Political persuasion during times of crisis: The effects of education and news media on citizens' factual information about Iraq

Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly

Volumn 85, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 591-608

  Johansen, Morgen S ^a   Joslyn, Mark R ^b  

^a TEXAS A AND M UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EDUCATION; INFORMATION; MASS MEDIA; WAR;

NORTH AMERICA; UNITED STATES;

EID: 59149091053     PISSN: 10776990     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/107769900808500307     Document Type: Article

References (88)

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10. Bennett, Lawrence, and Livingston, When the Press Fails;
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37. Bennett, Lawrence, and Livingston, When the Press Fails;
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44. Bennett, Lawrence, and Livingston, When the Press Fails;
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47. Kumar, "Media, War, and Propaganda: Strategies of Information Management during the 2003 Iraq War."
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56. Bennett, Lawrence, and Livingston, When the Press Fails;
57. Aday, Livingston, and Hebert, "Embedding the Truth";
58. Kumar, "Media, War, and Propaganda: Strategies of Information Management during the 2003 Iraq War";
59. Kellner, "Spectacle and Media Propaganda in the War on Iraq: A Critique of U.S. Broadcasting Networks";
60. CMPA, "George Bush's Postwar Blues."
61. The study utilized LexisNexis database transcripts. For additional information on this study (i.e., coding schemes and methodology) see http://www.fair.org, "Amplifying Officials, Squelching Dissent" Extra! May/June 2003.
62. For additional information on this study see http://www.cmpa.com, "Surprise! TV's War News Was Fairly Balanced: Study Finds ABC Most Anti-War; CBS (Not Fox) Most Pro-War."
63. Vincent Price, "Political Information," in Measures of Political Attitudes, ed. J. Robinson, P. Shaver, and L. Wrightsman (Academic Press, 1993), 591-636.
64. Zaller, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion.
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69. Zaller, "The Myth of Massive Media Impact Revived."
70. Zaller, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, 8.
71. Philip Tichenor, George Donohue, and Clarice Olien, "Mass Media Flow and Differential Growth in Knowledge," Public Opinion Quarterly 34 (2, 1970): 159-70.
72. Kull, Ramsay, and Lewis, "Misperceptions, the Media, and the Iraq War."
73. The sample in the Web-based panel reflected the U.S. population well on variables such as race, region, employment status, income, and education. Though typical on these demographics, panel members were surveyed several times a month, received free access for their participation, and the surveys were self-administered. For more information about the survey and methodology, see www.knowledgenetwork.com/ganp.
74. Everts and Isernia, "The Polls-Trends."
75. For additional information on this study (i.e., coding schemes and methodology) see http://www.fair.org, "If News From Iraq is Bad, It's Coming From U.S. Officials." Extra! February 2004.
76. Fair 2004. For additional information on this study see http:// www.cmpa.com, "George Bush's Postwar Blues: TV News Coverage of President Bush Since the Iraq War, " November/December 2003.
77. An additional question was asked of respondents: "How do people in the world feel about the U.S. having gone to war in Iraq?" Though this question has been used by others (Kull, Ramsay and Lewis, "The Polls-Trends") and Gallup did conduct two international polls in January and April-May of 2003 and one by the Pew Center in April-May 2003, which included questions about support for the Iraq War (together these three polls did comprise fifty-six countries), the answer to this question is not necessarily clear, nor a simple matter of fact. If included in the factual question index, however, statistical associations do not change nor do substantive conclusions.
78. Everts and Isernia, "The Polls-Trends";
79. Kull, Ramsay, and Lewis, "Misperceptions, the Media, and the Iraq War"; see also Table 1.
80. The survey questions do not allow us to compare viewers to nonviewers. Rather, the analyses evaluate levels of factual information across respondents who reported a primary source of news.
81. The original distribution was as follows: less than high school, 3%; some high school, no diploma, 8.70%; graduated from high school, diploma, 37.73%; some college, no degree, 21.24%; associate degree, 6.84%; bachelor's degree, 15.12%; master's degree, 5.31%; professional degree, 1.41%; doctorate degree, 0.66%. Subsequent statistical results are identical using this scale or the 4-point scale noted in text.
82. Michael X. Delli Carpini and Scott Keeter, What Americans Know About Politics and Why It Matters (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997).
83. Kull, Ramsay, and Lewis, "Misperceptions, the Media, and the Iraq War."
84. Delli Carpini and Keeter, What Americans Know About Politics and Why It Matters; Milton Lodge, "Toward a Procedural Model of Candidate Evaluation," in Political Judgment, ed. Milton Lodge and Kathleen McGraw (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1995), 111-40.
85. Kull, Ramsay, and Lewis, "Misperceptions, the Media, and the Iraq War."
86. Doris Graber, "The Media and Democracy: Beyond Myths and Stereotypes," Annual Review of Political Science 6 (2003): 139-60, 148;
87. Bennett, Lawrence, and Livingston, When the Press Fails.
88. Brian J. Gaines, "Where's the Rally? Approval and Trust of the President, Cabinet, Congress, and Government since September 11," PS: Political Science and Politics 35 (September 2002): 530-36.