1. The Dynamics of Political Communication Chapter 3 The Study of political communication
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2. Early political communication scholarship: Walter Lippmann
Rejected liberal democracy concepts such as the power of rational thought and ability of the press to provide accurate information
Concluded people were prone to psychologically distort information and engage in stereotyping
Recognized that media played a large role in shaping public opinion
Walter Lippmann
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3. ABC’s of Propaganda
Testimonial – the ability of a communication to call on the views of a credible spokesperson
Bandwagon – the persuasive influence exerted by the perception that large numbers of people supported a cause
Transfer – the powerful impact that a message could exert if it was associated with a popular image or symbol
What are some examples of testimonial, bandwagon, and transfer effects that we see during election campaigns?
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4. But how strong are media effects really?
Opinion Leaders
Voting Public
Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet (1944) found that media had only modest influences, such as clarifying attitudes and strengthening vote intentions
Two-step flow: media influence is mediated by influential opinion leaders
Mass media are less important than interpersonal influence
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5. The Limited Effects Model
Political attitudes and behaviors
Preexisting attitudes
Media influence
Social environmental factors
Joseph Klapper (1960) concluded that media influences on society were small to modest.
People acquire strong preexisting attitudes before coming to media
Media works together with social environmental factors
Media only contributes to or reinforces the effects of these other agents
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6. A New Perspective… Advent of television news changed everything
Strong televised images of the 1960s clashed with the limited media effects thesis
What was happening in the 1960s that would make television news a big deal?
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7. Data leads to new questions …
Nearly half of Republicans with exposure to predominantly Democratic media actually voted for the Democrat, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Voters who had exposure to primarily Republican newspapers and radio stations were more likely to vote for the Republican candidate than those who had primarily Democratic media exposure
Lazarsfeld focused only on voting behavior, not other factors like discussion, voters’ cognitions, or macro level factors
Research began to show that media could set the agenda or influence people’s perceptions of problems
Uses and gratifications research emphasized that audiences actively use media for specific gratifications like knowledge or voting guidance
Many new models began to suggest more subtle, indirect effects of media
When you consume
news, what are you
trying to do or get?
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8. Six Emerging Themes Media shapes our images of the world
Social networks matter
Early research was right about some things and wrong about others
Multiple political communication perspectives can be simultaneously true
Concerns about powerful media effects are pervasive in American political communication
Current political communication scholarship is full of continued debate and dialogue
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9. Where we are now
The dominant model used to emphasize that political media had top-down influences
The mass mediated model has been supplemented with a “networked public sphere” (Friedland, Hove, & Rojas, 2006)
Mainstream media exist online alongside competing platforms and a multitude of online posts
Citizens no longer exclusively receive mediated political messages, but now also initiate mediated political conversations with friends, journalists, and leaders
Frequently, citizens seek confirmation of what they already think
How many of you
share political
messages on
social media?
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10. Social Science and Political Communication
A theory is a large, sweeping conceptualization that offers a wide- ranging explanation of a phenomenon and generates concrete hypotheses about when and why specific events will occur
A hypothesis is a specific proposition that can be tested through evidence
Political communication research starts with a theory and hypothesis
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11. Social Science Research Methods
Content analysis systematically and quantitatively examines the characteristics, themes and symbols of a message
An experiment is a controlled study that provides evidence of causation through random assignment of individuals to a treatment or control group
A survey is a questionnaire or interview-based study that documents a correlation or relationship between two or more variables in a real-world setting, identifying factors that can best predict a particular outcome
Political communication researchers use many variations on and techniques for each of these methods
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12. Conclusions
The history of political communication scholarship is full of twist and turns, but also some continuities
Political media influence our picture of the world and helps construct political beliefs
Theory, hypotheses, and social science research methods guide political communication inquiries
Researchers have documented a number of effects:
Agenda-setting
Framing
Persuasion from cognitive processing
And many more …
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