Crucial News (Television and American Public Opinion)

Author: Santo Iyengar (USA) and others
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Crucial News: Television and American Public Opinion, conceived 23 years ago in the Department of Political Science at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. For political communication research, the 21st century is an exciting era. This field has shifted from primarily relying on surveys to a flourishing landscape of diverse research methods. This book presents an empirical study by two renowned American political figures on the "agenda-setting" theory in the field of communication. Every weekend night, 5 million Americans sit in front of the TV, ready to be occupied, informed, and influenced by television news. Due to the extraordinary reach and credibility of television news, it possesses the power to set the public's political agenda. Crucial News first explicitly highlights the significant role that television news programs play in telling audiences what issues to prioritize, guiding their thinking, and shaping how most Americans engage in political life. Santo Iyengar and Donald R. Kinder used advanced and innovative experimental methods to subtly alter the order and emphasis of selected network news broadcasts without the audience's awareness, testing the reactions of randomly selected "typical" Americans. Combined with a meticulous analysis of national public opinion polls, they demonstrate to readers how events prominently covered in national news become more important in the audience's minds, while neglected news loses attention. Additionally, prominent news in the news stream significantly influences viewers' criteria for evaluating the president and political candidates.