David H. Weaver

Voter Learning in the 1996 Presidential Election: Did the Media Matter?.

This study examines the relationships of exposure and attention to various news media, including the Internet, with information learned about the issue positions of candidates George Bush and John Kerry, interest in the 2004 election campaign, and intention to vote among a random sample of adult residents of Indiana who were interviewed by telephone in October 2004. The results are compared with our previous studies of the 1988, 1992, 1996, and 2000 U.S. presidential elections. In general, our studies suggest that attention to television news, televised debates, and now Internet news are important predictors, or at least correlates, of voter learning of candidate issue positions and voter interest in the election campaigns. These findings contradict the hypothesis that increased news media use leads to increased voter apathy and alienation from the political process.

Who Sets the Agenda for the Media? A Study of Local Agenda-Building.

P Most media agenda-setting research carried out since McCombs’ and Shaw’s study of the 1968 U.S. presidential election has tested the assertion that media emphasis on certain issues results in increased public concern over these issues.’ But there has been very little systematic study of the underlying assumption that the media set the public agenda of issues by filtering and shaping reality rather than by simply reflecting it. And yet, in some ways, this assumption is just as crucial to the idea of media agenda-

Audience Need for Orientation and Media Effects

Using data from a political campaign study conducted in Syracuse, New York, this article tests Blumlers argument that audience motives should be considered in uses and gratifications studies which seek to predict media influence processes. The primary research question addressed here is whether the general cognitive motive of need for orientation (a combination of political interest and uncertainty) is a better predictor of media exposure- media effects relationships than are individual political gratifications, par ticularly the surveillance gratifications. The findings tend to support Blum lers (1979) proposal that we need to turn to basic audience orientations to predict and explain media influence processes. They also suggest that perhaps future studies of media uses and effects should move toward more general measures of audience motives and away from the more specific gratification measures which have been employed in past uses and gratifi cations studies

Voter Learning and Interest in the 2000 Presidential Election: Did the Media Matter?

This study examines the relationships of exposure and attention to various news media, including the Internet, with information learned about the issue positions of candidates George Bush and Al Gore, interest in the 2000 election campaign, and intention to vote among a random sample of adult residents of Indiana who were interviewed by telephone in October and November 2000. The findings are compared with those of previous studies of the 1988, 1992, and 1996 presidential elections. They confirm the importance of television news and television debates as sources of issue information, despite criticisms, and the importance of paying attention to newspaper campaign news for voting.

Voter Learning in the 1992 Presidential Election: Did the “Nontraditional” Media and Debates Matter?

This study is based on telephone interviews with a random sample of 504 adult Indiana residents from 21 October to 2 November 1992. Through hierarchical multiple regression analyses it seeks to test whether more exposure and attention to “nontraditional” news media (such as television “talk shows” and the morning TV network shows) predicted more knowledge of the issue positions of the candidates, a greater likelihood of voting, or more interest in the campaign. Statistical controls for demographics, traditional news media exposure and attention, and presidential debate exposure are introduced. This study also examines whether more exposure and attention to the traditional news media of radio, television, and newspapers, as well as exposure to the televised presidential debates, is associated with more campaign interest and knowledge after controlling for various demographics.

Mass Communication Research Trends from 1980 to 1999

This is a thematic meta-analysis of research trends in major mass communication journals during the 1980 to 1999 period. We analyzed study method, medium and area of focus, theoretical approach, funding source, and time period covered in research articles published in ten major mass communication journals during this twenty-year period. Predictions made about mass communication research in the 1990s were tested. We found that qualitative research methods continued to be much less common than quantitative methods throughout the period. Funding for research was relatively rare, with the university becoming the main source and private support decreasing significantly in the 1990s. The implications of such trends are discussed.

Media Attention, Media Exposure, and Media Effects.

This study finds that audience exposure and attention to three media—newspapers, television news, and radio news—are separate dimensions, based on a telephone survey of 234 individuals 18 years old and up in Bloomington, Indiana. The relationships among exposure and attention and knowledge gain, opinion direction, opinion strength, and actual behavior are less clear, although there is evidence that newspapers are more likely to influence cognitive learning while television influences both cognition and attitudes. Radio news was less influential.

AMERICAN AND GERMAN ONLINE JOURNALISTS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 21ST CENTURY

This paper presents the key findings of the first comparative survey of online journalists in the United States and Germany. It is based on a sub-sample of the latest American journalist study and the study “Online Journalists in Germany.” The article develops the objectives of the studies and explicates the methodology, and it presents key findings on basic characteristics of online journalists, jobs and tasks in online journalism, and the professional views and attitudes of Web journalists in the United States and Germany. The comparisons show some striking differences between American and German online journalists. Their basic characteristics, levels of professionalization and role perceptions are more different than expected.

Changes in Professionalism of U.S. Journalists in the Turbulent Twenty-First Century:

A panel study of 400 U.S. journalists assessed changes in indicators of professionalism between 2002 and 2007, a period of significant economic and technological turmoil for news organizations. Findings show that professional organization membership declined among journalists, and staff cutbacks and higher workloads posed threats to the autonomy of some news workers. Beliefs about professional roles shifted slightly, with more emphasis on analyzing problems and being adversaries of public officials. Finally, journalists became more ethically cautious during the five-year span of the study, a period in which ethical lapses were disclosed by several high-profile news organizations.

Voter Learning in the 1988 Presidential Election: Did the Debates and the Media Matter?

This study found that the 1988 televised debates between Republican George Bush and Democrat Michael Dukakis did lead to greater knowledge of campaign issues. The debates proved more influential on knowledge than did exposure to other types of news that were measured in the study. Higher levels of education and campaign interest also were related to more issue knowledge. Image knowledge, however, was better predicted by political party loyalties. The study was based on a survey of 252 people of voting age in Bloomington, Indiana. The study concludes that televised debates—often criticized for being contrived—make a contribution to political learning.