Patricia Moy

Knowledge, Reservations, or Promise? A Media Effects Model for Public Perceptions of Science and Technology

This study introduces a media effects model specific to public perceptions of science and technology. Analysis of the National Science Boards Science and Engineering Indicators Survey provides evidence that different media—newspapers, general television, science television, and science magazines—do affect perceptions differently. These media effects are direct but also indirect, as mediated through effects on science knowledge. Although newspaper reading, science television viewing, and science magazine reading all promote positive perceptions of science, given the relative size of its audience, the impact of general television viewing remains the most compelling finding. The negative images of science on television appear to cultivate scientific reservations, whereas televisions portrayal of science as sometimes omnipotent, and offering hope for the future, appears to also promote a competing schema related to the promise of science. Televisions direct effect on reservations is reinforced through the mediums negative relationship with science knowledge.

Understanding Deliberation The Effects of Discussion Networks on Participation in a Public Forum

Participation in a deliberative forum has received relatively little scrutiny as opposed to more traditional forms of participation. This study examines direct and indirect effects of discussion network characteristics on willingness to participate in a deliberative forum. Using data collected in a telephone survey of 416 respondents in Madison, Wisconsin, in the fall of 1997, the authors employ structural equation modeling techniques to explore the roles that local media use, interpersonal discussion of local politics, and reflection of information play in mediating the relationship between discussion networks and participation in public forums. Findings show that network heterogeneity directly influences forum participation, suggesting that membership in heterogeneous networks ensures greater nontraditional participation. Also, having more discussion partners makes frequent discussion of issues and higher levels of local public affairs media use more likely. Communication processes lead to reflection about local issues, which enhances forum participation. Finally, normative implications are addressed.

Media effects on political and social trust

Public opinion data from the last two decades document a crisis of confidence in America. Citizens are expressing lower levels of trust in government and in others. To what extent are variations in political and social trust a function of media use? Using data from the 1996 American National Election Study, we find that media use affects only social trust. Reading newspapers and watching television entertainment content enhanced social trust, while watching television news undermined trust in others. We discuss the implications of these findings for the healthy functioning of democratic systems.

The Spiral of Silence and Public Opinion on Affirmative Action

This study sought to more fully explicate the key variables involved in Noelle-Neumanns spiral of silence theory, which states that fear of isolation keeps individuals from expressing opinions perceived to be in the minority. We tested the theory in the context of public discussion about affirmative action policies, a domain seemingly ideal due to its moral and value-laden characteristics. Data from 217 randomly selected adults in October 1998 indicate that fear of isolation indeed prevents one from publicly voicing perceived minority opinions. Willingness to speak out on a controversial ballot initiative was predicted also by demographics, media use, and importance of the issue. However, it was perceived consonance of ones opinion with family and friends—rather than society at large—that predicted willingness to speak out.

Television Use and Social Capital: Testing Putnam's Time Displacement Hypothesis

Robert Putnam (1995a, 19956) charged that television is the driving force behind the decline in social capital in America. He argued that television viewing has privatized our leisure time, thus inhibiting participation outside the home. However, Putnams time displacement hypothesis never has been tested. We empirically examined the extent to which television reduces social capital through time displacement. Analyses of data from a Midwestern city (N = 416) did not support the time displacement hypothesis; time spent with television did not affect civic engagement through perceptions of time pressure. There was only a direct negative impact of television viewing time on civic engagement. Time spent reading newspapers enhanced engagement. Moreover, this relation worked indirectly through time pressures-the more time spent with newspapers, the less time pressures one perceived.

Media use and public confidence in democratic institutions

Content analyses have documented media negativity toward democratic institutions, and survey data have confirmed increasingly negative perceptions of these institutions. This study examines the impact of various media on confidence in democratic institutions — the Office of the Presidency, Congress, the criminal court system, the news media, the police, and the public school system. After accounting for the impact of respondent demographics, knowledge (expertise), and political partisanship, the results revealed limited influence of media use on perceptions of these institutions. Contrary to expectations, television news viewing predicted positively to perceptions of the news media and public schools, and newspaper reading was associated with favorable evaluations of the criminal court system and schools. Significant interaction effects were found for the news media and public schools, with listening to political talk radio eliciting lower levels of confidence among stronger Republican partisans. The only...

Knowledge or Trust? Investigating Linkages Between Media Reliance and Participation

Participation as a key component of democracy has been the focus of considerable research, with the body of scholarship focusing overwhelmingly on voting. However, because political interests and opinions can be conveyed and expressed outside the voting booth, this study examines political activity in a nonelectoral context, specifically, World Trade Organization (WTO) policies and issues as well as the WTO ministerial meeting held in Seattle, Washington, in the fall of 1999. Within this context, this study explores the process of media effects on participation, focusing on knowledge and trust in the organization as intervening variables between attention to WTO news and anticipated behaviors related to the WTO. Survey data collected from 277 adults from the greater Seattle area prior to the WTO meeting were used to test seven hypotheses and address two research questions. Results indicate that newspaper and television reliance had differential effects on knowledge about the WTO and trust in the institution. Moreover, the effects of trust on political behavior were considerably stronger than those of knowledge.

Newspaper Coverage of Fundamentalist Christians, 1980–2000:

In light of evidence indicating that political attitudes are driven in part by attitudes toward fundamentalist Christians, this study examines the potential role of media coverage in influencing these attitudes. A content analysis of a probability sample of 2,696 articles drawn from Lexis-Nexis indicates a relatively stable and slightly negative portrayal of fundamentalist Christians since 1980. The amount and type of depictions differed by geographical region as well as by type of newspaper article. Also emerging from the data was a trend toward the meshing of religion and politics. Implications of such coverage are discussed.

Influence of Prime-Time Television Programming on Perceptions of the Federal Government

This investigation extends the current body of research on trust in government by examining the effect of the use of nonnews media. Specifically, the study examines the influence of various genres of network television prime-time programming on public perceptions of the federal government. Telephone surveys conducted in March 1999 with a probability sample of 294 adults in a Midwestern community indicate that controlling for sociodemographic influences, peoples viewing of specific genres of prime-time television programming exerts a modest, and mixed, influence on perceptions of the federal government.

The Influence of Political Talk Radio on Confidence in Democratic Institutions

This study compares peoples use of political talk radio to that of other mass communication sources and to their confidence in democratic institutions. The paper argues that communication modalities (e.g., political talk radio) serve as important sources of secondary socialization: negative depictions of democratic institutions by specific sources cultivate negative perceptions of those institutions among users of these modalities. In order to test this position, the investigation employs a broad interconnected approach, combining a content analysis of references to specific democratic institutions across mass communication sources with a survey of peoples media use patterns and their confidence in institutions. The results indicate that political talk radio depicts most institutions negatively, and that listeners manifest reduced confidence in those institutions. The implications of these findings for this nations “crisis of confidence” in political institutions are explored.