How the News Media Fail American Voters - Causes, Consequences, and Remedies

It is often noted that the public is frustrated with the news media. But what do American voters really think about how the media present political information? While studies have examined how the news shapes opinions as well as what people respond to and remember, this is the first book to provide an in-depth analysis of how voters use and evaluate the news media in political elections and the impact these trends have on their use of the news.
Kenneth Dautrich and Thomas H. Hartley performed a four-wave national panel survey of voters during the 1996 presidential campaign. They found that although voters are profoundly dissatisfied with the usefulness of news in helping them make decisions, they are unlikely to stop using the news media or switch media (from network news to public broadcasting, for instance). Thus the media have little incentive to adjust to the needs or wishes of voters.
Here is an important contribution to the debate about the responsibilities of the news media raging among pundits and policymakers.

List of contents

1 Campaigns Are Unthinkable, Save in Terms of the News Media
2 Media Use in the 1996 Campaign
3 Explaining Media Use
4 Scratching the Surface: Overall Ratings of Election Coverage
5 Tilting Left: Perceptions of Political Bias in Election Coverage
6 Evaluations of News Content and News Sources
7 The Consequences of Poor Media Performance
Chapter 8 Conclusion

About the author

Kenneth Dautrich and Thomas H. Hartley

Summary

Here is an important contribution to the debate about the responsibilities of the news media raging among pundits and policymakers. The book provides an in-depth analysis of how voters use and evaluate the news media, and why the news has little incentive to adjust to the needs of its viewers.

Product details

• Authors: Kenneth Dautrich, Kenneth Hartley Dautrich, Dautrich Kenneth, Thomas Hartley, Thomas H. Hartley, Hartley Thomas H.
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 27.04.1999
• EAN: 9780231111775
• ISBN: 978-0-231-11177-5
• No. of pages: 224
• Series: Power, Conflict, and Democracy: American Politics into the 21st Century; Power, Conflict, & Democracy: Power, Conflict, and Democracy: American Politics Into the 21st Century
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Business > Individual industrial sectors, branches; Media Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Media Studies, POLITICAL SCIENCE / American Government / National, Politics & government, United States of America, USA, Political science and theory, Elections and referenda / suffrage