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Experimental Demonstrations of the “Not-So-Minimal” Consequences of Television News Programs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 1982

Shanto Iyengar ,
Mark D. Peters  and
Donald R. Kinder
Shanto Iyengar
Affiliation:
Yale University
Mark D. Peters
Affiliation:
Yale University
Donald R. Kinder
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
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Abstract

Two experiments sustain Lippmann's suspicion, advanced a half century ago, that media provide compelling descriptions of a public world that people cannot directly experience. More precisely, the experiments show that television news programs profoundly affect which problems viewers take to be important. The experiments also demonstrate that those problems promimently positioned in the evening news are accorded greater weight in viewers' evaluations of presidential performance. We note the political implications of these results, suggest their psychological foundations, and argue for a revival of experimentation in the study of political communication.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 76 , Issue 4 , December 1982 , pp. 848 - 858
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1982

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