Why Americans hate the media and how it matters / Jonathan M. Ladd.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ladd, Jonathan M., 1978-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mass media--Political aspects--United States.

Mass media.

Mass media--Political aspects.

Public opinion.

United States.

Mass media--Objectivity--United States.

Mass media--Objectivity.

Mass media--United States--Public opinion.

Public opinion--United States.

Physical Description:

xiv, 270 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2012.

Summary:

As recently as the early 1970s, the news media was one of the most respected institutions in the United States. Yet by the 1990s, this trust had all but evaporated. Why has confidence in the press declined so dramatically over the past 40 years? And has this change shaped the public's political behavior? This book examines waning public trust in the institutional news media within the context of the American political system and looks at how this lack of confidence has altered the ways people acquire political information and form electoral preferences.

Jonathan Ladd argues that in the 1950s, '60s, and early '70s, competition in American party politics and the media industry reached historic lows. When competition later intensified in both of these realms, the public's distrust of the institutional media grew, leading the public to resist the mainstream press's information about policy outcomes and turn toward alternative partisan media outlets. As a result, public beliefs and voting behavior are now increasingly shaped by partisan predispositions. Ladd contends that it is not realistic or desirable to suppress party and media competition to the levels of the mid-twentieth century; rather, in the contemporary media environment, new ways to augment the public's knowledge ability and responsiveness must be explored.

Drawing on historical evidence, experiments, and public opinion surveys, this book shows that in a world of endless news sources, citizens' trust in institutional media is more important than ever before. Book jacket.

Contents:

Why is everyone mad at the mainstream media?

Political conflict with the press in the pre-polling era

The emergence of the institutional news media in an era of decreasing political polarization

The institutional news media in an era of political polarization and media fragmentation

Sources of antipathy toward the news media

News media trust and political learning

News media trust and voting

The news media in a democracy.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780691147857

069114785X

9780691147864

0691147868

OCLC:

756280565