Campaigns, Images and Polls: Mass Media Coverage of the 1984 Canadian Election

1988 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. H. Wagenberg ◽  
W. C. Soderlund ◽  
W. I. Romanow ◽  
E. D. Briggs
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Radio Networks ◽  
National Election ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Media ◽  
Electoral Behaviour ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls

AbstractShort-term factors played a greater than usual role in the 1984 national election. Media coverage of the campaign therefore had a crucial impact. This study documents the coverage of leaders, parties and substantive issues by the major television and radio networks and 18 newspapers selected by region and language. A major finding is that the media reported results of public opinion polls to an unprecedented degree. This was one facet of the featuring of “horserace” issues over more substantive socio-economic ones. The data lend credence to the fears of those who feel that essential democratic goals of the electoral process are being undermined. The study also suggests rethinking the “no effects” theory of polling and electoral behaviour.

Liberal Colonialism? Israel’s 2013 Elections and the “Ethnocratic Bubble”

2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 48-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oren Yiftachel
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
The Other ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
First Time ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls ◽  
Ruling Party

Israel’s 2013 Knesset elections, in which the incumbent ruling party was returned to power for the first time in a quarter-century, were noteworthy in several respects. The basic divisions of Israeli politics into geopolitical and socioeconomic blocs were unchanged, only small electoral shifts being registered. On the other hand, as this report shows, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu barely achieved an electoral victory despite his overwhelming preponderance in public-opinion polls. Due to the rise of the new, personality-driven Yesh Atid party and the latter’s unlikely alliance with the settler-based Jewish Home, which together garnered as many Knesset seats as the winning Likud-Yisrael Beitenu list, for the first time in decades ultra-Orthodox parties were excluded from the governing coalition. The elections were marked by the near-invisibility of the Palestinian issue and Palestinian citizens of Israel. The report concludes that the continuing governing consensus in favor of “liberal colonialism” is unsustainable, although exploiting the “cracks” in that consensus is difficult and unlikely in the short term.

scholarly journals USING PUBLIC OPINION POLLS IN THE COVERAGE OF THE 2020 LOCAL ELECTIONS IN TV NEWS

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-42
Author(s):  
Olha Harmatiy ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Television News ◽  
Complete Information ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
The Media ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls

For many Ukrainians, the “window” into the world of news is television, especially television news. Having studied the news programs of all-Ukrainian channels, it can be noted that despite broadcasting local elections facts on all TV channels, they did not get such great media interest as the presidential or parliamentary ones, which may indicate little attention of central media to local politics. With the increased public interest in sociology during the election period, the proper dissemination of sociological information is important. It is important for people to learn from the media about reliable rankings accompanied with mandatory methodological information. The study proves the most problematic in the coverage of polling was the publication of information about customers in the media. Survey results manipulation also occurred through using research from dubious and pseudo-sociological institutions and ignoring information from well-known and authoritative organizations. Such non-compliance with the standards of releasing public opinion polls violates the requirements of the Electoral Code and causes the neglect of citizens’ rights to full and objective information about the elections. The conclusion can be made that television, as a popular channel for obtaining information among Ukrainians, did not give the audience full access to the results of sociological research on local elections. The paper offers some solutions to the situation, for instance, increasing the responsibility of the media for disseminating incomplete and unreliable survey results. It is also significant that sociological services provide comprehensive information about their research. If sociological companies are open and provide full reports, the media will have more opportunities to release complete information about the polls to the public. In addition, enhancing general media literacy, the ability to interpret survey results and define their accuracy and reliability will contribute to the citizens’ resistance to sociological data manipulation in the media.

scholarly journals Undifferentiated optimism and scandalized accidents: the media coverage of autonomous driving in Germany

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (04) ◽  
pp. A02
Author(s):  
Lena Jelinski ◽  
Katrin Etzrodt ◽  
Sven Engesser
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Social Acceptance ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Autonomous Vehicle ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Autonomous Driving ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Mass Media

When, to what extent and under what conditions autonomous driving will become common practice depends not only on the level of technical development but also on social acceptance. Therefore, the rapid development of autonomous driving systems raises the question of how the public perceives this technology. As the mass media are regarded as the main source of information for the lay audience, the news coverage is assumed to affect public opinion. The mass media are also frequently criticized for their inaccurate and biased news coverage. Against this backdrop, we conducted a content analysis of the news coverage of autonomous driving in five leading German newspapers. Findings show that media reporting on autonomous driving is not very detailed. They also indicate a slight positive bias in the balance of arguments and tonality. However, as soon as an accident involving an autonomous vehicle occurs, the frequency of reporting, as well as the extent of negativity and detail increase. We conclude that well-informed public opinion requires more differentiated reporting — irrespective of accidents.

Printmedia poll reporting in Poland: Poll as news in Polish parliamentary campaigns, 1991–2007

2011 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Szwed
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Media ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Minimal Disclosure ◽  
Opinion Polls ◽  
The Way

Information about the support given by the public opinion to political actors has become a constant element of the public debate in Poland after the fall of Communism. Very soon polls became an argument in debates, a premise, or a way to justify decisions. At the same time they were criticized both by politicians and journalists convinced that polls can significantly influence the election results. But the fact was not noticed in Poland that all debates about the influence of polls on election outcomes should be preceded by a discussion of the way they are presented in the media. The present article joins this debate by subjecting to analysis the polls published in the Polish press during parliamentary campaigns in the dimensions of the role they played during the recent several years, the quality of methodological information, and of the way the polls were used in the media. As opposed to European and American analyses, no improvement in the conformity to standards of minimal disclosure in newspapers’ reporting of public opinion polls was noticed, although—like in other countries—a dramatic increase in the number of polls reported was observed.

March 31, 2019 Local Elections and the Media

2020 ◽  
pp. 136-151
Author(s):  
Ceren Yegen
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Election Campaigns ◽  
The Public ◽  
Governance Process ◽  
The Media ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls

Voters in a democracy contribute to the governance process and mediate the legitimacy of equality and pluralism. This is of great importance in terms of understanding and legitimizing the true meaning of democracy. In the last decade, Turkey has experienced many elections. Local elections on March 31, 2019 were very important. They were quite different in terms of the presentation of political parties and their candidates in the media because both politicians and the public ascribed a lot of meaning to these elections. Therefore, the media showed great interest in the March 31, 2019 local elections, frequently featuring public opinion polls, election campaigns, and political statements that informed voters in real time. This chapter examines the media content of the March 31, 2019 elections.

scholarly journals Attitudinal and Behavioral Consequences of Published Opinion Polls

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Moy ◽  
Eike Mark Rinke
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Policy Maker ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Mass Public ◽  
Local Newspaper ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls ◽  
Normative Role

It is a truism to speak of the key normative role that public opinion polls play in contemporary democratic societies. Theorists and practitioners have long extolled how polls inextricably link citizens to their elected officials. Indeed, public opinion polls not only offer citizens a mechanism with which to express their sentiment on key issues of the day but also provide policy makers with information about what their constituents might or might not desire. Citizens may be able to express their views on a particular issue through individual acts such as donating money to a cause or writing a letter to the editor of a local newspaper, but along with voting polls are one of the few opportunities that offer the mass public equal voice. Moreover, the role that polls play in the citizen–policy maker relationship hinges upon their dissemination by the mass media.

scholarly journals Mediernes formidling af meningsmålinger: Indholdsanalyse af folketingsvalg, 2005-2011

Politik ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Gahner Larsen ◽  
Simon Grundt Straubinger
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
News Media ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Systematic Deviation ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Quantitative Content ◽  
The Media ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls ◽  
Over Time

This article examines the information the Danish news media provide when reporting public opinion polls. e study has been done through quantitative content analysis of 424 newspaper and Internet articles from four major Danish dailies during the last three parliamentary elections. e study found that only about half of the seven ESOMAR/WAPOR-requirements included here were reported. e results from the estimated regression show that the media in general provides more methodological information in newspaper articles than on the Internet, and that the media becomes better at reporting public opinion polls over time. Com- pared with studies conducted in other countries we nd no systematic deviation in how public opinion polls are reported in Denmark. 

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