Media on Political Trust, Knowledge, and Participation Michael - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Michael Barthel, Patricia Moy, Sheetal Agarwal, Department of Communication University of Washington Eike Rinke, Universität Mannheim

The Impact of Locally-Based Media on Political Trust, Knowledge, and Participation

Local media

• Local media important to democracy

– Social trust: Provide information about local social environment – Political trust: Shape perceptions of government – Locally relevant political knowledge: Localized reporting gives information not otherwise available – Civic participation: Distributes information about local

• pportunity structure

– Political participation: Publicizes information, influences general political cognitions

Media localism

• Local media most common source of

news, but not all is produced locally

• FCC concerned with diversity of local

media: more voices, more perspectives

• Coverage of local community depends
• n presence of media outlets
• These differences may have effects on

political attitudes and behaviors

Influences on trust

• Diverse local media linked to greater

community attachment, social capital

• Communities with fewer local media
• utlets will have less diversity

– H1: Level of media localism is positively related to level of social trust.

Influences on trust

• Trust in government influenced by media
• Lack of coverage will shift perceptions,

but unclear in which direction

• More influence on local than national

– H2a: Level of media localism is related to trust in government. – H2b: Level of media localism are more strongly related to trust in local government than federal government.

Political knowledge

• Coverage of local politics (almost)

exclusively in local media

• More likely to expose and elaborate

information if more personally relevant

• Greater local news use tied to greater

knowledge

– H3: Levels of media localism are positively related to locally relevant political knowledge.

Participation

• Most participation occurs locally
• Local media needed to publicize
• pportunities for participation
• More relevant to civic forms of

participation than political

– H4a: Levels of media localism are positively related to levels of civic participation. – H4b: Media localism is more strongly related to civic than political participation.

Data

• 2006 Saguaro survey

– Representative samples of 11 cities – N = 5603

• Variables

– Trust in local/state government, social trust, knowledge, civic/political participation, media use, demographics – Exposure to local media = media use x presence of local media

Media localism index

• TV: for news broadcasts in community,

percentage produced in community

• Radio: for news/talk stations in market,

percentage with locally-produced news

• Newspapers: number of local papers

available in community (daily, weekly, specialty)

• Source: Bowker’s News Media Directory

2006

Results: Trust

Note: all figures represent before-entry betas, controlling for all variables in previous blocks; * = p < .05; ** = p < .01; a = p < .10

Knowledge, participation

Note: all figures represent before-entry betas, controlling for all variables in previous blocks; * = p < .05; ** = p < .01; a = p < .10

Summary of results

Social trust Trust in local gov Trust in

• fed. gov

Political knowl. Political part. Civic part.

TV +/- +

• Radio
• +

+ Newspapers

Trust

• H1: Exposure to local TV raised social

trust, but TV and radio localism both decreased social trust

• H2a: Newspaper localism and exposure

decreases trust in local government; radio localism increases trust in local and national government

• H2b: More media effects on trust in local

than national government

Knowledge, participation

• H3: TV localism increases knowledge,

but newspaper localism decreases

• H4a: Local TV exposure and newspaper

localism decrease political and civic participation

• H4b: Presence of local media better

explains civic participation, use better explains political participation

Findings

• Media localism affects democratically

important attitudes and behaviors

• However, its effects are primarily

negative – especially for newspapers

• Further study is needed
• Localism should be a concept of interest

to public opinion and media scholars