Search results

This chapter focuses specifically on how the news media influence perceptions of societal problems. This research question is discussed and reviewed in three ways. First, to better understand the context and contingencies of media effects on societal perceptions specifically, the outcome variable is related to the broader literature on sociotropic beliefs and cognitive schema theory. Second, classic theories of media effects focusing on societal perceptions are reviewed. The relevance and viability of these theories are discussed in light of the dramatic media environmental transformations of the last two decades. Third, a model of conditional media effects on sociotropic beliefs in contemporary high-choice media environments is proposed and discussed. The chapter concludes with some suggestions for future research on media effects on sociotropic beliefs.

This study combines a media content analysis (N = 1158) and panel survey data (N = 1612) conducted during the Swedish 2010 national election campaign, to analyze the effects of both game-framed and issue-framed news on political cynicism, institutional trust, and political interest. The findings show that news framing matters. Whereas game-framed news increases cynicism and depresses interest, issue-framed news has mobilizing effects. Furthermore, by conceptually and empirically distinguishing frame exposure from motivated news attention as two different modes of news media use, the results show that the effects of exposure to game-framed and issue-framed news are distinct from motivated news attention. These findings suggest two different mechanisms behind media effects and shine new light on the spiral of cynicism-virtuous circle controversy.

Independence and autonomy from political power are core values among professional journalists in most western societies. At the same time, research has shown that news media organizations rely heavily on official actors for the construction of news. The purpose of this study is to analyse the nature of official dominance and manifestations of news media independence strategies in routine political press coverage in Sweden. Building upon past research on official dominance, objectivity rituals, indexing and the rule of product substitution — a set of hypotheses is derived and tested using a content analysis of 835 news stories published in Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet during a 15-week period in 2008. While official actors dominate news coverage both in terms of source use and story initiation, evidence for a rule of product substitution is found.

This article addresses a key democratic question that has not been fully answered by political communication research: How do the news media influence gaps in participation between socioeconomic groups? The main purpose is to develop and propose an institutional framework for analyzing how the news media influence participation gaps in different countries. It is argued that past research on media malaise and mobilization effects has not paid attention to the joint influence of two media system characteristics: (1) the strength of media institutions with respect to influencing political participation and (2) the distinctiveness of their population base. European Social Survey data from four democratic corporatist countries are used to analyze both these dimensions of the institutional framework. The results indicate that newspapers and television news might have different influences on participation gaps in these countries, and the findings are discussed in light of the specific media system characteristics of democratic corporatist countries. Finally, some suggestions for future cross-national comparative research based on the proposed institutional framework are discussed.

Past research has shown that official actors have an advantage when it comes to accessing and framing political issues in the news media. This study examines the dynamics of official dominance and event-driven news from a comparative perspective, focusing on the Muhammad cartoons controversy. A model of official dominance and event-driven news, taking media system factors into account, is developed and tested using a quantitative and qualitative research design. The results show that an intolerance frame dominated over a freedom-of-speech frame in both the Swedish and the American elite press. Furthermore, although dramatic events opened windows of opportunity for unofficial actors, the consequences of intensified coverage for the ratio between unofficial and official voices were more profound in the United States. Finally, there is some evidence of more active journalistic framing in the Swedish papers.

How citizens' perceptions of societal problems are shaped by media use has been a critical question in media effects research for decades. This study addresses a specific puzzle concerning media effects in contemporary fragmented media environments: the dual role of media trust as both (a) an antecedent variable guiding news selection and (b) a moderator variable conditioning the effects of news use on perceptions of societal problems. Building upon the differential susceptibility to media effects model, we analyze the role of media trust for citizens' orientation towards mainstream and alternative news media - and how such usage influences perceptions of two major societal issues: health care and school. Findings from a four-wave panel survey conducted in Sweden suggest that public service and alternative news use matter for citizens' perceptions of societal problems and that media trust influences news choices and may, partly, condition media effects.

Younger and older generations are differently motivated in relation to news consumption and online political expression. In this paper, we suggest that different modes of citizenship characterize younger and older generations. To test the differential role of political interest in news consumption and online political expression, we use a survey of 3,210 people from the United States, 3,043 from the United Kingdom, and 3,031 from France. Our findings suggest that young citizens are more frequent users of online news overall and that the rank order of different news activities replicates cross-nationally. The frequency of online political expression is negatively related to age, with older people less likely to post online. Age moderates the relationship between political interest and news consumption as well as news consumption and online political expression. The correlations of these sets of variables are stronger for younger respondents compared to older respondents. These findings hold across the three countries under study. We explain these patterns in terms of changing citizenship norms and discuss the implications for democracy.

Younger and older generations are differently motivated in relation to news consumption and online political expression. In this paper, we suggest that different modes of citizenship characterize younger and older generations. To test the differential role of political interest in news consumption and online political expression, we use a survey of 3,210 people from the United States, 3,043 from the United Kingdom, and 3,031 from France. Our findings suggest that young citizens are more frequent users of online news overall and that the rank order of different news activities replicates cross-nationally. The frequency of online political expression is negatively related to age, with older people less likely to post online. Age moderates the relationship between political interest and news consumption as well as news consumption and online political expression. The correlations of these sets of variables are stronger for younger respondents compared to older respondents. These findings hold across the three countries under study. We explain these patterns in terms of changing citizenship norms and discuss the implications for democracy.

Although research shows that there is a correlation between political interest and news media use, whether there are reciprocal effects between political interest and news media use remain unsettled. To remedy this and go beyond previous research, this study seeks to investigate the reciprocal relationship between political interest and TV news use (a) across elections, (b) across election periods and a nonelection period, and (c) comparing public service and commercial TV news. Using four representative panel surveys, findings show that there is a reciprocal relationship between political interest and watching public service but not commercial TV news.

With the migration from traditional news media to social media, understanding how citizens learn about politics and current affairs from these sources has become increasingly important. Based on the concept of network media logic, distinct from traditional mass media logic, this study investigates whether using social media as a source of political news compensates for not using traditional news media in terms of political and current affairs learning. Using two panel studies conducted in two different political contexts—an election setting and a nonelection setting—the results show positive learning effects from using traditional news media and online news websites, but not from using social media. Taken together, the findings suggest that using social media to follow news about politics and current affairs does not compensate for not using traditional news media in terms of learning a diverse and broad set of general political news.

Political interest is one of the most important individual-level predictors of news media use, public opinion formation, and engagement. When, how, and why some citizens develop a strong interest in politics is, however, less clear. This study analyzes the development of political interest during the formative years of adolescence, using a five-wave panel study among Swedish adolescents, covering a period of 4 years. Based on the citizen communication mediation model, we analyze how interest in political and current affairs news among family and friends influence adolescents' political interest. Taken together, while the findings lend support for several of the hypotheses, mechanisms, and processes derived from the communication mediation model, parents appear more important than peers when it comes to shaping adolescents' political interest.

Concepts such as "porous boundaries" and "low thresholds" appear frequently in the literature on online political engagement. Social media, it is argued, are characterized by less distinct boundaries between non-political and political activities, thereby lowering thresholds into political engagement. This argument is analyzed and empirically tested. Relying on a five-wave panel study among Swedish adolescents, we provide unique insights into the levels and development of political engagement in online political information, interaction, production, and collective action. In sum, the findings show that, for a majority, social interaction in social media coincides with engagement in political information and interaction, while few are engaged in production and collective action. Second, the study provides limited support to the idea that low thresholds in social media promote patterns of tune-in, tune-out political engagement over time. Finally, social interaction in social media has clear effects on online political engagement beyond political socialization and motivation factors.

This study investigates priming effects during the global financial crisis that erupted in September 2008. Using two longitudinal data sources on public opinion dynamics in Sweden between 2007 and 2010, we find no evidence of a basic priming hypothesis. Drawing upon the distinction between accessibility and applicability mechanisms, however, additional analysis indicates that priming of economic considerations was moderated by citizens' attributions of responsibility for current economic developments. These results support the notion of priming as a two-step process, whereby heavy news coverage of the financial crisis increases theaccessibilityof economic considerations among the audience, but whether these considerations are used in government approval assessments depends on their perceivedapplicabilityas well.