James Shanahan

Think about it This Way: Attribute Agenda-Setting Function of the Press and the public's Evaluation of a Local Issue

This study examined the attribute agenda-setting function of the media, which refers to significant correspondence between prominent issue attributes in the media and the agenda of attributes among audiences. An opinion survey on a local issue and a content analysis of a local newspaper revealed that, by covering certain issue aspects more prominently, the media increase the salience of these aspects among audience members. We also found an important outcome of attribute agenda setting, attribute priming effects. Findings indicated that issue attributes salient in the media were functioning as significant dimensions of issue evaluation among audience members. This study concluded that the media, by emphasizing certain attributes of an issue, tell us “how to think about” this issue as well as “what to think about.”

Perceived Support for One's Opinions and Willingness to Speak Out: A Meta-Analysis of Survey Studies on the 'Spiral of Silence'

The authors report a meta-analysis of survey studies examining the relationship between peoples perceptions of support for their opinions and their willingness to express those opinions. Evidence from the analysis indicates the presence of a very small but statistically significant, relationship between the degree to which a person believes others hold similar opinions and the willingness to express those opinions. Moderator analyses did not reveal significant moderators of this relationship, although the observed correlations were statistically heterogeneous, suggesting at least one undiscovered moderator

Two Decades of Cultivation Research: An Appraisal and Meta-Analysis

This chapter presents a theoretical review and meta-analysis of cultivation research. The authors examine the roots of cultivation analysis, as developed by George Gerbner and colleagues, and review the progress made in cultivation research since its inception in the 1970s. They also review some of the critiques that have been made of cultivation theory over the years and provide their own critical review and responses. They then offer a meta-analysis of empirical findings from 20 years of cultivation research. This meta-analysis shows an average cultivation effect of .09. Much, but not all, of the variation in cultivation findings reported in the literature can be attributed to sampling error alone. Yet, although the authors tested a variety of hypothetical moderator variables, they found no specific moderator variables. The analysis suggests that many theoretical arguments tend to fade into the background when the corpus of cultivation findings is viewed from a meta-analytic perspective.

Stigmatizing Smokers: Public Sentiment Toward Cigarette Smoking and Its Relationship to Smoking Behaviors

Public sentiment in the United States has been evolving against cigarette smoking. Providing support for stronger tobacco control legislation, unfavorable public sentiment has contributed to the decrease in the size of the smoking population in this country. The present study hypothesizes that the unfavorable public sentiment may also discourage cigarette smoking by creating an unfavorable smoking climate in which smoking is socially rejected as a deviant behavior. Analyses of several secondary data-sets provided evidence that smoking rates are lower in the states where the public holds relatively unfavorable sentiment toward cigarette smoking. The relationship between public sentiment and smoking rates was significant even after controlling for the effects of state-level tobacco control measures, such as cigarette taxes and smoking restrictions in private workplaces and restaurants. We also found that smokers who have experienced unfavorable public sentiment are more willing to quit smoking than those who have not, supporting the hypothesized effects of antismoking public sentiment on smoking behaviors.

Green or brown? Television and the cultivation of environmental concern

This study examines relationships between television viewing and environmental concern. Using data from the 1993 and 1994 General Social Survey, we examine the associations between exposure to televisions messages and respondents’ willingness to make sacrifices for the environment, perceptions of threat from pollution, and perceptions of the impact of science and technology on the environment. The results show that television viewing is associated with a general apprehension about the state of the environment, but is not consistently related to viewers’ perception of threats from specific sources. Heavy television viewers are generally less willing to make sacrifices for environmental reasons. Subgroup and mainstreaming relationships are explored.

Media Attention and Exposure in Relation to Support for Agricultural Biotechnology

This article shows that attention to television news, science television, and entertainment television are all significantly related to a composite measure of agricultural biotechnology support after controlling for demographics as well as self-reported biotechnology awareness, trust in institutions, and perceived role of science. These findings contradict previous commentary that suggested that no measurable relationship exists between communication variables and biotechnology support. It is also hypothesized that some biotechnology support may be an outcome of heuristic processing by survey respondents.

Public Diplomacy, Television News, and Muslim Opinion:

Scholars agree that extreme anti-American sentiment is pervasive across the predominantly Muslim countries of the world, but disagree about the sources of these negative perceptions. Some researchers point to cultural, religious, and value divisions as primary factors shaping negative perceptions of the United States, while others emphasize internal Muslim state politics, comparatively low levels of economic and social development, and failure to establish civil society and democracy as the key contributors to anti-American opinion. Since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the second Gulf War, a number of U.S. policymakers and commentators have zeroed in on television news, specifically the new pan-Arab television network Al Jazeera, as an additional major contributor. In this study, the authors test competing claims regarding the sources of anti-American sentiment with a special focus on the impact of television news. Using survey data gathered from nine predominantly Muslim countries by the Gallup Organization in spring 2002, the authors examine the relative contributions of macro-level socioeconomic and political influences, individual-level demographic factors, and TV news use to anti-American attitudes. They find that attention to TV news coverage contributes significantly to anti-American perceptions after all controls and that the type of TV network to which individuals turn for their news has either amplifying or buffering effects on the main effects of attention to news coverage.

The polls-trends: Attitudes about agricultural biotechnology and genetically modified organisms

Cet article examine quelques tendances de lopinion publique americaine au sujet des modifications genetiques dans lagriculture et dans lalimentation : le degre dinformation et les attitudes adoptees sur la question, le comportement de consommateur en termes dachats mais aussi en matiere detiquetage des produits

Effects on risk perception of media coverage of a black bear-related human fatality

Abstract On 19 August 2002 an infant was fatally injured by a black bear (Ursus americanus) in Fallsburg, New York. Based on the social amplification of risk theory, we anticipated that media coverage of the incident would affect perceived bear-related risk among residents in New Yorks black bear range. We compared results from a pre-incident mail survey (March 2002; n = 3,000) and a post-incident telephone survey (September 2002; n = 302) of New York residents in the same geographic regions to determine whether perception of personal risk (i.e., the perceived probability of experiencing a threatening encounter with a black bear) had changed as a result of the infant death. Additionally, we performed content analysis of news stories published between 19 August and 19 September 2002 (n = 45) referencing the incident. The proportion of respondents who believed the risk of being threatened by a bear was acceptably low increased after the incident (81% pre-incident vs. 87% post-incident), corresponding with an increase in print media coverage of black bears during the month following the incident. The majority of media coverage noted the rarity of human fatalities caused by black bears. Stability in risk perception may have been reinforced by media coverage that uniformly characterized the risk of a bear attack as extremely low. Alternatively, existing perceptions of black bear-related risk may have been reinforced by the short-term nature of media coverage after the incident. The fatality did not serve as a focus event that motivated stakeholder groups to promote change in wildlife management policy. Additional bear-related fatalities, however, could create the impetus for a change in risk perception via a social amplification of risk. Wildlife managers should be aware of potential media effects on risk perception and recognize the potential for risk communication to improve the congruence between actual and perceived risk.

Who cares about local politics? Media influences on local political involvement, issue awareness, and attitude strength

This study examines sources of variation in political participation and cognition, testing the effects of several factors on individuals engagement in the local political process including, as dependent variables, local political involvement, local issue awareness, and attitude strength. Our study highlights the importance of discussion networks and mass media for local political involvement, issue awareness, and attitude strength. In other words, the idea—vocalized by many political scientists—that demographic variables and ideological differences explain most of the variance in peoples involvement in politics and attitudes was not supported by our data. Ties to the community, social networks, and other communication variables also played a key role. Both the direction and the extremity of ideological beliefs were related to the strength with which respondents held their attitudes on a local issue. Even when these more stable predictors were controlled for, we again found strong influences of heterogeneous discussion networks, local newspaper use, and local political involvement.