With Malice Toward All?: The Media and Public Confidence in Democratic Institutions (Praeger Series in Political Communication (Paperback))

Public opinion polls point to a continuing decline in confidence in the Presidency, court system, Congress, the news media, state government, public education, and other key institutions. Moy and Pfau analyze the reasons for this crisis of confidence, with particular attention to the role of the media. Moy and Pfau examine the impact of sociodemographic factors, political expertise, and use of communication media on people's perceptions of confidence in democratic institutions. Their conclusions are based on two years of data collection. In three waves between 1995 and 1997, they conducted a series of content analyses of media depictions of democratic institutions in conjunction with general survey data. The result is one of the most comprehensive examinations ever conducted on the influence of the media on public confidence. It will be of great value to scholars, researchers, students, and professionals in government and the media. Preliminaries......Page 1 Contents......Page 7 Series Foreword......Page 9 Preface......Page 13 Acknowledgments......Page 17 1 Erosion of Confidence......Page 21 2 The Question of Causality......Page 49 3 Design of the Studies......Page 69 4 Media Depictions of Institutions......Page 87 5 The Print Media’s Contribution......Page 103 7 The Effects of Television Programming......Page 153 8 The Effects of Political Talk Radio......Page 179 9 Conclusions......Page 197 References......Page 209 Index......Page 229 Public opinion polls point to a continuing decline of confidence in the Presidency, court system, Congress, the news media, state government, public education, and other key institutions. Moy and Pfau examine the role of the media in the decline of the American public's confidence in democratic institutions Public opinion polls point to a continuing decline in confidence in the Presidency, court system, the news media, state government, public education, and other key institutions. This text analyzes the reasons for this crises of confidence, with particular attention to the role of the media Examines the role of the media in the decline of the American public's confidence in democratic institutions.