Political Interest, Political Knowledge, and Evaluations of Political News Sources: Their Interplay in Producing Context Effects

2009 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 533-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic L. Lasorsa
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Dissonance ◽  
Context Effects ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Political News ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
General Explanation

In a survey experiment, political interest reports declined when preceded by political knowledge questions. The effect was stronger among women and those of less education, income, and age. The effect was lessened when buffering knowledge from interest items were questions evaluating how well politicians and media keep one informed, where they could serve as excuses for cognitive dissonance. Placed before the knowledge items, however, the evaluations exacerbated rather than alleviated the effect. Findings point both to priming as a general explanation for context effects and to the limitation of priming as an explanation for specific effects.

Question-Order Effects in Surveys: The Case of Political Interest, News Attention, and Knowledge

2003 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 499-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic L. Lasorsa
Keyword(s):  
Context Effects ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
Order Effects ◽  
Knowledge Test ◽  
Poor Knowledge ◽  
Survey Questions ◽  
Question Order

Subjects were exposed to one of three survey versions differing only in question order. Those who first faced difficult political knowledge questions reported significantly lower levels of both political interest and news attention than those who did not first face the knowledge test. However, when the knowledge questions and the interest and attention questions were separated by a “buffer” item that could serve as an excuse for poor knowledge, self-assessed interest and attention were less depressed. Characteristics of survey questions that may make them particularly susceptible to these types of question-order context effects are discussed and strategies for dealing with such effects are noted.

scholarly journals A Study of a Sample of Facebook Users Finds They Do Not Seek Political News through Facebook But Are Exposed to Political News through This Medium

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-38
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Margaret Stovold
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Online News ◽  
Social Utility ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Political News ◽  
High School Degree ◽  
News Sources ◽  
News Source ◽  
Tv News ◽  
The Mean

A Review of: Schaferm, S., Sulflow, M., & Muller, P. (2017). The special taste of snack news: an application of niche theory to understand the appeal of Facebook as a source for political news. First Monday, 22(4-3). http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/fm.v22i4.7431 Abstract Objective – To investigate Facebook as a source of exposure to political news stories and to compare the reasons for using Facebook as a news source and the gratifications obtained, compared with other news sources. Design – Survey questionnaire. Setting – Facebook. Subjects – 422 German Facebook users. Methods – An online survey was developed to investigate the use of Facebook as a news source compared with other sources. Specific research questions were informed by the ‘theory of niche’ (Dimmick, 2003) which examines the coexistence and competition between different media outlets by examining the breadth, overlap and superiority of one platform over another. The survey was distributed using a ‘snowball’ technique between July and August 2015. The survey was shared by 52 student research assistants on their Facebook profiles. They asked their friends to complete the survey and share it with their own networks. Main results – The mean (M) age of the 422 respondents was 23.5 years (SD=8.25). The majority were female (61%) with a high school degree (89%). TV news and news websites were the most frequently used sources of political news. Facebook ranked third, ahead of newspapers, search engines, magazines, email provider websites, and Twitter. The mean score for the importance of Facebook as a news sources was 2.46 (SD=1.13) on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is low and 5 is high. This fell in the middle of the range when compared with the top ranked source assessed by importance (TV news, M 4.40, SD=0.88) and the lowest (email providers, M 1.92, SD=0.97). Users rarely visited Facebook with the purpose of finding news (M 1.59, SD=0.73). However, they estimated around 24% of the posts they see were concerned with political news, and when encountered, these stories are frequently read (M 3.53, SD=1.18). However, the level of interaction as measured by liking, commenting, sharing or status updates was low (M 1.94 SD=1.09; M 1.37, SD=0.79; M 1.51, SD=0.85 and M 1.4, SD=0.78 respectively). The ‘gratification’ categories where Facebook as a news source scored the highest were for killing time (M 2.97, SD=1.29), entertainment (M 2.92, SD=1.05), and surveillance (M 2.77, SD=1.01). When compared to newspapers and TV news, it was found that Facebook has a lower score for niche breadth, meaning that it serves a specific rather than general news function. Facebook also had a lower overlap score when compared with the other media, thereby performing a complementary function, while TV news and newspapers perform similarly. TV news scored better for providing balanced information, surveillance and social utility while Facebook scored highest for killing time. There was no difference in the category of entertainment. There was a similar picture when comparing Facebook with newspapers. Conclusion – The authors conclude that while users do not actively seek political news through Facebook, they are exposed to political news through this medium. Respondents did not consider the news to be well balanced, and that currently Facebooks’ niche is restricted to entertainment and killing time. The authors note that this may be disappointing for news organisations, but there is potential to expose large audiences to political news when they are not actively seeking it. The findings represent a specific time point in a changing landscape and future research will need to take these changes into account. Comparisons with other online news sources and the use of objective measures to validate self-reported data would be valuable areas for future research.

Newspaper news exposure predicts political participation

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Thorson ◽  
Scott Swafford ◽  
Eunjin (Anna) Kim
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Government Structure ◽  
Municipal Elections ◽  
Political News ◽  
Perceived Importance

This study reports a survey of media use, political knowledge, and participation in local elections by people in three small Midwest communities. This study showed that newspaper political news exposure strongly predicted political participation, perceived importance of local municipal elections, and self-reported voting. It did not, however, predict knowledge about local government structure.

Newspaper Readership as a Determinant of Political Knowledge and Activity

1986 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hampden H. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
National Election ◽  
Political News ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Different Levels

Using data from 1972, 1976 and 1980 national election surveys, the study supports previous research showing newspaper readership relates strongly to both political knowledge and activity. Although there is a strong relationship for newspaper readership, there is none for viewing political news on television. Finally, the strong relationship between newspaper readership and political participation remains at different levels of social class and education.

Attention to issues and facts

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-207
Author(s):  
Chris J. Vargo ◽  
Toby Hopp
Keyword(s):  
Political Interest ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Specific Behavior ◽  
Age And Gender ◽  
Political News ◽  
Need For Orientation ◽  
And Gender ◽  
News Sharing ◽  
Sharing Behavior ◽  
Do So

Abstract Need for orientation (NFO) has long been accepted as an antecedent to agenda-setting effects. This study assessed whether NFO can go further to explain a specific behavior, why individuals share political news on Facebook. A new method is introduced that combines survey data with users’ Facebook accounts and their actual Facebook posts to reveal the historical news sharing behaviors of 741 U.S. citizens. Computer-assisted content analysis is employed to analyze nearly a million messages for the presence of political news content. Results suggest that a key component found in need for orientation – attention to relevant issues and facts – predicts observed political news sharing on Facebook. Other demographics such as age and gender also predict news sharing behavior. In all, the model employed here significantly predicts news sharing while commonly regarded antecedents to political sharing, including news consumption and political interest, fail to do so.

A Big Bird effect? The interaction among public broadcasting, public subsidies, and political knowledge

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick O’Mahen
Keyword(s):  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
Public Broadcasting ◽  
Media Consumption ◽  
Advertising Revenue ◽  
Public Subsidies ◽  
Industrialized Democracies ◽  
Knowledge Levels

Policymakers in industrialized democracies often debate the efficacy of subsidizing public broadcasters. Surprisingly however, past media and politics research analyzing the effects of public broadcasting on political knowledge does not isolate the effect of subsidies and instead treats all public broadcasters as equals. This study theorizes that subsidized public broadcasters have to worry less about competing with entertainment-oriented commercial broadcasters for advertising revenue than their unsubsidized peers. As a result, they can focus on providing more comprehensive public affairs coverage instead of only worrying about attracting the largest possible audience. To test this theory, I use Eurobarometer data measuring knowledge, media consumption, and demographic variables from 14 countries. I find that watching public broadcasting increases knowledge levels among citizens, while decreasing gaps in knowledge between citizens caused by varying levels of education, income, gender, and political interest. However, as predicted, these benefits only occur in countries that provide significant subsidies for their public broadcasters.

scholarly journals Sharing and Commenting Facilitate Political Learning on Facebook: Evidence From a Two-Wave Panel Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 205630512110478
Author(s):  
Dam Hee Kim ◽  
Brian E. Weeks ◽  
Daniel S. Lane ◽  
Lauren B. Hahn ◽  
Nojin Kwak
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Political Information ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Political Learning ◽  
Political News

Social media, as sources of political news and sites of political discussion, may be novel environments for political learning. Many early reports, however, failed to find that social media use promotes gains in political knowledge. Prior research has not yet fully explored the possibility based on the communication mediation model that exposure to political information on social media facilitates political expression, which may subsequently encourage political learning. We find support for this mediation model in the context of Facebook by analyzing a two-wave survey prior to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In particular, sharing and commenting, not liking or opinion posting, may facilitate political knowledge gains.

scholarly journals Will the crowd game the algorithm? Using layperson judgments to combat misinformation on social media by downranking distrusted sources

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziv Epstein ◽  
Gordon Pennycook ◽  
David Gertler Rand
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Fake News ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Ranking Algorithms ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
High Level ◽  
Survey Responses

How can social media platforms fight the spread of misinformation? One possibility is to use newsfeed algorithms to downrank content from sources that users rate as untrustworthy. But will laypeople unable to identify misinformation sites due to motivated reasoning or lack of expertise? And will they “game” this crowdsourcing mechanism to promote content that aligns with their partisan agendas? We conducted a survey experiment in which N = 984 Americans indicated their trust in numerous news sites. Half of the participants were told that their survey responses would inform social media ranking algorithms - creating a potential incentive to misrepresent their beliefs. Participants trusted mainstream sources much more than hyper-partisan or fake news sources, and their ratings were highly correlated with professional fact-checker judgments. Critically, informing participants that their responses would influence ranking algorithms did not diminish this high level of discernment, despite slightly increasing the political polarization of trust ratings.

scholarly journals AUTHORITARIANISM AND COGNITIVE POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 521
Author(s):  
Zoran Pavlović ◽  
Bojan Todosijević
Keyword(s):  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Opinion Survey ◽  
Authoritarian Personality ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
New Information ◽  
The World ◽  
Voting Age

This study analyses the linkage between authoritarianism and three indicators that describe one’s general cognitive orientation towards the world of politics: political knowledge, general interest in politics, and interest in the election campaign. Individuals high in authoritarianism are hypothesized to be less politically competent and less interested in politics, due to their resistance to adopting new information and to changing the adopted beliefs. This hypothesis is based on the classical description of the authoritarian personality, but it has not been adequately empirically verified yet. The data are taken from a post-election public opinion survey conducted in 2012 after the presidential and parliamentary elections, on a random sample of voting age citizens of Serbia (N = 1568). The results show that authoritarianism and the level of political knowledge are significantly and negatively correlated, even after controlling for the basic socio-demographic variables. The intensity of political interest is not significantly correlated with authoritarianism. Additional comparison of the misinformed and uninformed groups (those who provided incorrect answers, and those who answered “don't know”, respectively) did not support the view that authoritarian persons are more inclined to erroneously guess an answer than to simply say “don’t know”. The study concludes that the association between political knowledge and authoritarianism is based on deeper psychological roots, while the (lack of) association with political interest is likely to be context-dependent.

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