scholarly journals Knowing More from Less: How the Information Environment Increases Knowledge of Party Positions

2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 571-588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Banducci ◽  
Heiko Giebler ◽  
Sylvia Kritzinger
Keyword(s):  
Asymmetric Information ◽  
News Media ◽  
Political Party ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Information Environment ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Policy Performance ◽  
Party Positions ◽  
Informed Citizenry

Access to information is a hallmark of democracy, and democracy demands an informed citizenry. Knowledge of party positions is necessary for voters so that electoral choices reflect preferences, allowing voters to hold elected officials accountable for policy performance. Whereas most vote choice models assume that parties perfectly transmit positions, citizens in fact obtain political information via the news media, and this news coverage can be biased in terms of salience – which leads to asymmetric information. This study examines how information asymmetries in news coverage of parties influence knowledge about political party positions. It finds that the availability of information in the news media about a party increases knowledge about its position, and that party information in non-quality news reduces the knowledge gap more than information in quality news.

scholarly journals Why context, relevance and repetition matter in news reporting: Interpreting the United Kingdom’s political information environment

Journalism ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-53
Author(s):  
Stephen Cushion ◽  
Justin Lewis ◽  
Allaina Kilby
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
News Media ◽  
Television News ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Information Environment ◽  
Democratic Citizenship ◽  
Political Information ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Political Responsibility ◽  
Structured Interviews

This study develops a multi-method approach to analysing political information environments, exploring how media and political systems help shape people’s understanding of news. In doing so, we ask a question fundamental to democratic citizenship: how well do news media communicate political responsibility and policy differences across political systems? Our study examines the United Kingdom’s political information environment, where significant power is devolved to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with different political parties in control. Drawing on a content analysis of 17,765 news items, a representative survey of 3272 respondents and 15 semi-structured interviews, we examine the dominant information sources about UK politics by longitudinally tracing coverage of devolved issues from 2007 to 2016, and gauging how well it was understood by television news viewers. Our results suggest that while BBC news is more sensitive to communicating the devolved relevance of news than more commercial outlets, there remains a democratic deficit in the supply of political information and audience understanding of where power and responsibility lies. If news coverage more regularly communicated the relevance and context of devolved issues, we argue it could open up democratic opportunities for citizens to consider a wider range of policy options debated in all four political institutions.

Welcome to the Party

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khadijah Costley White
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Audience Appeal

This chapter lays out the Tea Party’s history as a mass-mediated construction in the context of journalism, political communication, and social movement studies. It argues that the news coverage of the Tea Party primarily chronicled its meaning, appeal, motivations, influence, and circulation—an emphasis on its persona more than its policies. In particular, the news media tracked the Tea Party as a brand, highlighting its profits, marketability, brand leaders, and audience appeal. The Tea Party became a brand through news media coverage; in defining it as a brand, the Tea Party was a story, message, and cognitive shortcut that built a lasting relationship with citizen-consumers through strong emotional connections, self-expression, consumption, and differentiation.

Agenda-Setting Dynamics during the Campaign Period

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Partheymüller
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
News Media ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Information Environment ◽  
Limiting Factors ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Agenda Setter ◽  
Memory Decay ◽  
The Media

It is widely believed that the news media have a strong influence on defining what are the most important problems facing the country during election campaigns. Yet, recent research has pointed to several factors that may limit the mass media’s agenda-setting power. Linking news media content to rolling cross-section survey data, the chapter examines the role of three such limiting factors in the context of the 2009 and the 2013 German federal elections: (1) rapid memory decay on the part of voters, (2) advertising by the political parties, and (3) the fragmentation of the media landscape. The results show that the mass media may serve as a powerful agenda setter, but also demonstrate that the media’s influence is strictly limited by voters’ cognitive capacities and the structure of the campaign information environment.

Before the summit: News media framing, scripts and the flag-raising at Iwo Jima

2021 ◽  
pp. 175063522199094
Author(s):  
Matthew Pressman ◽  
James J Kimble
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
News Media ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Media Framing ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
World War ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Cognitive Scripts ◽  
New Interpretation

Drawing upon media framing theory and the concept of cognitive scripts, this article provides a new interpretation of the context in which the famous World War II photograph ‘Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima’ appeared. This interpretation is based primarily on an examination of American newspaper and newsreel coverage from the Pacific island battles prior to Iwo Jima. The coverage – especially the pictorial coverage – often followed a three-step sequence that showed US forces proceeding from a landing to a series of skirmishes, then culminating with a flag-raising image. This created a predictable cognitive script. That script, combined with other framing devices found in the news coverage (such as metaphors and catchphrases), conveyed the misleading message that the Allies’ final victory over Japan was imminent in early 1945. The Iwo Jima photo drove home that message more emphatically than anything else. This circumstance had profound implications for government policy at the time and, in retrospect, it illustrates the potency of media framing – particularly in times of crisis or war.

Looking over the channel: The balance of media coverage about the “refugee crisis” in Germany and the UK

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Maurer ◽  
Jörg Haßler ◽  
Simon Kruschinski ◽  
Pablo Jost
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Television News ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Value Theory ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
British Government ◽  
News Value ◽  
The Uk

Abstract This study compares the balance of newspaper and television news coverage about migration in two countries that were differently affected by the so-called “refugee crisis” in 2015 in terms of the geopolitical involvement and numbers of migrants being admitted. Based on a broad consensus among political elites, Germany left its borders open and received about one million migrants mainly from Syria during 2015. In contrast, the conservative British government was heavily attacked by oppositional parties for closing Britain’s borders and, thus, restricting immigration. These different initial situations led to remarkable differences between the news coverage in both countries. In line with news value theory, German media outlets reported much more on migration than did their British counterparts. In line with indexing theory, German news coverage consonantly reflected the consensual view of German political elites, while British news media reported along their general editorial lines.

scholarly journals Trust in the European Union: Effects of the information environment

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Brosius ◽  
Erika J van Elsas ◽  
Claes H de Vreese
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
News Media ◽  
Information Environment ◽  
Direct Effects ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Media

Over the past decade, the European Union has lost the trust of many citizens. This article investigates whether and how media information, in particular visibility and tonality, impact trust in the European Union among citizens. Combining content analysis and Eurobarometer survey data from 10 countries between 2004 and 2015, we study both direct and moderating media effects. Media tone and visibility have limited direct effects on trust in the European Union, but they moderate the relation between trust in national institutions and trust in the European Union. This relation is amplified when the European Union is more visible in the media and when media tone is more positive towards the European Union, whereas it is dampened when media tone is more negative. The findings highlight the role of news media in the crisis of trust in the European Union.

Frames as Boundaries: Rhetorical Framing Analysis and the Confines of Public Discourse in Online News Coverage of Vegan Parenting

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-170
Author(s):  
Ryan J. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Boundary Work ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Online News ◽  
Framing Analysis ◽  
Public Issues ◽  
Boundary Properties ◽  
Blind Spots

This article examines the boundary work of frames and the methodological significance of understanding this work when conducting rhetorical framing analysis. While the boundary properties of frames have been theorized by scholars, there remains a lack of clear engagement with how to effectively address these discursive boundaries methodically. I argue that agenda-dismissal, which makes use of both prolepses and blind spots, ought to be addressed in addition to agenda-setting and agenda-extension when conducting rhetorical framing analysis. A case study is provided in which the rhetorical framing of vegan parenting in online news media is analyzed and critiqued for confining the issue within a dominant health-based frame. Strategies for dismantling discursive boundaries and reframing public issues are also considered within the context of the case study.

scholarly journals News values on social media: Exploring what drives peaks in user activity about organizations on Twitter

Journalism ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 633-651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theo Araujo ◽  
Toni GLA van der Meer
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Value Theory ◽  
News Values ◽  
News Value ◽  
Twitter Users ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Twitter Activity

Since news circulation increasingly takes place online, the public has gained the capacity to influence the salience of topics on the agenda, especially when it comes to social media. Considering increased scrutiny about organizations, this study aims to understand what causes heightened activity to organization-related topics among Twitter users. We explore the extent to which news value theory, news coverage, and influential actors can explain peaks in Twitter activity about organizations. Based on a dataset of 1.8 million tweets about 18 organizations, the findings show that the news values social impact, geographical closeness, facticity, as well as certain influential actors, can explain the intensity of online activities. Moreover, the results advocate for a more nuanced understanding of the relation between news media and social media users, as indications of reversed agenda-setting patterns were observed.

scholarly journals Are Australian Teachers Making the Grade? A Study of News Coverage of Naplan Testing

2015 ◽  
Vol 154 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Shine
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Testing System ◽  
Journalism Education ◽  
Test Results ◽  
National Assessment ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Standardised Testing ◽  
And Training

The standardised testing of school children has been the subject of significant news media attention in recent years in many developed countries around the world. This article examines the reporting of annual National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests in three major Australian newspapers, with a particular focus on the portrayal of school teachers in the coverage. Overall, teachers were presented as strongly opposed to NAPLAN and the publication of test results, yet the newspapers themselves supported the tests as an important accountability measure. Teachers were depicted as trying to influence the testing system through teaching to the test and cheating. They were presented as generally inadequate as teachers, and were blamed for perceived failings in the educational system. These findings point to implications for teacher recruitment and retention, and for journalism education and training.

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