Journal ArticleDOI
News, Political Knowledge and Participation: The Differential Effects of News Media Exposure on Political Knowledge and Participation
TLDR
The authors investigated the relationship between media and political knowledge and participation and found that exposure to news outlets with high levels of political content contributes the most to knowledge gains and increases the propensity to turn out to vote.Abstract:
This cross-national study investigates the relationship between media and political knowledge and participation. Drawing on panel surveys and news media content analyses the study links exposure and attention to specific media contents to changes in political knowledge and participation. While the literature on this issue is divided, this study shows that the positive effects of news media exposure outweigh the negative effects and that the effects are conditional upon actual content. Exposure to news outlets with high levels of political content (such as public television news and broadsheet newspapers) contributes the most to knowledge gains and increases the propensity to turn out to vote. Exposure to news outlets with less political content has either no effects or slightly positive effects, depending on the type of content. In other words, the effects of news media use on knowledge and participation are rather ‘virtuous’ than ‘vicious’. The results are discussed in the light of research on media effects and political participation.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community
TL;DR: As an example of how the current "war on terrorism" could generate a durable civic renewal, Putnam points to the burst in civic practices that occurred during and after World War II, which he says "permanently marked" the generation that lived through it and had a "terrific effect on American public life over the last half-century."
Journal ArticleDOI
Unpacking the Use of Social Media for Protest Behavior: The Roles of Information, Opinion Expression, and Activism
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined three explanations for this relationship in the context of citizens' protest behavior: information (social media as a source for news), opinion expression (using social media to express political opinions), and activism (joining causes and finding mobilization information through social media).
Journal ArticleDOI
Presidential Communications: Description and Analysis@@@The Paradox of Mass Politics: Knowledge and Opinion in the American Electorate
TL;DR: In this article, W. Russell Neuman analyzes the major election surveys in the United States for the period 1948 1980 and develops for each a central index of political sophistication based on measures of political interest, knowledge, and style of political conceptualization.
Journal ArticleDOI
Political communication in a high-choice media environment: a challenge for democracy?
Peter Van Aelst,Jesper Strömbäck,Toril Aalberg,Frank Esser,Claes H. de Vreese,Jörg Matthes,David Nicolas Hopmann,Susana Salgado,Nicolas Hubé,Agnieszka Stępińska,Stylianos Papathanassopoulos,Rosa Berganza,Guido Legnante,Carsten Reinemann,Tamir Sheafer,James Stanyer +15 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review research on key changes and trends in political information environments and assess their democratic implications, focusing on advanced postindustrial democracies and six concerns that are all closely linked to the dissemination and acquisition of political knowledge: (1) declining supply of political information, (2) declining quality of news, (3) increasing media concentration and declining diversity of news.
References
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Book
Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community
TL;DR: Putnam as mentioned in this paper showed that changes in work, family structure, age, suburban life, television, computers, women's roles and other factors are isolating Americans from each other in a trend whose reflection can clearly be seen in British society.
Book
Mail and internet surveys : the tailored design method
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an overview of the design of web, mail, and mixed-mode surveys, and present a survey implementation approach for web-based and mail-based surveys.
Book
Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors define political participation as "how much? about what?" and "who participates" and "race, ethnicity, and gender" in the context of political participation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community
TL;DR: As an example of how the current "war on terrorism" could generate a durable civic renewal, Putnam points to the burst in civic practices that occurred during and after World War II, which he says "permanently marked" the generation that lived through it and had a "terrific effect on American public life over the last half-century."