The Dynamics of Political Communication Chapter 4 Media and Political Knowledge © 2018 Taylor & Francis

What do Americans know about politics? Topic How many? Can name the three branches of government Just over a fourth Able to accurately define several central political concepts such as liberal and conservative Less than half Know names of both US Senators from their state 35% Don’t know that free speech is protected in all media 4 in 10 Incorrectly believe that the Constitution gives the president the power to declare war Can identify more than one of the five freedoms ensured by the First Amendment 25% Can name at least two of the five members of The Simpsons More than half Can locate Central America or France on a map Just over half Really? © 2018 Taylor & Francis

Why do people know so little? What do you think? Why is political knowledge as low as it is? Lack of incentive The way news is presented Expansion of media choices Leaders intentionally convey misleading political facts Politicians offer short, tweet-like quips devoid of meaningful information (to capture attention) Increasing disconnect between politics and everyday life © 2018 Taylor & Francis

A More Optimistic View Realistically, its not possible to closely follow politics and formulate thoughtful perspectives on every issue given the demands on citizens’ time and difficulty of many issues Citizens use heuristics instead: cognitive shortcuts used to help make political decisions People may be short on political knowledge but still be capable of making reasonable decisions in elections Tests of political knowledge may also be flawed, as they tend to ask people to supply trivial facts unrelated to good citizenship Good citizenship doesn’t require intimate knowledge of every news issue Example: Voting the party line on ballots when voting for unfamiliar candidates for lesser known positions What are some cognitive shortcuts people take that generally still lead to reasonable political decisions? © 2018 Taylor & Francis

Mass Communication Perspective on Political Knowledge The classic mass communication perspective examines effects of each particular medium on knowledge Constructionism examines how people construct meaning from media messages to form beliefs and political attitudes Effects depend on the interaction among demographic categories, psychology of the individual, and content of the medium Users of information-rich websites are probably more educated, motivated, and capable of processing political information Thus, the Internet may replicate the cognitive benefits associated with the print journalism of the past © 2018 Taylor & Francis

Psychological Approach to Political Knowledge Psychological viewpoints focus on cognitive and emotional attributes individuals bring to political media A schema is “a cognitive structure consisting of organized knowledge about situations and individuals that has been abstracted from prior experiences” (Graber, 1988, p. 28) Key observations: Processing news is active, not passive News that resonates with preexisting beliefs is likely to reinforce and strengthen attitudes Partisans are particularly likely to harbor misperceptions even in the face of countervailing evidence Beliefs can be held so strongly that corrections can actually strengthen false beliefs Why could providing information that corrects a person’s false belief end up strengthening that false belief? © 2018 Taylor & Francis

Sociological approach to political knowledge The sociological approach emphasizes demographic and social structural factors Education and social class are major predictors of political knowledge There are knowledge gaps where media exacerbate differences produced by income and education When media accentuate knowledge gaps, the system fails the poor and less educated © 2018 Taylor & Francis

Putting It All together © 2018 Taylor & Francis

Political Knowledge in the Age of Internet and Social MEdia Social media is beginning to eclipse TV among young adults Nearly 80% of American adults read news on Facebook Online news influences political participation by providing a feeling of interactivity and connection Skeptics argue entertainment lures young people from paying close attention to news © 2018 Taylor & Francis

Conclusions There are many reasons why Americans lack political knowledge The mass media, Internet, and social media provide voluminous information, providing the raw materials of political belief There are striking inequalities in political knowledge between levels of education and wealth What people already know influences what they can learn from media Citizens increasingly get news online Low knowledge levels can have important effects, such as negative attitudes toward government © 2018 Taylor & Francis