scholarly journals Image that Matters: News Media Consumption and Party Leader Effects on Voting Behavior

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Garzia ◽  
Frederico Ferreira da Silva ◽  
Andrea De Angelis
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
The United States ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Party Leader ◽  
Visual Medium ◽  
Parliamentary Democracies ◽  
Presidential Democracies ◽  
Democratic Elections ◽  
Personalization Of Politics

Television is customarily put forward as a driver of the “personalization of politics.” The characteristics of this visual medium arguably accentuate personality at the expense of substantive programmatic goals, downplaying partisan attachments and ideology as determinants of the vote in favor of candidate and party leader assessments. While there is evidence of this trend for presidential democracies, notably the United States, this linkage is yet to be fully explored for parliamentary democracies undergoing a process of personalization. This study addresses this gap through an analysis of pooled national election study data from thirteen Western European parliamentary democracies collected between 1982 and 2016. Our results show that leader effects are significantly stronger among individuals with a television-dominant media diet. The findings provide support to the yet underdeveloped theoretical relationship between media change and the personalization of politics, while also speaking to the broader question involving the importance of media for contemporary democratic elections.

scholarly journals Image that Matters: News Media Consumption and Party Leader Effects on Voting Behavior

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Garzia ◽  
Frederico Ferreira da Silva ◽  
Andrea De Angelis
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
The United States ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Party Leader ◽  
Visual Medium ◽  
Parliamentary Democracies ◽  
Presidential Democracies ◽  
Democratic Elections ◽  
Personalization Of Politics

Television is customarily put forward as a driver of the “personalization of politics.” The characteristics of this visual medium arguably accentuate personality at the expense of substantive programmatic goals, downplaying partisan attachments and ideology as determinants of the vote in favor of candidate and party leader assessments. While there is evidence of this trend for presidential democracies, notably the United States, this linkage is yet to be fully explored for parliamentary democracies undergoing a process of personalization. This study addresses this gap through an analysis of pooled national election study data from thirteen Western European parliamentary democracies collected between 1982 and 2016. Our results show that leader effects are significantly stronger among individuals with a television-dominant media diet. The findings provide support to the yet underdeveloped theoretical relationship between media change and the personalization of politics, while also speaking to the broader question involving the importance of media for contemporary democratic elections.

Political bullshit receptivity and its correlates: a cross-cultural validation of the concept

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vukašin Gligorić ◽  
Allard Feddes ◽  
Bertjan Doosje
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Persuasive Communication ◽  
Lower Probability ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Total N

Frankfurt defined persuasive communication that has no regard for truth, knowledge, or evidence as bullshit. Although there has been a lot of psychological research on pseudo-profound bullshit, no study examined this type of communication in politics. In the present research, we operationalize political bullshit receptivity as endorsing vague political statements, slogans, and political bullshit programs. We investigated the relationship of these three measures with pseudo-profound bullshit, ideology (political ideology, support for neoliberalism), populism, and voting behavior. Three pre-registered studies in different cultural settings (the United States, Serbia, The Netherlands; total N = 534) yielded medium to high intercorrelations between political bullshit measures and pseudo-profound bullshit, and good construct validity (hypothesized one-factor solution). A Bayesian meta-analysis showed that all political bullshit measures positively correlated with support for the free market, while only some positively correlated with social (political statements and programs) and economic conservatism (programs), and populism (programs). In the U.S., higher receptivity to political bullshit was associated with a higher probability that one voted for Trump (vs Clinton) in the past and higher intentions to vote for Trump (vs Biden and Sanders). In the Netherlands, higher receptivity to political bullshit predicted the intention to vote for the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. Exploratory analyses on merged datasets showed that higher receptivity to political bullshit was associated with a higher probability to vote for right-wing candidates/parties and lower probability for the left-wing ones. Overall, political bullshit endorsement showed good validity, opening avenues for research in political communication, especially when this communication is broad and meaningless.

Stranger Danger

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M. Renfro
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Sex Offender ◽  
The United States ◽  
Family Values ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Amber Alerts ◽  
Actual Figure ◽  
Stranger Danger ◽  
Murdered Children

Starting in the late 1970s, a moral panic concerning child kidnapping and exploitation gripped the United States. For many Americans, a series of high-profile cases of missing and murdered children, publicized through an emergent twenty-four-hour news cycle, signaled a “national epidemic” of child abductions perpetrated by strangers. Some observers insisted that fifty thousand or more children fell victim to stranger kidnappings in any given year. (The actual figure was and remains about one hundred.) Stranger Danger demonstrates how racialized and sexualized fears of stranger abduction—stoked by the news media, politicians from across the partisan divide, bereaved parents, and the business sector—helped to underwrite broader transformations in US political culture and political economy. Specifically, the child kidnapping scare further legitimated a bipartisan investment in “family values” and “law and order,” thereby enabling the development and expansion of sex offender registries, AMBER Alerts, and other mechanisms designed to safeguard young Americans and their families from “stranger danger”—and to punish the strangers who supposedly threatened them.

The Architecture of Our Discontent

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yochai Benkler ◽  
Robert Faris ◽  
Hal Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Political Communication ◽  
News Media ◽  
The United States ◽  
Online Media ◽  
First Year ◽  
Media Ecosystem ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Right ◽  
Integrated Media ◽  
Presidential Election Campaign

This chapter presents the book’s macrolevel findings about the architecture of political communication and the news media ecosystem in the United States from 2015 to 2018. Two million stories published during the 2016 presidential election campaign are analyzed, along with another 1.9 million stories about Donald Trump’s presidency during his first year. The chapter examines patterns of interlinking between online media sources to understand the relations of authority and credibility among publishers, as well as the media sharing practices of Twitter and Facebook users to elucidate social media attention patterns. The data and mapping reveal not only a profoundly polarized media landscape but stark asymmetry: the right is more insular, skewed towards the extreme, and set apart from the more integrated media ecosystem of the center, center-left, and left.

scholarly journals Blood lead level and risk of hypertension in the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2016

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Man Fung Tsoi ◽  
Chris Wai Hang Lo ◽  
Tommy Tsang Cheung ◽  
Bernard Man Yung Cheung
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Lead Exposure ◽  
Blood Lead Level ◽  
Lead Level ◽  
Blood Lead ◽  
The United States ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Blood Lead Levels ◽  
Environmental Lead ◽  
Lead Levels

AbstractLead is a heavy metal without a biological role. High level of lead exposure is known to be associated with hypertension, but the risk at low levels of exposure is uncertain. In this study, data from US NHANES 1999–2016 were analyzed. Adults with blood lead and blood pressure measurements, or self-reported hypertension diagnosis, were included. If not already diagnosed, hypertension was defined according to the AHA/ACC 2017 hypertension guideline. Results were analyzed using R statistics version 3.5.1 with sample weight adjustment. Logistic regression was used to study the association between blood lead level and hypertension. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were estimated. Altogether, 39,477 participants were included. Every doubling in blood lead level was associated with hypertension (OR [95%CI] 1.45 [1.40–1.50]), which remained significant after adjusting for demographics. Using quartile 1 as reference, higher blood lead levels were associated with increased adjusted odds of hypertension (Quartile 4 vs. Quartile 1: 1.22 [1.09–1.36]; Quartile 3 vs. Quartile 1: 1.15 [1.04–1.28]; Quartile 2 vs. Quartile 1: 1.14 [1.05–1.25]). In conclusion, blood lead level is associated with hypertension in the general population with blood lead levels below 5 µg/dL. Our findings suggest that reducing present levels of environmental lead exposure may bring cardiovascular benefits by reducing blood pressure.

Newsmaking criminology in Australia and New Zealand: Results from a mixed methods study of criminologists’ media engagement

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Iliadis ◽  
Imogen Richards ◽  
Mark A Wood
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
News Media ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
The Past ◽  
Professional Duty ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Survey Responses ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Newsmaking Criminology

‘Newsmaking criminology’, as described by Barak, is the process by which criminologists contribute to the generation of ‘newsworthy’ media content about crime and justice, often through their engagement with broadcast and other news media. While newsmaking criminological practices have been the subject of detailed practitioner testimonials and theoretical treatise, there has been scarce empirical research on newsmaking criminology, particularly in relation to countries outside of the United States and United Kingdom. To illuminate the state of play of newsmaking criminology in Australia and New Zealand, in this paper we analyse findings from 116 survey responses and nine interviews with criminologists working in universities in these two countries, which provide insight into the extent and nature of their news media engagement, and their related perceptions. Our findings indicate that most criminologists working in Australia or New Zealand have made at least one news media appearance in the past two years, and the majority of respondents view news media engagement as a professional ‘duty’. Participants also identified key political, ethical, and logistical issues relevant to their news media engagement, with several expressing a view that radio and television interviewers can influence criminologists to say things that they deem ‘newsworthy’.

Public Attitudes Toward New Prisons in New Zealand and Deficit Narratives: A Quantitative Survey

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 348-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adele N. Norris ◽  
Kalym Lipsey
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Prison Population ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Quantitative Survey

The imprisonment rate in New Zealand ranks seventh among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Yet the imprisonment of Indigenous people is on par with the United States, which has the world’s highest incarceration rate. Almost 70% of the prison population in New Zealand is comprised of people racialized as non-White. In 2016, the National Government proposed to spend $2.5 billion over a 5-year period to build new prisons (1,500 prison beds) to accommodate a growing prison population. This study assessed public attitudes toward the need for more prisons and the equity of treatment of individuals within the criminal justice system. Findings from a 2016 and 2017 quantitative survey of 5,000 respondents each year revealed that roughly half of the respondents believed the proposed spending for new prisons to be extremely to somewhat necessary. A large proportion of respondents also believed Māori and Pākehā, if convicted of the same crime, are treated similarly within the criminal justice system. New Zealand scholars have critiqued news media coverage of contentious sociopolitical issues, such as crime and prisons, for employing tactics that have worked to construct a morally and culturally deficit “Other” while normalizing whiteness, rendering it invisible and raceless. This article concludes that this process masks racial disparities of individuals located within the criminal justice system and preserves the ideal that prisons are a normal function of the social landscape.

scholarly journals The Prevalence and Associated Characteristics of Food Insecurity Among U.S. Army Soldiers

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 195-195
Author(s):  
Carolyn Greene ◽  
Bethany Deschamps ◽  
Brenda Bustillos
Keyword(s):  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Short Form ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
The United States ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Household Food Security ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Army Soldiers ◽  
Main Effects ◽  
Female Soldiers

Abstract Objectives Food insecurity affects 11% of the United States (U.S.) population and leads to decrements in health and quality of life. Aside from grey literature, little is known about food insecurity among military personnel. The purpose of this study was to identify prevalence, gender discrepancies, and characteristics associated with food insecurity among U.S. Army soldiers. Investigators hypothesized that female soldiers who experience food insecurity will have higher body mass indices (BMI) than male soldiers, and that earning less income, being un-partnered, and having dependents while unmarried would be associated with food insecurity, irrespective of gender. Methods In this cross-sectional study, data were collected from 218 soldiers using the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module: Six Item Short Form and a demographics questionnaire. Independent samples T-test and Chi square determined differences between samples. Two-way analysis of variance assessed interaction and main effects of food insecurity and gender on BMI. Logistic regressions determined likelihood of food insecurity based on paygrade, gender, marital status, number of dependents, and barracks residence. Results Over 22% of the sampled population was food insecure. When compared to food secure individuals, food insecure soldiers were younger (23.6 vs. 26.6 years) and had fewer dependents (0.70 vs. 1.16). Food insecure women had higher BMIs (25.3 vs. 23.5 kg/m2). Barracks residency was associated with food insecurity (χ2 = 7.290, P = 0.007). Main effects were significant for gender on BMI (P = 0.001), but interaction effects for food insecurity on BMI were not (P = 0.16). Soldiers with the rank of Private (OR = 5.510, P = 0.029) and Specialist (OR = 5.750, P = 0.032) had increased likelihood of food insecurity compared to officers. Conclusions Female soldiers and barracks residents may be most affected by food insecurity, which may have health implications that could affect career advancement and retention. The potential impact of food insecurity on military readiness and resiliency indicates the phenomenon may pose a risk to national security. Funding Sources No funding was received to complete this study.

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