In recent years, scholars have argued that the ability of people to choose which channel they want to watch means that television news is just preaching to the choir, and doesn’t change any minds. However, this book shows that the media still has an enormous direct impact on American society and politics. While past research has emphasized the indirect effects of media content on attitudes – through priming or framing, for instance – Dan Cassino argues that past data on both the public opinion and the media side wasn’t detailed enough to uncover it. Using a combination of original national surveys, large scale content analysis of news coverage along with data sets as disparate as FBI gun background checks and campaign contribution records, Cassino discusses why it’s important to treat different media sources separately, estimating levels of ideological bias for television media sources as well as the differences in the topics that the various media sources cover. Taking this into account proves that exposure to some media sources can serve to actually make Americans less knowledgeable about current affairs, and more likely to buy into conspiracy theories. Even in an era of declining viewership, the media – especially Fox News – are shaping our society and our politics. This book documents how this is happening, and shows the consequences for Americans. The quality of journalism is more than an academic question: when coverage focuses on questionable topics, or political bias, there are consequences.
Author(s): Dan Cassino
Series: Routledge Studies In Political Psychology | 3
Edition: 1
Publisher: Routledge | Taylor & Francis Group
Year: 2016
Language: English
Commentary: TruePDF
Pages: 223
Tags: Fox News; Television And Politics: United States; Television Broadcasting Of News: United States
Front Cover
Fox News and American Politics
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: The Most Powerful Name in News
The Rise of Ideological Media
Bias in the Media
Data
What’s Not Being Tested
Challenges of Understanding the Effects of the Media
Fox News
The Structure of the Book
Chapter 2: The Media and Presidential Approval
The Importance of Presidential Approval
Effects of Media Coverage of the President
Statements in the Media and Presidential Approval
Media Effects Change Based on the Political Environment
Effects of Media Coverage by Political Group
Media Effects Differ by Income Group
Topic Coverage and Obama Approval
Are These Just Framing Effects?
Fox News and Bush Approval
Media Coverage and Presidential Approval
Chapter 3: Fox News and the 2012 Republican Primary
Primary Elections
The 2012 Republican Primary
What’s in the Coverage?
The Impact of Coverage on the Primary Election
Campaign Contributions
Conclusions
Chapter 4: The 2012 General Election
Data on the General Election
Media Coverage of the 2012 General Election
Direct Effects of the Media in the 2012 General Election
What Media Matters?
Incumbent Bias
Campaign Events
Conclusions
Chapter 5: Fox News and Political Knowledge
Political Knowledge in America
Media Sources and Political Knowledge
Other News Sources
Responses to These Findings
Other Predictors of Political Knowledge
Partisanship and Political Knowledge
The Attentional Explanation
Motivated Reasoning
Criticisms of These Findings
Non-Ideological News Sources
Conclusions
Chapter 6: Conspiracy Theories and Other False Beliefs
Conspiracy Theories in American Politics
Belief in Political Conspiracy Theories
Political Knowledge and Conspiracy Theories
Birtherism
Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq
Current Beliefs about WMD
Non-Political Conspiracy Theories
Media, Political Knowledge and Conspiracy Theories
Chapter 7: The Media and Society
Firearm Background Checks
Media Content and Gun Purchases
“The War on Christmas”
Common Core
Conclusions
Chapter 8: Conclusion
What’s New about These Findings?
How the Findings Fit into the Existing Literature
Framing or Direct Effects?
Media Responsibility
Chapter 9: Methodology Notes
Note 1.1
Note 1.2
Note 2.1
Note 2.2
Note 2.3
Note 2.4
Note 2.5
Note 2.6
Note 2.7
Note 2.8
Note 2.9
Note 2.10
Note 2.11
Note 2.12
Note 3.1
Note 3.2
Note 3.3
Note 3.4
Note 3.5
Note 3.6
Note 3.7
Note 3.8
Note 3.9
Note 4.1
Note 4.2
Note 4.3
Note 4.4
Note 5.1
Note 5.2
Note 5.3
Note 5.4
Note 6.1
Note 6.2
Note 6.3
Note 6.4
Note 6.5
Note 6.6
Note 7.1
Note 7.2
Note 7.3
Note 7.4
Note 7.5
References
Index
