Media Effects on Public Opinion Public Opinion Concepts

Media Effects on Public Opinion

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

Defining Public Opinion • Nimmo—three groups – Popular—expressed privately – Mass—generally what is thought of as public opinion; culture – Group—those expressed in groups exchanges

Mass Media’s Influence on Defining Public Opinion • 1)seeks public opinion with its own research and reports findings; CNN/Time Poll • 2)quest to report others research and findings • 3)report on topics and events and group’s feelings about them

Significance • Noelle-Neumann—the 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

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; people’s belief systems are used to interpret incoming issues and to form opinions.

Mass Media and Public Opinion • Exchange model—government and media relationship is transactional with almost equal give and take • Media has substantial impact on public opinion • Fan—also public opinion responds to shifts in media content; all media have effect

Types of Effects • Sherer—media reflect or anticipate public opinion and change their coverage and presentation as public support varies— Vietnam War • Bennett—direct impact of media on policy makers (during Reagan era) • Lambeth—press help establish agenda setting for policymaking (what’s important)

More Effects • Entman—interdependence model: public opinion grows out of interaction between media messages and what audiences make of them • Iyengar & Kinder—priming—calling attention to certain aspects while ignoring others thus setting standards (of Presidential behavior in this case)

Spiral of Silence Theory • Noelle-Nuemann—people 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.

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

Nature of public context • Keenan—three dependent variables of Spiral of Silence – Personal adornment—buttons, hats, t-shirts – Public display—sign in yard, distributing literature, doing interviews – Interpersonal contact—speaking with strangers and those you know; signing petitions

Accuracy of perceptions of opinion climate • Rimmer and Howard—level 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)