Media Effects on Public Opinion

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Media Effects on Public Opinion
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Public Opinion

• Concepts of
• Difference between basic values and preferences
  overall views and recent ideas
• Organized Vs unorganized nature of opinions
  specialized groups
• Private Vs public setting where opinions are
  expressed
• Whether or not citizens are informed
• Hegemony (Beniger) means through which people
  control and are simultaneously controlled by one
  another through public communication

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Defining Public Opinion

• Nimmothree groups
• Popularexpressed privately
• Massgenerally what is thought of as public
  opinion culture
• Groupthose expressed in groups exchanges

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Mass Medias Influence onDefining Public Opinion

• 1)seeks public opinion with its own research and
  reports findingsCNN/Time Poll
• 2)quest to report others research and findings
• 3)report on topics and events and groups
  feelings about them

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Significance

• Noelle-Neumannthe management of ideas is
  important in advanced societies that engage in
  symbolic rather than direct forms of struggle.
• Government that does not consider public opinion
  in decision making soon finds itself in
  overthrow situation

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Significance

• Tolerance provides for peaceful competition of
  ideas while ideology links opinions to a more
  enduring set of organized values and beliefs.
• Tolerance is higher among younger and better
  educated.
• Ideology is important because it works as a
  constraint peoples belief systems are used to
  interpret incoming issues and to form opinions.

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Mass Media andPublic Opinion

• Exchange modelgovernment and media relationship
  is transactional with almost equal give and take
• Media has substantial impact on public opinion
• Fanalso public opinion responds to shifts in
  media content all media have effect

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Types of Effects

• Sherermedia reflect or anticipate public opinion
  and change their coverage and presentation as
  public support variesVietnam War
• Bennettdirect impact of media on policy makers
  (during Reagan era)
• Lambethpress help establish agenda setting for
  policymaking (whats important)

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More Effects

• Entmaninterdependence model public opinion
  grows out of interaction between media messages
  and what audiences make of them
• Iyengar Kinderprimingcalling attention to
  certain aspects while ignoring others thus
  setting standards (of Presidential behavior in
  this case)

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Spiral of Silence Theory

• Noelle-Nuemannpeople measure which opinions are
  popular and which are not and are therefore more
  likely to express the majority opinion this
  gives the effect that the unsupported position is
  weaker than it actually is and therefore it
  becomes weaker in a spiral effect.

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Factors

• Pressure to conform
• Willingness to express opinions in public
• Multiple climates of opinion (local national)
• Nature of public context
• Accuracy of perceptions of opinion climate

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Nature of public context

• Keenanthree dependent variables of Spiral of
  Silence
• Personal adornmentbuttons, hats, t-shirts
• Public displaysign in yard, distributing
  literature, doing interviews
• Interpersonal contactspeaking with strangers and
  those you know signing petitions

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Accuracy of perceptions of opinion climate

• Rimmer and Howardlevel of use would correlate to
  accuracy higher level of use/higher accuracy
• Others theorize
• Conformity hypothesis (people conform to and are
  influenced by their environment)
• Looking glass model (people projecting their own
  opinions on others rather than being influenced
  by their environment)