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Hating the Messenger: Attitudes toward the News Media and the Acquisition of Political Information by the Public
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Hating the Messenger:
Attitudes toward the News Media and the Acquisition of Political
Information by the Public
Jonathan Ladd
Princeton University
Department of Politics
Corwin Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544
## email not listed ##
Abstract: Previous research has documented that public attitudes toward the news media have become dramatically more negative over that past 35 years. At the same time that public confidence in the press has declined, political scientist have become increasingly adept at demonstrating the massive influence the media exert over public opinion. This paper examines the question of what effect public attitudes towards the press have on the news media’s ability to influence the public beliefs. To do this, I utilize a Bayesian model of persuasion to develop predictions of the consequences if source judgments do play an important role in media influence. I then test these predictions using three very different datasets: a cross-sectional survey, a panel survey, and an experiment. The results from all three datasets confirm that those with positive feelings towards the media are more influenced by media messages than those with negative feelings. I briefly discuss the implications of these findings for democratic accountability.
Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 15-18, 2004, Chicago IL.
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Hating the Messenger:
Attitudes toward the News Media and the Acquisition of Political
Information by the Public
Jonathan Ladd
Princeton University
Department of Politics
Corwin Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544
## email not listed ##
Abstract:
Previous research has documented that public attitudes toward the news media have become
dramatically more negative over that past 35 years. At the same time that public confidence in
the press has declined, political scientist have become increasingly adept at demonstrating the
massive influence the media exert over public opinion. This paper examines the question of what
effect public attitudes towards the press have on the news media’s ability to influence the public
beliefs. To do this, I utilize a Bayesian model of persuasion to develop predictions of the
consequences if source judgments do play an important role in media influence. I then test these
predictions using three very different datasets: a cross-sectional survey, a panel survey, and an
experiment. The results from all three datasets confirm that those with positive feelings towards
the media are more influenced by media messages than those with negative feelings. I briefly
discuss the implications of these findings for democratic accountability.
Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 15-18,
2004, Chicago IL.
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