Chapter 18

Mass-Mediated Political
Communication Effects

Influences on Political
Communication

Social

scene
Political landscape
Media environment
Media content

Functions of Mass Media in

Democracy
1.

2.
3.
4.

Surveillance of contemporary events that are likely

to impinge upon the welfare of citizens
Identification of key sociopolitical issues
Provision of platforms for advocacy
Transmission of diverse content across the
various dimensions and factions of political
discourse

Functions of Mass Media in

Democracy (Contd)
5.
6.

7.

8.

Scrutiny of government officials

Incentives and information to allow citizens to
become more actively informed participants
Principled resistance to external sources
attempting to subvert media autonomy
Respectful consideration of the audience as
potentially concerned and efficacious citizens

Media Content
Two

types:

Political advertising: primary form of

communication between political candidates and
the voting public
News stories: television advertising for political
candidates

usually used for major campaigns

Media Content (Contd)

Political

ads on television usually:

Present particular candidate images

Provide information about key issues
Provide more information about campaign issues
than candidate images

Types of Media Content

Frames

Abstract notions that media professionals use

to present news stories

News

flaws

Personalization
Fragmentation
Dramatization
Normalization
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News Flaws That Influence

Political Communication
Personalization

The tendency for news stories to concentrate on

individuals when reporting on large-scale social
concerns

Fragmentation

The delivery of news in brief capsule summaries

News Flaws That Influence

Political Communication
(Contd)
Dramatization

News is selected based on entertainment value

rather than its importance as an issue.

Normalization

News stories show how particular problems can

be solved within the existing political system.
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Research on Political
Communication Effects

Most political communication studies

concentrate on the individual.
Macro-level studies examine effects on
systems.
The nature and strength of effects from
mediated political communication
depend on a number of different factors.

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Micro-level Studies
Four major areas:

1.
2.
3.
4.

Formation and change of opinion

Effects of cognitive processes
Voter perceptions of the political system
Effects on political behavior or participation

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Formation and Change of

Opinion
Political

media messages produce much

stronger effects than previously thought.
Models used to conduct studies:

Petty and Cacioppos Elaboration Likelihood

Model
Fishbein and Ajzens reasoned action model

Variables

of interest in persuasion include:

message variables, channels, timing, audience

variables, and effects from polling information
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Effects of Cognitive Processes

Four types of research have been used:

1.
2.
3.
4.

Agenda-setting research
Priming research
Knowledge gain
Framing

Researchers have tried to measure

audiences broader understanding of
political information conveyed in news
stories.
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Voter Perceptions

Voters are persuaded less by personal

pocketbook matters than by their perceptions
about the economic health of the country.
Media coverage may cause voters to perceive
individuals to be responsible for particular social
problems such as poverty or crime.
Two types of frames for political news stories:

Episodic- using case study examples

Thematic- approaching an issue from a general
perspective

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Political Behavior

Media effects may be direct or indirect.

Political ads have proven effective in influencing
voting decisions.
Many people learn from political ads and may be
influenced by both positive and negative ads.
Negative political ads are effective in influencing
voters when:

Voters perceive them to be fair

They focus on issues that are important to voters

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Political Behavior (Contd)

People

tend to remember negative ads more

than positive ads.
Adwatches provide analyses, interpretations
and evaluations of the ads.
The strength of influence on voting behavior
attributed to interpersonal communication has
varied.

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Macro-level Studies
Few

macro-level effects studies are

conducted due to difficulties in measurement.
Purely descriptive macro-level studies
abound

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Descriptive Macro Studies

Few

people are politically knowledgeable

and active.
People with high levels of education tend to
vote more often.
Television has been blamed for problems
with the American political system.

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Effects on Policy Making

The

use of investigative reporting contributed

to civic reforms in several areas.
Media publicity has been shown to help
lawmakers achieve their goals and raise
money toward reelection campaigns.

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Factors Influencing Media

Effects
Individual

characteristics influence:

Party preferences
Personal images or evaluations of the news
media
Personal motivations for particular gratifications

Information

processing

The more attention a person gives to a story, the

more the person learns from it.

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