The DOI matches its Crossref record; 78 of the 80 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Crossing the Water's Edge: Elite Rhetoric, Media Coverage, and the Rally-Round-the-Flag Phenomenon
Abstract
The most widely accepted explanation for the rally-round-the-flag phenomenon is a relative absence of elite criticism during the initial stages of foreign crises. In this study we argue that the nature and extent of elite debate may matter less than media coverage of any such debate and that these often systematically diverge. We also argue that not all messages in this debate matter equally for public opinion. Rather, the persuasiveness of elite messages depends on their credibility, which, in turn, arises out of an interaction between the sender, receiver, and message. Hence, only by understanding the interactions between elites, the public, and the press can we account for variations in public responses to presidential foreign policy initiatives. We test our theory by examining public opinion data and a new dataset on network news coverage of all major U.S. uses of military force from 1979 to 2003. We content analyze all congressional evaluations of the president and the executive branch of government from the three network evening newscasts within 61-day time periods centered on the start date of each use of force. Our results offer strong support for the theory.
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“To the extent that the media adopts a consistent approach to reporting about cyberterrorism, then any elite variance will not necessarily filter down to the public (Groeling and Baum 2008; Kertzer and Zeitzoff 2017).”
From Public Opinion and Cyberterrorism (2023) · cites this paper as Groeling and Baum 2008
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Metadata
- Authors
- Groeling, T., & Baum, M. A.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Politics
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Published
- 2008-10
- Volume
- 70
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1065-1085
- ISSN
- 0022-3816 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-2508
- OpenAlex
- W3125270158
- Cited by
- 243
- References
- 80
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 38.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Politics (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Communication › News Media Framing and Political Communication
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Media Influence and Politics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › International Relations and Foreign Policy
- Keywords
- elite rhetoric, media coverage, presidential foreign policy, public opinion, credibility
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