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Type-Set Politics: Impact of Newspapers on Public Confidence

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  • Miller, Arthur H.
  • Goldenberg, Edie N.
  • Erbring, Lutz

Abstract

This study combines survey data from the 1974 American National Election Study with the front-page content of 94 newspapers in an investigation of the relationship between the degree of negative political criticism found in newspapers and their readers' feelings of trust in government and a sense of their own political effectiveness. Although newspaper reporting was primarily neutral or positive, readers of highly critical papers were more distrustful of government; but the impact of criticism on the more stable attitude of political efficacy was modest. Level of exposure to national news interacted with critical news content primarily to affect feelings of trust, and not efficacy.This article posits a structural explanation of inefficacy as a result of accumulating distrust, where policy dissatisfaction, rather than dislike of incumbent leaders, acts as the main determinant of cynicism. In this model, media criticism serves as a “mediator†of political realities which eventually, although indirectly, affects political malaise.

Suggested Citation

  • Miller, Arthur H. & Goldenberg, Edie N. & Erbring, Lutz, 1979. "Type-Set Politics: Impact of Newspapers on Public Confidence," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 73(1), pages 67-84, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:73:y:1979:i:01:p:67-84_15
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    Cited by:

    1. Claes H. De Vreese & Anna Kandyla, 2009. "News Framing and Public Support for a Common Foreign and Security Policy," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47, pages 453-481, June.
    2. Stephanie Greco Larson, 1988. "The President and Congress in the Media," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 499(1), pages 64-74, September.
    3. Alan S. Gerber & Dean Karlan & Daniel Bergan, 2009. "Does the Media Matter? A Field Experiment Measuring the Effect of Newspapers on Voting Behavior and Political Opinions," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 35-52, April.
    4. Kosse, Anneke, 2013. "Do newspaper articles on card fraud affect debit card usage?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5382-5391.
    5. Sadath, Md. Nazmus & Rahman, Sabrina, 2016. "Forest in crisis: 2 decades of media discourse analysis of Bangladesh print media," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 16-21.
    6. Kim P. McCann, 2013. "The Diversity Policy Model and Assessment of the Policy," SAGE Open, , vol. 3(2), pages 21582440134, June.
    7. Biondo, A.E. & Pluchino, A. & Rapisarda, A., 2018. "Modeling surveys effects in political competitions," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 503(C), pages 714-726.
    8. Klingemann, Hans-Dieter, 1984. "Computerunterstützte Inhaltsanalyse und sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 7-14.
    9. Yusong Liu & Linyi Zheng & Wenrong Qian, 2023. "How Rural Residents Access News and Its Influence on Social Trust: Based on the Data of the China Family Panel Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, February.

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