Public Opinion, Media Effects, and Political Communication

Types of Publics

General public: Linked to public opinion, assumes that everyone is part of that entity.

Voting public: The electorate is the public that expresses its opinion on public affairs by voting for a candidate.

Attentive public: Made up of informed people who follow media.

Active public: Made up of people whose commitment to public affairs leads them to participate in both organizations and political parties.

Perspectives

• Collective (sociological model): Opinion is understood as a supra-individual social product, which is the opinion of a group called “public.”
• Individualist (psychological model): Public opinion is limited to the sum of individual opinions.

Globalizing to solve the two positions, some authors propose this vision that integrates the collective and individual aspects. However, there are theoretical and methodological limitations. Dewey informed, and Lippmann stereotypes, not all vote.

The Gallup Poll, founded by George in 1935, is a public opinion polling organization known for its methodologies in measuring public sentiment on politics or social topics. Utilizing telephone surveys and face-to-face interviews, Gallup typically surveys around 1,000 people with a margin of error of ±4% points to ensure representative results. It collects data providing insights into attitudes on governance and well-being. This reliable data has influenced political discourse and public understanding, establishing it as a trusted source for media, researchers, and policymakers worldwide.

Types of Power

• Legitimation: The person holds an important position in society, so his position really influences us.
• Gratification: They offer us a material reward in exchange for our conformity. It can be legal and illegal.
• Coercion: It is about threatening to punish possible disobedience.
• Experience: A credibility relationship is established, shielded by the previous arguments that are had.
• Reference: The person influences us because he has characteristics that we admire and would like to possess.

The most effective way to obtain reliability is to hold something contrary to our interests.

Lippmann’s pseudo-environment: Subjective and simplified mental representation of the world that individuals construct based on their perceptions, beliefs, and experiences. It is shaped by mass media and societal stereotypes, leading people to interpret information through a lens that often distorts reality. As individuals cannot directly experience the complexity of the real world, they rely on these constructed images, which can perpetuate stereotypes and biases, influencing their opinions and actions in ways that may not align with actual events.

Stereotypes

• Differentiate social classes, nationalities, races, and groups.
• They are shared concepts about specific social groups.
• The use of symbols is common to convey moral judgments.
• It is very difficult to modify them.
• They are natural in appearance.
• Distortion of reality.
• There is agreement on its use and meaning.
• Useful simplifications of thought.

Magic Bullet Theory

The magic bullet theory, or hypodermic needle model, posits that media messages have a direct, immediate, and powerful effect on audiences, akin to a bullet penetrating a target. This concept emerged in the early 20th century, highlighted by Walter Lippmann. He argued that the public often perceives a distorted version of reality shaped by media representations, leading to stereotypes and misconceptions. He illustrated this through allegories, such as the allegory of the cave from Plato, suggesting that people are confined to their limited perceptions and influenced by external narratives without fully understanding the complexities of their environment. Although initially influential, the magic bullet theory has faced criticism for oversimplifying media effects. Subsequent research has shown that audience responses are mediated by personal experiences and social interactions rather than being purely reactive to media stimuli.

Lasswell Communication Model: Who says what in which channel to whom with what effect.

Priming Theory

Priming theory is a psychological concept that describes how exposure to one stimulus can influence an individual’s response to a subsequent, related stimulus. This process operates by activating mental associations or constructs in the mind, which can significantly shape perceptions, behaviors, and decision-making. For example, if a person is exposed to the word “doctor,” they may recognize the word “nurse” more quickly due to the semantic connection between the two.

Framing Theory

Framing theory is a communication theory that explores how the presentation of information influences audience perceptions and interpretations. It posits that media and communicators selectively highlight certain aspects of an issue while downplaying others, thereby shaping how audiences understand and emotionally respond to that information.

Techniques

• Metaphor: To give an idea or program a new meaning by comparing it to something else.
• Stories (myths and legends): To frame a subject by anecdote in a vivid, memorable way.
• Traditions (rites, rituals, and ceremonies): Patterning and defining an organization at regular time increments to confirm and reproduce organizational values.
• Slogans, jargon, and catchphrases: Framing a subject in a memorable and familiar fashion.
• Artifacts: Illuminating corporate values through physical objects (vestiges). Sometimes in a way language cannot do.
• Contrast: To describe a subject in terms of what it is not.
• Spin: Talking about a concept to give it a positive or negative connotation.

The Rodrik Trilemma states that it is impossible for countries to simultaneously achieve democracy, national sovereignty, and global economic integration. While any two of these three elements can coexist, the third must be compromised.

Human Rights: Magna Carta, Bill of Rights, Natural Rights, Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, School of Salamanca, International Labor Organization 1919, Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948.

Propaganda

Propaganda is designed to persuade its intended audience to think and behave in a certain manner. Its purpose is to influence and manipulate the audience’s emotions, behavior, and attitudes. It is also the manipulation of information to influence public opinion and uses several techniques. Its origins date back to the 19th century. Goebbels was recognized as a master of propaganda, as his work was studied after WWII. He was the propaganda minister for Hitler’s Third Reich.

• Propagandists must have access to intelligence concerning events and public opinion.
• Propaganda must be planned and executed by only one authority.
• Propaganda must affect the enemy’s policy and actions.
• Propaganda may be facilitated by leaders with prestige.

Nazi Propaganda Principles

• Principle of simplification and the single enemy: Individualize the adversary.
• Principle of the contagion method: Gather diverse adversaries into a single category or individual.
• Principle of transposition: Charging one’s errors or defects on the adversary, responding to the attack with the attack.
• Principle of exaggeration and disfigurement: Turn any anecdote, no matter how small, into a severe threat.
• Principle of popularization: All propaganda must be popular, adapting its level to the least intelligent of the individuals to whom it is directed.
• Principle of orchestration: Propaganda must limit itself to a small number of ideas and repeat them tirelessly.
• Principle of renewal: New information and arguments must be broadcast continuously.

Public Diplomacy vs. Propaganda

Public diplomacy and propaganda are both strategies used by governments to influence foreign audiences, but they differ fundamentally in their approaches and goals. Public diplomacy seeks to engage with foreign publics through transparent communication, cultural exchanges, and educational programs, aiming to foster mutual understanding and build long-term relationships that support national interests. In contrast, propaganda involves the dissemination of biased or misleading information designed to manipulate public opinion and promote a specific agenda, often using emotional appeals and one-sided narratives. While public diplomacy emphasizes dialogue and credibility, propaganda typically relies on deception and coercion, highlighting the ethical distinctions between the two approaches.

Levels of Media Gatekeeping

• Individual: Individuals are responsible; individuals’ interpretations, personality, background, values, and experiences.
• Routine media practices: Decisions made according to a pre-established and generalized set of media practices (news values, newsgathering practices, editing peculiarities, etc.).
• Organizational: International factors that vary by existing rules, regulations, and norms within a particular organization.
• Institutional and societal: How gatekeeping is influenced by external factors (market forces, political forces, etc.).
• Impact of ideology and culture: Other indicators of social significance (e.g., coverage of wars or other conflicts vary from country to country based on cultural values, beliefs, and practices of those countries).

Iceberg Model

• Events: This is the most visible level, where immediate occurrences or symptoms are observed. It represents what is happening right now.
• Patterns: Trends over time.
• Structures: Here, the focus shifts to the underlying relationships and feedback loops that influence patterns and events. This includes physical, organizational, and policy-related structures.
• Mental Models: Beliefs, values, and assumptions.

Types of Terrorism

• State terrorism: Use of illegitimate methods by a government, which are aimed at producing fear or terror in the civilian population to achieve its objectives or encourage behavior that would not occur by itself.
• Revolutionary terrorism: Aimed at the conquest of power by destroying the political, economic, and social structures existing in a state.
• Independence or separatist terrorism: Seeks the separation of a region or an ethnic group from a state.
• Social terrorism: Developed with the aim of achieving labor and social demands.
• Military terrorism: Carried out by an occupying army with the aim of exterminating the local population.
• Religious terrorism: Carried out in defense of a faith or in the belief of fulfilling divine designs of some kind.
• International terrorism: Any kind of terrorism that takes the fight outside the borders of a country. It can be said as the globalization of terrorism.

News Agencies

A news agency is an organization that gathers news stories from a particular country or from all over the world and supplies them to journalists.

• Agence France-Presse (Charles-Louis Havas, 1835. Two vital points for information: the post office and the stock exchange).
• Reuters (Paul Julius Reuter, in 1851 at the London Royal Exchange. The company initially covered commercial news, serving banks, brokerage houses, and business firms. It was the first to report the assassination of Abraham Lincoln).
• Associated Press (newspapers in New York): Its mission is to provide distinctive news services of the highest quality and reliability with reports that are accurate, balanced, and informed. It also supplies a steady stream of news around the clock to its domestic members, international subscribers, and commercial customers.

Bennett’s Model of Cultural Competency

Bennett’s (1993) Model of Cultural Competency describes how individuals perceive and respond to cultural differences, ranging from ethnocentrism to ethnorelativism. It has six stages:

1. Denial, where individuals are unaware of cultural differences.
2. Defense, where they recognize differences but react with fear or hostility.
3. Minimization, which emphasizes similarities while downplaying differences.
4. Acceptance, where individuals appreciate cultural distinctions.
5. Adaptation, where they can adjust their behavior and communication styles across cultures.
6. Integration, where they fluidly navigate multiple cultural perspectives.

Types of Problematic Information

• Misinformation: When false information is shared, but no harm is meant.
• Disinformation: When false information is knowingly shared to cause harm.
• Malinformation: When genuine information is shared to cause harm, often by moving information designed to stay private into the public sphere.

Other Issues

• Unintentional reporting mistakes.
• Rumors that do not originate from a particular news article.
• Conspiracy theories (these are, by definition, difficult to verify as true or false, and they are typically originated by people who believe them to be true).
• Satire that is unlikely to be misconstrued as factual.
• False statements by politicians.
• Reports that are slanted or misleading but not outright false.
• Echo Chambers: A situation some people are in as a result of media supply, distribution, and/or their own demand. They could concern any topic and could magnify any messages one can think of – ambiguous, benign, or malign; widely accepted or controversial; evidence-based or demonstrably false, and anything in between.
• A filter bubble is an echo chamber primarily produced by ranking algorithms engaged in passive personalization without any active choice on our part, a possible outcome of specific aspects of how news and information are distributed online.
• Polarization: Divisions between groups. It can be used to describe a situation where divisions are already sufficiently large to be considered polarized, or a process whereby divisions are becoming larger over time.