The One-Step Flow of Communication (2024)

A new era of minimal effects? The changing foundations of political communication

Journal of Communication, 2008

Media Message Flows and Interpersonal Communication: The Conditional Nature of Effects on Public Opinion

Communication Research, 2006

How the mass media divide us

2006

The shifting foundations of political communication: Responding to a defense of the media effects paradigm

2010

Our earlier article (Bennett & Iyengar, 2008) argued that because news audiences are increasingly self-selected, communications scholars will be increasingly hard pressed to document media-induced persuasion effects. Holbert, Garrett, and Gleason's critique does not address the fundamental problem of endogeneity, instead proposing attitude reinforcement as a substitute for persuasion. But the problem of endogeneity applies equally to reinforcement and attitude-change research.

Revising the Communication Mediation Model for a New Political Communication Ecology

Human Communication Research

Facilitating Communication across Lines of Political Difference: The Role of Mass Media

American Political Science Review, 2001

We use national survey data to examine the extent to which various sources of political information expose people to dissimilar political views. We hypothesize that the individual’s ability and desire to exercise selective exposure is a key factor in determining whether a given source produces exposure to dissimilar views. Although a lack of diverse perspectives is a common complaint against American news media, we find that individuals are exposed to far more dissimilar political views via news media than through interpersonal political discussants. The media advantage is rooted in the relative difficulty of selectively exposing oneself to those sources of information, as well as the lesser desire to do so, given the impersonal nature of mass media.

Mediatized Opinion Leaders: New Patterns of Opinion Leadership in New Media Environments?

The study analyzes which forms opinion leadership takes in contemporary media environments where communication channels have increased and started to permeate interpersonal interaction. Some scholars assume that opinion leadership becomes more important under these conditions, as more media are available to enact it, and that more orientation is needed. Others argue that opinion leadership loses its importance as online media target audiences directly without interaction from opinion leaders. This study demonstrates that opinion leadership still exists in contemporary media environments. Using a cluster analysis of German online survey data, three clusters were identified that resemble communicative roles from earlier studies: Opinion Leaders, Followers, and Inactives. An additional fourth cluster, Mediatized Opinion Leaders, was also found. Individuals in this cluster exhibit the strongest and most diverse use of media and communication channels both for informing themselves and for communicating with followers.

Rethinking Political Communication in a Time of Disrupted Public Spheres

Political communication in many democracies reflects the disconnection of publics from institutions of press and politics due to the hollowing of center parties and growing social divides. It is time to rethink assumptions—long grounded in idealized normative conceptions of democratic politics—about media systems and press/politics interactions. A proposed reformulation of research frameworks puts more focus on the implications of disrupted public spheres in interaction with and beyond the traditional media. This rethinking also entails better conceptualization and measurement of the political influences of information flows from social media and digital networks. Reformatting the field involves changing such core concepts as gatekeeping, framing, indexing, agenda-setting, and media effects in light of disrupted relations among media, publics, and democratic institutions. Political communication and related areas of press/politics have been defined historically by the interplay of social conditions that define audiences, the communication processes that send messages to them, and the effects of those processes. The focus on democratic societies occupies much of the field, and core theories and concepts have emerged from assumptions about broadly inclusive and relatively well-functioning public spheres in which communication from legitimate institutions passes through press organizations to affect the opinions and actions of citizens. Such assumptions made sense for most democracies in Europe and North America in the last half of the twentieth century, when modern press/politics systems were formed and center political parties governed with high levels of popular support. By contrast, many democracies today are experiencing varying forms of legitimacy crises, as center parties have become " hollowed out " by pressures related to globalization, social fragmentation, and loss of traditional social support. As a result, many societies face growing inequality , disruption of labor markets, immigration pressures, and citizen discontent across the political spectrum. While political institutions and press systems continue to

Opinion Leadership| Mediatized Opinion Leaders: New Patterns of Opinion Leadership in New Media Environments?

International Journal of Communication, 2015

The study analyzes which forms opinion leadership takes in contemporary media environments where communication channels have increased and started to permeate interpersonal interaction. Some scholars assume that opinion leadership becomes more important under these conditions, as more media are available to enact it, and that more orientation is needed. Others argue that opinion leadership loses its importance as online media target audiences directly without interaction from opinion leaders. This study demonstrates that opinion leadership still exists in contemporary media environments. Using a cluster analysis of German online survey data, three clusters were identified that resemble communicative roles from earlier studies: Opinion Leaders, Followers, and Inactives. An additional fourth cluster, Mediatized Opinion Leaders, was also found. Individuals in this cluster exhibit the strongest and most diverse use of media and communication channels both for informing themselves and fo...

Let Us Infotain You: Politics in the New Media Age

2001