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Sex, Lies, and War: How Soft News Brings Foreign Policy to the Inattentive Public

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  • BAUM, MATTHEW A.

Abstract

This study argues that, due to selective political coverage by the entertainment-oriented, soft news media, many otherwise politically inattentive individuals are exposed to information about high-profile political issues, most prominently foreign policy crises, as an incidental by-product of seeking entertainment. I conduct a series of statistical investigations examining the relationship between individual media consumption and attentiveness to several recent high-profile foreign policy crisis issues. For purposes of comparison, I also investigate several non-foreign crisis issues, some of which possess characteristics appealing to soft news programs and others of which lack such characteristics. I find that information about foreign crises, and other issues possessing similar characteristics, presented in a soft news context, has indeed attracted the attention of politically uninvolved Americans. The net effect is a reduced disparity in attentiveness to select high-profile political issues across different segments of the public.

Suggested Citation

  • Baum, Matthew A., 2002. "Sex, Lies, and War: How Soft News Brings Foreign Policy to the Inattentive Public," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 96(1), pages 91-109, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:96:y:2002:i:01:p:91-109_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Di Tella, Rafael & Galiani, Sebastian & Schargrodsky, Ernesto, 2021. "Persuasive propaganda during the 2015 Argentine Ballotage," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 885-900.
    2. Heinrich, Tobias & Kobayashi, Yoshiharu & Bryant, Kristin A., 2016. "Public Opinion and Foreign Aid Cuts in Economic Crises," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 66-79.
    3. Travis W. Endicott, 2020. "Combat Experience and the Foreign Policy Positions of Veterans," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1413-1429, July.
    4. Markus Prior, 2005. "News vs. Entertainment: How Increasing Media Choice Widens Gaps in Political Knowledge and Turnout," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 49(3), pages 577-592, July.
    5. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/26t617gatp86qree1dejcpchbr is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Charles Angelucci & Julia Cage, 2019. "Newspapers in Times of Low Advertising Revenues," SciencePo Working papers hal-03391880, HAL.
    7. Charles Angelucci & Julia Cagé, 2019. "Newspapers in Times of Low Advertising Revenues," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 319-364, August.
    8. repec:thr:techub:10015:y:2021:i:1:p:217-229 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Jose Apesteguia & Miguel A. Ballester, 2022. "Choice-based foundations of ordered logit," Economics Working Papers 1822, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    10. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4edekc99or8n2bu86nu4ua8adl is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Marco Gambaro & Valentino Larcinese & Riccardo Puglisi & James M. Snyder Jr., 2021. "The Revealed Demand for Hard vs. Soft News: Evidence from Italian TV Viewership," NBER Working Papers 29020, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Charles Angelucci & Julia Cage, 2019. "Newspapers in Times of Low Advertising Revenues," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03391880, HAL.
    13. Tyler Johnson & David Rossbach, 2015. "Foreign Affairs, Domestic Attention: Explaining American Media Coverage of the European Financial Crisis," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1328-1347, November.
    14. Neil Shen, 2020. "The Newspaper Industry in a Changing Landscape The Shift in News Content of Various Newspapers as a Response to the Rise of Social Media," Network and Communication Technologies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 5(1), pages 1-1, June.
    15. Todd Adkins & Jeremiah J. Castle, 2014. "Moving Pictures? Experimental Evidence of Cinematic Influence on Political Attitudes," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 95(5), pages 1230-1244, December.
    16. Amy B. Becker, 2022. "Let's talk about the Israel–Palestine conflict: Does exposure to political comedy about the Middle East influence policy attitudes?," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 103(3), pages 724-736, May.
    17. Birenbaum-Carmeli, Daphna & Banerjee, Albert & Taylor, Steve, 2006. "All in the family: Media presentations of family assisted suicide in Britain," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(8), pages 2153-2164, October.

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