Effects of news slant and base rate information on perceived public opinion

Journalism and Mass Communication Quaterly

Volumn 76, Issue 2, 1999, Pages 277-292

  Gunther, Albert C ^a   Christen, Cindy T ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0002485214     PISSN: 10776990     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/107769909907600207     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. Michael Schudson, The Power of News (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995), 127.
2. Schudson, The Power of News, 137.
3. European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research, "Freedom of the Polls," news release (September 1997).
4. Albert C. Gunther, "The Persuasive Press Inference: Effects of Mass Media on Perceived Public Opinion," Communication Research 25 (October 1998): 486-504.
5. This assumption is consistent with the well-documented base-rate fallacy. See, e.g., Maya Bar-Hillel, "The Base Rate Fallacy in Probability Judgment," Acta Psychologica 44 (January 1980): 211-33.
6. W. Phillips Davison, "The Third Person Effect in Communication," Public Opinion Quarterly 47 (spring 1983): 1-15.
7. Frank Brettschneider, "The Press and the Polls in Germany, 1980-1994: Poll Coverage as an Essential Part of Election Campaign Reporting," International Journal of Public Opinion Research 9 (fall 1997): 248-65; Michael W. Traugott, "The Impact of Media Polls on the Public," in Media Polls in American Politics, ed. Thomas E. Mann and Gary R. Orren (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1992), 125-49. But cf. Mark Fitzgerald, "Canada's Polling Ban Overturned," Editor & Publisher, 1998, 23.
8. Frank Brettschneider, "The Press and the Polls in Germany, 1980-1994: Poll Coverage as an Essential Part of Election Campaign Reporting," International Journal of Public Opinion Research 9 (fall 1997): 248-65; Michael W. Traugott, "The Impact of Media Polls on the Public," in Media Polls in American Politics, ed. Thomas E. Mann and Gary R. Orren (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1992), 125-49. But cf. Mark Fitzgerald, "Canada's Polling Ban Overturned," Editor & Publisher, 1998, 23.
9. Frank Brettschneider, "The Press and the Polls in Germany, 1980-1994: Poll Coverage as an Essential Part of Election Campaign Reporting," International Journal of Public Opinion Research 9 (fall 1997): 248-65; Michael W. Traugott, "The Impact of Media Polls on the Public," in Media Polls in American Politics, ed. Thomas E. Mann and Gary R. Orren (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1992), 125-49. But cf. Mark Fitzgerald, "Canada's Polling Ban Overturned," Editor & Publisher, 1998, 23.
10. Schudson, The Power of News, 244.
11. Douglas M. McLeod and James K. Hertog, "The Manufacture of 'Public Opinion' by Reporters: Informal Cues for Public Perceptions of Protest Groups," Discourse and Society 3 (July 1992): 259-75.
12. Hans-Bernd Brosius and Anke Bathelt, "The Utility of Exemplars in Persuasive Communication," Communication Research 21 (February 1994): 48-78.
13. Fred Greenstein, The Reagan Presidency: An Early Assessment (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983), 174.
14. Gunther, "The Persuasive Press Inference."
15. Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, The Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion - Our Social Skin, 2d ed. (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1993).
16. Brosius and Bathelt, "The Utility of Exemplars in Persuasive Communication."
17. Robert P. Vallone, Lee Ross, and Mark R. Lepper, "The Hostile Media Phenomenon: Biased Perception of Media Bias in Coverage of the Beirut Massacre," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 49 (September 1985): 577-85.
18. But cf. Cindy T. Christen, Prathana Kannaovakun, and Albert C. Gunther, "Partisan Perceptions of Public Opinion: An Extension of the Hostile Media Effect" (paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, St. Louis, MO, 1998). This and other recent research indicates that the presumed effect of "hostile" news coverage on perceptions of public opinion may actually be countered by a robust projection effect.
19. Davison, "The Third Person Effect in Communication."
20. Albert C. Gunther and Paul Mundy, "Biased Optimism and the Third-Person Effect," Journalism Quarterly 70 (spring 1993): 58-67.
21. Diana C. Mutz and Joe Soss, "Reading Public Opinion: The Influence of News Coverage on Perceptions of Public Sentiment," Public Opinion Quarterly 61 (fall 1997): 431-51.
22. Gunther, "The Persuasive Press Inference."
23. Brosius and Bathelt, "The Utility of Exemplars in Persuasive Communication" ; Dolf Zillmann, Rhonda Gibson, S. Shyam Sundar, and J. W. Perkins Jr., "Effects of Exemplification in News Reports on the Perception of Social Issues," Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 73 (summer 1996): 427-44.
24. Brosius and Bathelt, "The Utility of Exemplars in Persuasive Communication" ; Dolf Zillmann, Rhonda Gibson, S. Shyam Sundar, and J. W. Perkins Jr., "Effects of Exemplification in News Reports on the Perception of Social Issues," Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 73 (summer 1996): 427-44.
25. Brosius and Bathelt, "The Utility of Exemplars in Persuasive Communication"; Zillmann, Gibson, Sundar, and Perkins, "Effects of Exemplification in News Reports."
26. Brosius and Bathelt, "The Utility of Exemplars in Persuasive Communication"; Zillmann, Gibson, Sundar, and Perkins, "Effects of Exemplification in News Reports."
27. Lee Ross, David Green, and Pamela House, "The 'False Consensus Effect': An Egocentric Bias in Social Perception and Attribution Processes," Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 13 (May 1977): 279-301.
28. James M. Fields and Howard Schuman, "Public Beliefs about the Beliefs of the Public," Public Opinion Quarterly 40 (fall 1976): 427-48; Carroll J. Glynn, "Perceptions of Others' Opinions as a Component of Public Opinion," Social Science Research 18 (March 1989): 53-69.
29. James M. Fields and Howard Schuman, "Public Beliefs about the Beliefs of the Public," Public Opinion Quarterly 40 (fall 1976): 427-48; Carroll J. Glynn, "Perceptions of Others' Opinions as a Component of Public Opinion," Social Science Research 18 (March 1989): 53-69.
30. Brosius and Bathelt, "The Utility of Exemplars in Persuasive Communication"; Dolf Zillmann, Joseph W. Perkins Jr., and S. Shyam Sundar, "Impression-Formation Effects of Printed News Varying in Descriptive Precision and Exemplification," Medienpsychologie 4 (3, 1992): 167-85.
31. Brosius and Bathelt, "The Utility of Exemplars in Persuasive Communication"; Dolf Zillmann, Joseph W. Perkins Jr., and S. Shyam Sundar, "Impression-Formation Effects of Printed News Varying in Descriptive Precision and Exemplification," Medienpsychologie 4 (3, 1992): 167-85.
32. Catherine Marsh, "Back on the Bandwagon: The Effect of Opinion Polls on Public Opinion," British Journal of Political Science 15 (1, 1984): 51-74; Stephen J. Ceci and Edward L. Kain, "Jumping on the Bandwagon with the Underdog: The Impact of Attitude Polls on Polling Behavior," Public Opinion Quarterly 46 (summer 1982): 228-42.
33. Catherine Marsh, "Back on the Bandwagon: The Effect of Opinion Polls on Public Opinion," British Journal of Political Science 15 (1, 1984): 51-74; Stephen J. Ceci and Edward L. Kain, "Jumping on the Bandwagon with the Underdog: The Impact of Attitude Polls on Polling Behavior," Public Opinion Quarterly 46 (summer 1982): 228-42.
34. For a discussion of absolute and relative base rate statements, see Brosius and Bathelt, "The Utility of Exemplars in Persuasive Communication." Precise and imprecise base rate cues are discussed in Zillmann, Perkins, and Sundar, "Impression-Formation Effects of Printed News Varying in Descriptive Precision and Exemplification."
35. Gunther, "The Persuasive Press Inference."
36. Reuben M. Baron and David A. Kenny, "The Moderator-Mediator Variable Distinction in Social Psychological Research: Conceptual, Strategic and Statistical Considerations," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51 (December 1986): 1173-82.
37. Baron and Kenny, "The Moderator-Mediator Variable Distinction."