A discussion of the predominance of candidate image in voting behavior. (HB)

A discussion of the predominance of candidate image in voting behavior. (HB)

Interviews with 1,034 respondents shortly before the 1972 presidential election, and with 701 of these respondents shortly after the election, revealed that a small proportion perceived political bias in television news, a larger proportion perceived biases in newspaper reporting, and the vast majority saw no political bias in either medium. (GT)

A study investigated whether reliance on television rather than on newspapers affected the way people made voting decisions. Specifically, it focused on whether television reliance was associated with greater candidate image evaluation and newspaper reliance with greater issue importance in the prediction of voter preferences. Telephone interviews…

A phone survey of 450 Ohioans was completed over the three-week period before a state-wide election on November 8, 1983, to examine three types of orientation to newspapers and television. The types were frequency of media use focusing on state and local politics, frequency of media use for news in general, and the presence or absence of primary…

A survey of Detroit daily newspapers shows that there has been dramatic improvement in the reporting of methodological information on polls. (FL)

Presents a study concerned with relating the understanding of the functioning of mass media, particulary television and newspapers, to the formation of public opinion regarding economic issues. Concludes that frequent exposure to news develops a false impression that the public understands more than they really do. (JMF)

To conceptualize public opinion as something other than "mere aggregation" of individual opinions requires systemic models that identify component parts of public opinion and their structural/functional relationships. Operationalization requires asking respondents not only their individual opinion, but also their perception of public…

To derive a model for testing, research questions were formulated which asked how long news coverage viewed in the past continues to influence the perceived salience of issues and the rate at which the influence drops off. To do this, some common factors that have been shown to affect public perceptions of issue salience, such as the prominence of…

Concludes that the press may not be successful in telling people what to think, but it is successful in telling its readers what to think about. (RB)

In 1972, M. McCombs and D. Shaw introduced the idea that the mass media have the ability to tell the public which issues are of major importance in a political campaign by virtue of the amount of coverage they give each. This they termed the "agenda setting" function of the media. A study was conducted to investigate various aspects of…

The purpose of this study was to determine the differences in agenda setting of public issues in terms of their relative importance when two separate frames of reference were present in question formation. Specifically, 302 sophomore males from Syracuse University were asked to order issues in an intrapersonal context ("Which of these…

Since voters rarely have access to a candidate's unexpurgated statements, they rely on political advertising, film footage, and media interpretations. Thus, their expectations of candidates generally reflect selective reporting and self-aggrandizement. A framework for researching the degree of understanding reached between politicians and the…

This study uses national survey data to compare newspapers and television for informativeness. Relationships are reported between media use and having reasons for liking or disliking candidates for the U.S. Senate, a variable used to measure level of information. Results demonstrate an informing role for newspapers but not for television. Analysis…

This monograph discusses the role of the press in reporting the nomination of Senator Thomas Eagleton for Vice President of the United States, the revelation of his hospitalization for mental illness six years prior to the nomination, and his eventual resignation as George McGovern's running mate in the 1972 Presidential elections. Four sections…