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Knowing More from Less: How the Information Environment Increases Knowledge of Party Positions

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  • Banducci, Susan
  • Giebler, Heiko
  • Kritzinger, Sylvia

Abstract

Access to information is a hallmark of democracy, and democracy demands an informed citizenry. Knowledge of party positions is necessary for voters so that electoral choices reflect preferences, allowing voters to hold elected officials accountable for policy performance. Whereas most vote choice models assume that parties perfectly transmit positions, citizens in fact obtain political information via the news media, and this news coverage can be biased in terms of salience – which leads to asymmetric information. This study examines how information asymmetries in news coverage of parties influence knowledge about political party positions. It finds that the availability of information in the news media about a party increases knowledge about its position, and that party information in non-quality news reduces the knowledge gap more than information in quality news.

Suggested Citation

  • Banducci, Susan & Giebler, Heiko & Kritzinger, Sylvia, 2017. "Knowing More from Less: How the Information Environment Increases Knowledge of Party Positions," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(3), pages 571-588, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:bjposi:v:47:y:2017:i:03:p:571-588_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Andreadis Ioannis & Giebler Heiko, 2018. "Validating and Improving Voting Advice Applications: Estimating Party Positions Using Candidate Surveys," Statistics, Politics and Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(2), pages 135-160, December.
    2. Julia Partheymüller & Sylvia Kritzinger & Carolina Plescia, 2022. "Misinformedness about the European Union and the Preference to Vote to Leave or Remain," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(5), pages 1449-1469, September.
    3. Katjana Gattermann & Claes H De Vreese, 2017. "The role of candidate evaluations in the 2014 European Parliament elections: Towards the personalization of voting behaviour?," European Union Politics, , vol. 18(3), pages 447-468, September.
    4. Giebler, Heiko & Banducci, Susan & Kritzinger, Sylvia, 2017. "New perspectives on information and electoral competition," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 52(4), pages 429-435.
    5. Giebler, Heiko & Meyer, Thomas M. & Wagner, Markus, 2021. "The changing meaning of left and right: supply- and demand-side effects on the perception of party positions," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 243-262.
    6. Simon Richter & Sebastian Stier, 2022. "Learning about the unknown Spitzenkandidaten: The role of media exposure during the 2019 European Parliament elections," European Union Politics, , vol. 23(2), pages 309-329, June.
    7. Florian Stoeckel & Vittorio Mérola & Jack Thompson & Benjamin Lyons & Jason Reifler, 2024. "Public perceptions and misperceptions of political authority in the European Union," European Union Politics, , vol. 25(1), pages 42-62, March.
    8. Lichteblau, Josephine & Giebler, Heiko & Wagner, Aiko, 2020. "Do parties perceive their voter potentials correctly? Reconsidering the spatial logic of electoral competition," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 65, pages 1-1.

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