The Electoral Consequences of Candidate Appearances on Soft News Programs

Taniguchi, Masaki

doi:10.1080/10584609.2010.540304

Cited by 15 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Freiert (2008) found out that American Twitter users tend to be young and male, so leaders should understand that they address this kind of population and direct their messages, style and content to them. Furthermore perhaps the politicians believe, as Taniguchi (2011) has claimed regarding why politicians choose soft news exposure, that the young people who use Twitter do not usually use traditional news media, thus the politicians wish to expose them to their plans and agendas directly.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Patterson (2000) and Hamilton (2004) argue that with the proliferation of TV channels and the internet, political news becomes a sort of entertainment – a phenomenon described as “new news”, “infotainment”, or “soft news”. Taniguchi (2011) suggests that politicians choose soft news exposure because they know that they will reach people who are inaccessible through the traditional news media.…”

Section: Political Leaders' Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Twitter use by three political leaders: an exploratory analysis

Aharony

2012

Online Information Review

108

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PurposeThis study aims to understand how three political leaders – the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu; the Prime Minister of Britain, David Cameron; and the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama – communicate through Twitter.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents an analysis of tweets produced between August and October 2010 by three political leaders, using statistical descriptive analysis and content analysis.FindingsThe research shows that the US President tweets more than the other leaders, with the British Prime Minister tweeting the least, and that all three leaders use Twitter for both transparency and outreach.Originality/valueAs Twitter has become widespread over the last few years, and several studies have focused on Twitter and its impact on different sectors in our society, it is interesting to focus on political leaders' use of Twitter.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Political Leaders' Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Twitter use by three political leaders: an exploratory analysis

Aharony

2012

Online Information Review

108

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“…Consider, as political affairs soften through the media, the differences between NHK News programs and Super News become more than stylistic, forcing us to ask if they don't merely reflect – but hold the potential to perpetuate – other gaps between men and women, rich and poor, cosmopolitan and rural, elites and the politically occasional. We hesitate to denigrate soft news entirely: some outlets may offer, as Baum and Jamison (2006) and Taniguchi (2011) find, opportunities for politicians to reach voters and one can hardly question changes that help to bring political affairs out of smoke-filled chambers and into more living rooms. But where soft news and wide shows may help to humanize politicians and democratize political discourse, there is little evidence here to suggest that they foster democratic skills or do much to reduce Japan's broader democratic deficit (e.g., Otake, 2000; Pharr, 2000).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…What of Japan? While much has been made of the changes brought about by commercial competition to NHK News , as well as Koizumi's (and others' – see Taniguchi, 2011) increasing use of these new news outlets, scholarship on Japanese politics has only begun to engage the questions surrounding the impact of its increasingly liberal media environment. And there, too, we find some disagreement.…”

Section: The Changing Media Environment In Japan and The Soft News Dementioning

confidence: 99%

Does NHK Make You Smarter (andSuper NewsMake You ‘Softer’)? An Examination of Japanese Political Knowledge and the Potential Influence of TV News

Collet¹,

Kato

2014

Japanese Journal of Political Science

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A fundamental component of liberal democracy – citizen knowledge – has only recently been examined in Japan; rarer still are assessments of the impact of media consumption on political awareness. In this paper, we utilize two recent sources – the Japanese Election Studies III (JESIII) and GLOPE2005 – to address two related questions: (1) what factors influence Japanese political knowledge? and (2) is the changing media environment in Japan having an influence on what citizens know about political affairs? With regard to the first question, we find, in line with previous studies in the US context, that knowledge is explained by education, gender, and politically impinged employment as base factors, with interest, efficacy, and civic duty playing a role as second-stage behavioral factors. Evidence of other traits presumed to distinguish the more informed Japanese – dissatisfaction with politics and community mobilization context (living in urban areas, districts with higher voter turnout, and having larger social networks – remains mixed. Regarding the second question, we find that the effects of media exposure on knowledge vary. Where the GLOPE2005 finds an influence of regular newspaper reading, the JESIII indicates that watching a TV news program ‘often’ also boosts knowledge. The JESIII results reveal further that,ceteris paribus, regular exposure to NHK contributes to higher levels of knowledge at a rate that is comparable to a one unit increase in educational attainment. Conversely, we find that softer news programs (e.g., Fuji TV'sSuper News) have a depressive effect that appears to decrease knowledge as exposure accumulates. The direction of the causal arrow is not entirely clear. At the same time, our findings lend credence to previous work that raises concerns about the ‘infotainization’ of Japanese (and US) news programming (e.g., Taniguchi, 2007; Prior, 2005). Rather than demystifying or democratizing Japanese politics, softer programs may simply be perpetuating extant gaps between elites and the public.

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“…However, studies show that exposure to publicity meta-coverage in broader terms can influence levels of political cynicism (de Vreese & Elenbaas, 2008, 2009). Furthermore, research demonstrates that news coverage of particular publicity forms—including television advertisements (Ansolabehere & Iyengar, 1996; Mendelberg, 2001), televised debates (Fridkin, Kenney, Gershon, Shafer, & Woodall, 2007; Tsfati, 2003), and soft news media appearances (Baum, 2005; Taniguchi, 2011)—can influence opinions toward specific political candidates. Thus, the present study tests the following hypothesis: Hypothesis 1: Exposure to television news coverage of a political candidate’s publicity efforts through Twitter will influence opinions about that candidate. …”

Section: The Potential Effects Of Television News Coverage Of Twittermentioning

confidence: 99%

Tweets on Television News

2015

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Political candidates, media organizations, and citizens increasingly use the social media site Twitter. Given this trend, as well as the tendency of television news programs to present “meta-coverage” of candidates’ publicity efforts, one might expect television news coverage of election campaigns to include coverage of Twitter. Such coverage, in turn, may shape public opinion. The present study draws on two content analyses to show that television news programs covered Twitter in the context of recent election campaign cycles (2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014) and that much of this coverage focused on candidates’ publicity efforts through Twitter. Building on these results, the study then uses data from an experiment to show that exposure to television news coverage of Hillary Clinton’s publicity efforts through Twitter influenced participants’ opinions about how likable and funny she was but not overall opinions about her. The findings carry potential implications for both candidates and news organizations.

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The Electoral Consequences of Candidate Appearances on Soft News Programs

Cited by 15 publications

References 34 publications

Twitter use by three political leaders: an exploratory analysis

Twitter use by three political leaders: an exploratory analysis

Does NHK Make You Smarter (andSuper NewsMake You ‘Softer’)? An Examination of Japanese Political Knowledge and the Potential Influence of TV News

Tweets on Television News

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