1. The Dynamics of Political Communication Chapter 4 Media and Political Knowledge
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2. What do Americans know about politics?
Topic
How many?
Can name the three branches of government
Just over a fourth
Able to accurately define several central political concepts such as liberal and conservative
Less than half
Know names of both US Senators from their state
35%
Don’t know that free speech is protected in all media
4 in 10
Incorrectly believe that the Constitution gives the president the power to declare war
Can identify more than one of the five freedoms ensured by the First Amendment
25%
Can name at least two of the five members of The Simpsons
More than half
Can locate Central America or France on a map
Just over half
Really?
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3. Why do people know so little?
What do you think? Why is political knowledge as low as it is?
Lack of incentive
The way news is presented
Expansion of media choices
Leaders intentionally convey misleading political facts
Politicians offer short, tweet-like quips devoid of meaningful information (to capture attention)
Increasing disconnect between politics and everyday life
© 2018 Taylor & Francis

4. A More Optimistic View
Realistically, its not possible to closely follow politics and formulate thoughtful perspectives on every issue given the demands on citizens’ time and difficulty of many issues
Citizens use heuristics instead: cognitive shortcuts used to help make political decisions
People may be short on political knowledge but still be capable of making reasonable decisions in elections
Tests of political knowledge may also be flawed, as they tend to ask people to supply trivial facts unrelated to good citizenship
Good citizenship doesn’t require intimate knowledge of every news issue
Example: Voting the party line on ballots when voting for unfamiliar candidates for lesser known positions
What are some cognitive shortcuts people take that generally still lead to reasonable political decisions?
© 2018 Taylor & Francis

5. Mass Communication Perspective on Political Knowledge
The classic mass communication perspective examines effects of each particular medium on knowledge
Constructionism examines how people construct meaning from media messages to form beliefs and political attitudes
Effects depend on the interaction among demographic categories, psychology of the individual, and content of the medium
Users of information-rich websites are probably more educated, motivated, and capable of processing political information
Thus, the Internet may replicate the cognitive benefits associated with the print journalism of the past
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6. Psychological Approach to Political Knowledge
Psychological viewpoints focus on cognitive and emotional attributes individuals bring to political media
A schema is “a cognitive structure consisting of organized knowledge about situations and individuals that has been abstracted from prior experiences” (Graber, 1988, p. 28)
Key observations:
Processing news is active, not passive
News that resonates with preexisting beliefs is likely to reinforce and strengthen attitudes
Partisans are particularly likely to harbor misperceptions even in the face of countervailing evidence
Beliefs can be held so strongly that corrections can actually strengthen false beliefs
Why could providing information that corrects a person’s false belief end up strengthening that false belief?
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7. Sociological approach to political knowledge
The sociological approach emphasizes demographic and social structural factors
Education and social class are major predictors of political knowledge
There are knowledge gaps where media exacerbate differences produced by income and education
When media accentuate knowledge gaps, the system fails the poor and less educated
© 2018 Taylor & Francis

8. Putting It All together
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9. Political Knowledge in the Age of Internet and Social MEdia
Social media is beginning to eclipse TV among young adults
Nearly 80% of American adults read news on Facebook
Online news influences political participation by providing a feeling of interactivity and connection
Skeptics argue entertainment lures young people from paying close attention to news
© 2018 Taylor & Francis

10. Conclusions
There are many reasons why Americans lack political knowledge
The mass media, Internet, and social media provide voluminous information, providing the raw materials of political belief
There are striking inequalities in political knowledge between levels of education and wealth
What people already know influences what they can learn from media
Citizens increasingly get news online
Low knowledge levels can have important effects, such as negative attitudes toward government
© 2018 Taylor & Francis