Media Reflect! Policy, the Public, and the News
Open accessAbstract
Mass media are often portrayed as having large effects on democratic politics. Media content is not simply an exogenous influence on publics and policymakers, however. There is reason to think that this content reflects publics and politics as much as—if not more than—it affects them. This letter examines those possibilities, focusing on interactions between news coverage, budgetary policy, and public preferences in the defense, welfare, and health-care domains in the United States. Results indicate that media play a largely reflective role. Taking this role into account, we suggest, leads to a fundamentally different perspective on how media content matters in politics.
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Observational research reveals an association over time between defense spending and public opinion whereby support for additional spending increased during periods when the actual expenditure decreased and vice versa.
“observational research reveals an association over time between defense spending and public opinion whereby support for additional spending increased during periods when the actual expenditure decreased and vice versa (Wlezien, 1995;Wlezien and Soroka, 2023).”
From Factual belief polarization between Democrats and Republicans: source or epiphenomenon of ideological and affective polarization? (2024) · cites this paper as Wlezien and Soroka, 2023
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Research works printed but not linked: 23
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Rekker, R. (2024) · Frontiers in Political Science · doi:10.3389/fpos.2024.1254826 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
- Authors
- WLEZIEN, C., & SOROKA, S.
- Affiliations
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- WLEZIEN, CHRISTOPHER
- SOROKA, STUART
- Venue
- American Political Science Review
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2023-09-28
- Volume
- 118
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 1563-1569
- ISSN
- 0003-0554 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5943
- OpenAlex
- W4387117767
- Cited by
- 40
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 7
- FWCI
- 18.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- American Political Science Review (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (1728792, 1728558)
- University of Cambridge
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Communication › Media Studies and Communication
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Media Influence and Politics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Keywords
- mass media, media coverage, media effects on politics, public preferences, fiscal policy, defense spending, welfare policy, health policy, democratic politics
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