic tend not to trust the news media to cover politics fairly, and that perception of how the media covered the Lewinsky scandal also influenced opinion about the press's fairness in general.
Abstract: This article reports an analysis of Americans' opinions about the news media's fairness in covering public affairs. The data come from the 1996 and 1998 National Election Studies, which contained variables tapping exposure to and opinions about the news media, as well as key political dispositionspartisanship, ideology, and opinion about presidential and congressional job performanceand a plethora of demographic variables. The data show that people who adhere to traditional moral codes and are misanthropic tend not to trust the news media to cover politics fairly. In a presidential election year, opinion about the president's job performance affects perceptions of the press's fairness. In an off-year election, however, opinion about the president's job performance is replaced by opinion about how the Congress has been doing its job. In addition, perception of how the media covered the Lewinsky scandal also influenced opinion about the press's fairness in general.
56 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that political knowledge and exposure to talk radio are equally good predictors of attitudes toward political leaders when studied separately, when tested against one another, exposure is the more effective measure.
Abstract: The effects of political news on the mass audience are usually difficult to establish empirically. Recent models of mass communication effects have held that political knowledge is a better indicator of media reception than traditional measures of exposure. This claim is tested in two studies of attitudes toward Democratic and Republican leaders during the 1996 U.S. presidential primary campaigns. The impact of messages from three types of political talk radio (PTR) is examined: Rush Limbaugh, other conservative hosts, and liberal/moderate hosts. Political knowledge and exposure to talk radio are found to be equally good predictors of attitudes toward political leaders when studied separately. However, when tested against one another, exposure is the more effective measure. Agreement between Rush Limbaugh's messages and his audience's attitudes toward political figures is consistent and strong. Biased processing of PTR content by audience members with partisan predispositions contrary to those of the host...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed weighted content analysis to distinguish between political ads that were produced but not aired and ads that actually aired in a particular media market, and found that Republican advertising in 1996 in Columbus was more negative than Democratic advertising during the fall campaign.
Abstract: This article proposes weighted content analysis as a methodological extension of traditional (unweighted) content analysis of political advertising. Weighted content analysis distinguishes between political ads that were produced but not aired and ads that actually aired in a particular media market. To illustrate the advantages of weighted content analysis, this article examines the 1996 presidential campaign in Columbus, Ohio. The tone of 132 presidential campaign ads produced by both candidates is compared with the tone of the 2,522 ads that aired on the three major network affiliates in Columbus. The price of the ad buy is used as an alternative weight that takes into account audience size and thus allows a further distinction between aired and watched ads. Both weighting procedures show that Republican advertising in 1996 in Columbus was more negative than Democratic advertising during the fall campaign, a result that remains undetected by unweighted content analysis. The article concludes by describ...
TL;DR: In this article, Mass media play an important role in determining both what type of activities a social movement organization engages in and the timing of those activities, and the media help to set the co...
Abstract: Mass media play an important role in determining both what type of activities a social movement organization engages in and the timing of those activities. In addition, the media help to set the co...
TL;DR: Chaffee's Retirement from Stanford University Political Communication: Reflections on the Occasion of Steve Chaffee's Retirement as discussed by the authors, Vol 18, No 2, pp 231-236
Abstract: (2001) The Future of Political Communication Research: Reflections on the Occasion of Steve Chaffee's Retirement from Stanford University Political Communication: Vol 18, No 2, pp 231-236
TL;DR: This paper explored the political resonance of quantitative methods in a reading of American discourse surrounding their social functions and virtues, concluding that quantification sits uneasily alongside history and story-telling as two poles of modern social description.
Abstract: This essay explores the political resonances of quantitative methods in a reading of American discourse surrounding their social functions and virtues. Key texts are drawn from three periods: the founding period, the late nineteenth century, and social psychology in the mid-twentieth century. It is shown that the idea of quantification is closely associated with democratic ideals. In adopting these methods, scholars cloak themselves in the image of objective, deliberative, public-minded democratic participants. Critics of quantification indict its dehumanizing indifference to personal experience and its susceptibility to manipulation. It is concluded that quantification sits uneasily alongside history and story-telling as two poles of modern social description.
TL;DR: In this article, a research agenda set forth in the 1975 book Political Communication is well suited for study in an era when conventional mass communication gives way to less centralized channels, including a focus on behavior and cognitions rather than inferred attitudes, close attention to measurement of media experience and conceptualization of curvilinear processes that occur over time.
Abstract: A research agenda set forth in the 1975 book Political Communication is well suited for study in an era when conventional mass communication gives way to less centralized channels. Features of this approach include a focus on behavior and cognitions rather than inferred attitudes, close attention to measurement of media experience, conceptualization of curvilinear processes that occur over time, comparative theorizing that can be tested across different national systems, and reconceptualization of communication as a process defined more by its functions than whether it occurs via mass media or interpersonal channels.
TL;DR: This paper analyzed the framing of the 1995 UN World Conference on Women in two mainstream American newspapers, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times, and identified recurrent themes used by the two newspapers to frame the event before, during and after it took place.
Abstract: This article analyzes journalistic framing of the 1995 Fourth UN World Conference on Women in two mainstream American newspapers, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times . The research identified recurrent themes used by the two newspapers to frame the event before, during, and after it took place. Content analysis of all conference-related stories in both papers showed that journalists focused on incidents and problems related to logistics rather than on the issues the conference was convened to consider. When substantive issues were mentioned, they were accompanied by little or no background analysis. Further, journalists often framed the conference by its geographical and ideological contexts, emphasizing the diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China. Stories tended to marginalize and stereotype certain institutions and political groups, and journalists were unlikely to cover the event by seeking a diversity of voices from among its participants. Results also suggest that the repeated associ...
TL;DR: The authors analyzes 2,805 organized interest advertorials that appeared on the lower right quadrant of The New York Times op-ed page from 1985 to 1998, and analyzes the types of advertorial messages that were used to influence policymakers and attentive publics.
Abstract: Advertorials are a form of outside lobbying that organized interests use to influence policymakers and attentive publics. It is apparent from their popularity that organized interests consider them to be an effective form of political communication. This article analyzes 2,805 organized interest advertorials that appeared on the lower right quadrant of The New York Times op-ed page from 1985 to 1998. Advertorials take two broad forms: (a) image advertorials, which are paid messages by organized interests designed to create a favorable climate of opinion, and (b) advocacy advertorials, which are sponsored messages intended to win support for an interest's viewpoints on controversial issues. Typologies of advertorials (11 categories), organized interests (21 categories), corporate and noncorporate economic interests (29 categories), and policy content (28 categories) are used to document annually and over time who is sponsoring advertorials, what types of advertorials are being used, what interests avail th...
TL;DR: This paper explored the relation of history to political communication research and found that political communication tends to ignore historical research, often relying upon implicit, unquestioned historical narratives, and encouraged a more robust historical imagination to assist in the development of tools for reflecting on the way political communication already deploys historical narratives.
Abstract: This essay introduces a series of articles that explore the relation of history to political communication research. It is shown that as a field of study political communication has tended to ignore historical methods and sensibilities. This tendency is traced to the field's roots in social psychology, political science, and early mass communication research. However, although political communication tends to ignore historical research, it often depends upon implicit, unquestioned historical narratives. Thus, a more robust historical imagination is encouraged not only because it may produce more and better historical research, but also because it may assist in the development of tools for reflecting on the way political communication already deploys historical narratives.
TL;DR: In this paper, a dual case study of the strategic use of presidential rhetoric is presented, drawing on sociological and social-psychological treatments of self-presentation and impression management.
Abstract: This is a dual case study of the strategic use of presidential rhetoric, drawing on sociological and social-psychological treatments of self-presentation and impression management. Comparison of the ''onstage'' and ''backstage'' language of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon provides an unprecedented opportunity to analyze presidential impression management strategies. The primary question posed here is the extent to which the tendency to engage in impression management is observable in the two presidents' major public appearances. The secondary questions are whether the two presidents pursued different self-presentation strategies, projecting positive but distinctive personas, or converged toward a common presidential profile and the extent to which their distinctive personalities came through in their private conversations. On the three dimensions examined here, the onstage Johnson and Nixon projected more ''presidential'' personas than their backstage counterparts. Backstage, their personas differed cons...
TL;DR: In this article, a model of public opinion is presented that incorporates and highlights historical knowledge, and it is shown that public opinion can be best viewed as an infrastructure consisting of measurement tools, media, and conceptions of public opinions.
Abstract: A model of public opinion is presented that incorporates and highlights historical knowledge. This model suggests that public opinion is best viewed as an infrastructure consisting of measurement tools, media, and conceptions of public opinion. Using this model, it is possible to gauge opinion, reading "backward" from analysis of cultural artifacts (e.g., film or art) and thereby detecting conceptions of public opinion at work in a given period. The usefulness of this model is demonstrated in a brief analysis of the American film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, which can be treated as a register of a particular infrastructure of public opinion operative in the 1930s.
TL;DR: This article argued that the study of political communication should include finding and observing people doing, and not just expressing or thinking about, politics, and argued that political practice in both space and time and paying close attention to empirical details can be traced to the notion of "drawing what you see".
Abstract: This essay reflects on the notion of politics and political communication as a form of cultural practice. This requires locating political practice in both space and time and paying close attention to empirical details--"drawing what you see." These precepts are illustrated in a discussion of different practices of voting in American history. The author argues that the study of political communication should include finding and observing people doing, and not just expressing or thinking about, politics.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide an analysis of the legal and public discourse concerning the right of privacy in the 1960s, during which the legal community had ambivalent feelings about recognizin...
Abstract: This article provides an analysis of the legal and public discourse concerning the ''right of privacy'' in the 1960s. During that period the legal community had ambivalent feelings about recognizin...
TL;DR: In this article, a critical discursive analysis of proper names used in Polish political discourse is presented, focusing on six addresses to the nation made by prominent public figures of the Polish political scene.
Abstract: This article offers a critical discursive analysis of proper names used in Polish political discourse, focusing on six addresses to the nation made by prominent public figures of the Polish political scenethe president, prime minister, and the primate of the Catholic Church. The names used in the speeches did not function merely as means of referring to places or persons. The speakers used them to construct an ideologically preferred reality. Those used by the president of Poland ''embellished'' the Communist past of the country and showed his political (post-Communist) option as a viable proposal for Poland. The speeches made by the primate of Poland created a politically uncontroversial image of the country, with the head of the Catholic Church positioned as a moral authority. Finally, the visible absence of names in the prime minister's speech represented the etatistic view of Poland.
TL;DR: Chaffee's work as mentioned in this paper discusses four basic characteristics of Steven Chaffee's research: going beyond the "common research wisdom," careful explication of concepts, avoiding unsubstantiated charges against the media, and investigation of the social aspects of communication.
Abstract: This article discusses four basic characteristics of Steven Chaffee's research: going beyond the "common research wisdom," careful explication of concepts, avoiding unsubstantiated charges against the media, and investigation of the social aspects of communication. The evolution of political socialization research is used as an example of how these characteristics have strengthened Chaffee's contribution to that area and to the larger field of political communication. It is argued that the future of this field would benefit from emulation of these characteristics. Continuing problems of political communication research are noted, and various emerging problems are discussed.
TL;DR: Chaffee and Schleuder as mentioned in this paper pointed out the limitations of the conventional metrics of media exposure in political communication and developed more precise indicators for media exposure, and incorporated longitudinal designs into his effects studies to push the field in new methodological directions.
Abstract: Political communication has emerged as a focal point to scholars in political science, communications, and allied social sciences. While the field’s prominence is attributable, in part, to well-documented changes in the American political process (see Kernell, 1993; Polsby, 1983), its newfound stature also stems from the gradual accumulation of evidence demonstrating that media management actually does yield significant rewards (for a review of the media effects literature, see Iyengar & Simon, 2000). In charting the progression of political communication as a distinct field of research, one cannot help noticing the close overlap between developments in the field and the scholarly career of Steven Chaffee. Over the past thirty-plus years, Chaffee’s work can be found in virtually every nook and cranny of the political communication literature. One of the persistent themes in his work is methodological, even though Chaffee himself is more of a methods gadfly than a practicing methodologist. He was among the first to recognize the limitations. He responded by developing more precise indicators of media exposure (Carter, Ruggels, & Chaffee, 1968; Chaffee & Choe, 1980; Chaffee & Schleuder, 1986) and by incorporating longitudinal designs into his effects studies (Chaffee & Choe, 1980; Chaffee, Ward, & Tipton, 1970). These innovations served to push the field in new methodological directions. The ensuing methodological ferment has contributed significantly to the current renaissance in political communication research.