Natalie Jomini Stroud

Connections Between Internet Use and Political Efficacy, Knowledge, and Participation

Using data from the 2000 National Annenberg Election Survey, this study looks at the relationships between Internet access and online exposure to information about the presidential campaign and political efficacy, knowledge, and participation. Results show that Internet access and online exposure to information about the presidential campaign are significantly associated with these important political variables. Several of the associations between Internet access and exposure with political efficacy, knowledge, and participation are detectable even when taking sociodemographic variables, party identification, partisan strength, political interest, and other media exposures variables into account. Although statistically significant, these associations are quite small.

Media Effects, Selective Exposure, and Fahrenheit 9/11

With increasing media choice and diverse media outlets, people have more opportunities to engage in selective exposure. The present study investigates this phenomenon by looking at the widely viewed anti–President George W. Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. Using survey data gathered from a national sample before and after the opening of Fahrenheit 9/11, this study investigates the degree of selective exposure and the potential media effects occurring as a result of exposure to the film. The data provide evidence that selective exposure occurred—the audience for the film held more negative attitudes toward President George W. Bush. This study then turns to evaluating whether the film had political effects. Results suggest that those who viewed the film had significantly more negative attitudes toward Bush compared to those who intended to view the film, even after controlling for demographic, political, and media use differences between the groups. Results also suggest that political discussion with friends and family did not moderate the movies effect, but that viewing the film may have inspired people to engage in more political discussion. Those viewing the film had higher levels of political discussion compared to those intending to view the film, even after controlling for a battery of other variables. Discussion of the results provides insight into the relationship between theories of media effects and selective exposure.With increasing media choice and diverse media outlets, people have more opportunities to engage in selective exposure. The present study investigates this phenomenon by looking at the widely viewed anti–President George W. Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. Using survey data gathered from a national sample before and after the opening of Fahrenheit 9/11, this study investigates the degree of selective exposure and the potential media effects occurring as a result of exposure to the film. The data provide evidence that selective exposure occurred—the audience for the film held more negative attitudes toward President George W. Bush. This study then turns to evaluating whether the film had political effects. Results suggest that those who viewed the film had significantly more negative attitudes toward Bush compared to those who intended to view the film, even after controlling for demographic, political, and media use differences between the groups. Results also suggest that political discussion with frien...

Changing Deliberative Norms on News Organizations' Facebook Sites

Comments posted to news sites do not always live up to the ideals of deliberative theorists. Drawing from theories about deliberation and group norms, this study investigates whether news organizations can affect comment section norms by engaging directly with commenters. We conducted a field study with a local television station in a top-50 Designated Market Area. For 70 political posts made on different days, we randomized whether an unidentified staff member from the station, a recognizable political reporter, or no one engaged with commenters. We assessed if these changes affected whether the comments (n = 2,403) were civil, were relevant, contained genuine questions, and provided evidence. The findings indicate that a news organization can affect the deliberative behavior of commenters.

Exposure to Ideological News and Perceived Opinion Climate: Testing the Media Effects Component of Spiral-of-Silence in a Fragmented Media Landscape

Spiral-of-silence theory assumes that a monolithic stream of messages from mainstream media, leaving little ability for audiences to seek ideologically congruent news, affects people’s perceptions of the distribution of opinion in society. While these assumptions may have been valid when Noelle-Neumann developed her theory forty years ago, the new media landscape, characterized by the proliferation of ideological media outlets, makes them seem outdated. Do audiences of conservative-leaning media perceive a conservative opinion climate while audiences of liberal-leaning media perceive a more liberal distribution of opinion? And if so, what are the consequences? We examine these questions using two data sets collected in extremely different contexts (Study 1 in the context of the 2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza, n = 519; Study 2, in the context of the 2004 U.S. presidential elections using the National Annenberg Election Survey, n = 9,058). In both studies, selective exposure to ideological media outlets was associated with opinion climate perceptions that were biased in the direction of the media outlets’ ideologies. In Study 2, we also demonstrated that partisan selective exposure indirectly contributes to political polarization, and that this effect is mediated by opinion climate perceptions.

Bursting your (filter) bubble: strategies for promoting diverse exposure

Broadcast media are declining in their power to decide which issues and viewpoints will reach large audiences. But new information filters are appearing, in the guise of recommender systems, aggregators, search engines, feed ranking algorithms, and the sites we bookmark and the people and organizations we choose to follow on Twitter. Sometimes we explicitly choose our filters; some we hardly even notice. Critics worry that, collectively, these filters will isolate people in information bubbles only partly of their own choosing, and that the inaccurate beliefs they form as a result may be difficult to correct. But should we really be worried, and, if so, what can we do about it? Our panelists will review what scholars know about selectivity of exposure preferences and actual exposure and what we in the CSCW field can do to develop and test ways of promoting diverse exposure, openness to the diversity we actually encounter, and deliberative discussion.

Perceptions of Cable News Credibility

By analyzing variability in credibility assessments of news outlets CNN and FOX, this study extends prior research focusing on perceptions of credibility for a single media source. Using national survey data from 2006 and 2008, we find that demographic and political characteristics help to explain different patterns of perceived credibility. Those detecting larger differences between CNN and FOX are more politically knowledgeable and hold more polarized political attitudes. Some findings coincide with research on overall news media trust. Yet other findings demonstrate the importance of considering different patterns. Liberal Democrats were more likely than conservative Republicans to find neither network particularly credible, for example. We also examine the connection between selective exposure and credibility. We find evidence that credibility perceptions for both networks mediate the relationship between political predispositions and cable news use.

Assessing Selective Exposure in Experiments: The Implications of Different Methodological Choices

Selective exposure has been studied for more than half a century, but little research has systematically analyzed the implications of various methodological choices inherent in these designs. We examine how four choices affect results in studies of selectivity in political contexts: including an entertainment option, including or excluding moderates, post-hoc adjustment of the subjects through a question about likelihood of selecting content in the real world, and assessing selectivity on the basis of issue attitudes or political ideology. Relying on a large experimental survey (N = 2,300), we compare the effects of these choices on two results: probability of selective exposure to like-minded political news and predictors of selective exposure (attitude strength, political interest, knowledge, and participation). Our findings show that probability estimates and, to a lesser extent, predictors of selective exposure are sensitive to methodological choices. These findings provide guidance about how methodological choices may affect researchers’ assessments and conclusions.

The Presence and Use of Interactive Features on News Websites

Although interactive features, such as comment sections, used to be rare on news websites, they are now the norm. Based on theoretical concepts of interactivity and convergence, we analyze whether diverse sites are similar in the provision and use of interactive features online. We conduct a content analysis of 155 news websites to examine the presence and use of social media buttons, lists of hyperlinks, polls, comment sections, and mobile sites. Television news and newspaper websites are compared, as are local and more broadly targeted news sites. The findings provide little evidence for interactive convergence. Rather, results reveal many differences in the adoption and use of interactive features based on medium and target. Reasons for differences across these sites are discussed.

Partisan News and Political Participation: Exploring Mediated Relationships

This study examines mediators of the relationship between news consumption and political participation in the contemporary news environment. We test the differential effects exerted by pro- and counter-attitudinal news compared with balanced news on intended participation. Our primary objective is to model three paths that may link news exposure and participation: cognitive (i.e., perceived issue understanding), affective (i.e., emotions evoked by a news story), and attitudinal (i.e., attitude strength). We compare these paths across four issues, testing which is strongest. Relying on a large survey-based experiment on a representative sample of the American population (N = 2,300), we find that pro-attitudinal exposure increases intended participation relative to balanced news exposure, while the effects of counter-attitudinal news do not differ from those exerted by balanced news. Issue understanding, anger, positive emotions, and attitude strength all mediate the relationship between pro-attitudinal exposure and intended participation, with the route via attitude strength being strongest. These effects do not depend on whether exposure is self-selected or experimentally assigned.

College Students, News Use, and Trust

Young Americans report lower levels of political knowledge, news consumption, public trust, and civic behavior than their forebears. Concerned with what these patterns hold for the future of democratic governance, this study attempts to learn more about the news sources that college students use and the ones that they trust. Results from a survey of 213 18- to 24-year-old college students show that they access news that is convenient (namely, the Web and cable television), make nuanced distinctions between sources (consistently preferring the newspaper over others), and do not necessarily trust the sources they consult most often. This article details these patterns and addresses their relevance to news reform that can increase a younger audience and contribute to democratic life.