Media Effects

There is much research documenting the agenda-setting effect of media. Studies indicate that simply covering topics as news can introduce those topics into audience discourse, essentially getting people to talk about or care about what they otherwise may not be likely to. This effect was documented by Iyengar and Kinders 1987 book News That Matters, in which the authors presented evidence that the media actually precedes public agenda (Sparks 2002). The book details an experiment in which people were exposed to one of three different presentations of the news over a 4-day period. The researchers found that the experimental groups expressed greater concern about the issue that had been featured in their respective newscast.

Level of media exposure is sometimes considered as a factor in media effects research, as it was for Fridkin, ET all in their multi-methodological approach to understanding the impact of media coverage following the final presidential campaign debate of 2004. The group conducted a content analysis of television, internet and newspaper coverage in the immediate 24-hours following the debate (Fridkin et al 2008). They paired this with data from a public opinion survey and conducted an experiment tracking the stability of attitudes about the candidates among individuals who either were or were not exposed to the debate. A notable observation in the context of this literature review is that the extreme level of media saturation following a presidential debate gives very few citizens a chance to escape the common news agenda. In the case of the post-debate coverage, which these researchers concluded to be one-sided, favoring George W. Bush over John Kerry, more potential exists for media effects to influence public opinion. Thus, theoretically, the coupling of intense media coverage and a one-sided story should influence citizens attitudes of the competing candidates

A case study of a 2004 poll by the Los Angeles Times illustrates the potential for a single news report to achieve high levels of exposure and, consequently, potentially influence public opinion. Hardy and Jamieson found that the specific wording of the poll and the subsequent report about it not only influenced the newspaper audiences perceptions of the two presidential candidates at the time, George W. Bush and John Kerry. Coverage of the poll also swayed the conversation of the nation after being picked up by the Associated Press and carried nationwide (Hardy and Jamieson 2005). Looking back on 2004, the authors analyzed data from a rolling cross-sectional survey from the National Annenberg Election Survey to document what others before them had long posited, That poll results may prime character traits through attribute agenda-setting. In this case, a small but detectable change in the publics assessment of both Bushs stubbornness and his steady leadership was found.

Conversely, consider the spiral of silence theory, which describes public opinion as an essential human trait, spanning societies and millennia, and exerting its own influence on both governments and individuals. In related research that spanned decades, Noelle-Neumann determined that humans social nature leads people to fear isolation, which is threatened by society in reaction to unpopular opinions and behaviors (Noelle-Neumann; Sparks 2002). In response to popular public opinion, Noelle-Neumann asserts, citizens learn silence to avoid isolation. In her discussion of numerous tests of the spiral of silence theory by other researchers, Noelle-Neumann claims any failure of the theory has been tested without taking the tenor of the media into account. Rather than refuting the theory of the spiral of silence, the silent majority shows how strongly the mass media must be seen to influence the process of public opinion. The tenor of the media generates a threat of isolation. (Noelle-Neumann 1991) Media Evolution

Its also important to remember that media effects are the product of a dynamic relationship with the media themselves. A review of related scholarly studies reveals a landscape of effects that is evolving as rapidly as new media platforms are being developed and appropriated for news.

Prior to the emergence of the Internet as a dominant media force, Simon suggested that newspapers, rather than television, radio or magazines, are related to the likelihood that a person will vote. Tapping data from the ongoing National Election Study survey during the 1992 presidential campaign, Simon created an index that measured two dimensions: exposure to the medium (whether a person had received any campaign information from the medium) and intensity of use (how much attention the person paid to campaign stories in that medium) (Simon 1996). He then analyzed voter turnout patterns, taking into account demographics, political variables and the subjects level of personal dialogue about the campaign. He found that New News outlets, an umbrella, under which he included radio and television talk shows, exposed more people to campaign events than otherwise may have learned about them. However, this exposure did not result in increased rates of voter turnout among those citizens. Only adults who said they followed the campaign through newspapers were found to be more likely to vote.

Druckman developed his methodology in pursuit of evidence that newspaper audiences commanded more political knowledge than television viewers due to a fundamental difference in the depth of coverage that each medium offered (Druckman 2005). He cites previous studies that alternatively support the correlation between newspaper readership and issues knowledge or else complicate the question with the introduction of prior political knowledge as a factor to weigh. Conducting content analysis and exit polling about a single campaign in a single market, Druckman concludes that newspapers more than television at the time did hold a more influential, although potentially limited, role in informing the electorate.

Now fast-forward to the age of the internet, when Drew and Weavers fifth in a series of presidential election-year telephone surveys indicated that attention not to newspapers, but to television news, televised debates, and online news were the important predictors, or at least correlates, of voter learning of candidate issue positions and voter interest in the election campaigns. Their study also related to perceptions of voter apathy, studies of which are discussed below. Regarding political involvement among audiences, the research indicated a slightly waning influence of newspapers compared to previous years. The authors also expressed their own surprise at the consistency of attention to radio news as a predictor, or at least a correlate, of campaign interest in the last four U.S. presidential elections (Drew, D.,Weawer, D.2006).

Local Media

While many research studies examine the effects of mass media, some consideration of local news outlets can also be found. Responding to their own personal observations of the 2000 presidential primary race in South Carolina, Vinson and Moore set out to discover if local and national coverage of the subject was, indeed, as divergent as it had seemed to them and if so, what implications that held for local and national audiences, respectively. The ensuing content analysis created a basis for comparison among local and national media coverage and campaign communications by and on behalf of the candidates themselves. The researchers found a stark disconnect between what the campaigns versus media emphasized in the race (Vinson and Moore 2007), but also between what local and national media conveyed .They interpreted that local reporters, by incorporating local contacts and their own knowledge and understanding of the state into their stories, more accurately reflected the reality of the campaign for residents where the campaign was actually taking place. Local reporters correctly predicted the lack of impact the cancellation of the Democratic primary would have on crossover votes and provided a somewhat more accurate account of the negative campaigning. Vinson and Moore also found a significant difference between the two levels of media in their coverage of character. Most of the character coverage occurred in the local press. It did not even make the top 10 issues for the national media.

Extending their study to exit polls in both South Carolina and Michigan, where the Republican primary was conducted just three days later, Vinson and Moore found what they presented as evidence of this divergent coverages impact on voter behavior. Taking other factors into account, they conclude that Michigan voters, basing their ballot decisions largely on national media coverage, came away from the South Carolina primary with a very different perspective than their counterparts in South Carolina, who had more access to local coverage. The authors also opine that national coverage of locally conducted campaigns, built primarily on first impressions and borrowed press frames, results in reporting that is not completely inaccurate, but also certainly not complete.

Newhagen and Nass also touch on some differences between mass and local media in their scholarly review and exploration of credibility. The authors arrive at a negative relationship between distance and credibility, in which local news outlets, being closer to their readers, enjoy comparatively more credibility with local audiences than mass media, who have to overcome both perceived and physical distance between the institutions and their readers in any given locality (Newhagen and Nass1989).

Despite this perception of credibility among local news sources, some critics accuse local television news of being no more than a vast wasteland based on content analyses that reveal hyperfocus on crime, murder, car chases, and mayhem, particularly in lead stories (Belt and Just 2008). After a five-year content analysis of local news in 50 markets, in which Belt and Just examine the relationship between content sophistication and business viability, the two suggest that true credibility actually can and should be earned. We come to the surprising conclusion that quality is not merely good practice but good for the bottom line. The authors do not suggest that stepping up the quality and relevance of local news is without its challenges; rather they maintain that such investment is worthwhile, for the sake of getting and keeping the publics interest in the news, fulfilling the basic function of journalism in society, and at the same time achieving economic success Content and Perception

Essential to exploring the sophistication of election news is the ways different types of news influence audience decisions about how and even if to vote. Many studies, in fact, define civic engagement as a dependent variable influenced at least in part by news frames and news content. Following common concerns among scholars that negativism discourages political participation (Pinkleton and Austin 2009)