Media representation of publics
Lewis, J., Inthorn, S. and
Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2005). Citizens or Consumers? What the Media Tell
Us About Citizen Participation.
Maidenhead: Open University Press [Ch 8]
This week we will examine the role
of the public or citizens in political debate in the mediated public
sphere. Drawing on this week’s key
reading, we will consider whether the public are represented and addressed as
active and engaged citizens with opinions on policy choices, or as political
consumers making passive choices between leaders and their agendas.
Claims about public opinion in the
news
“While the news makes frequent
references to citizens and public opinion, it does so with very little
reference to any identifiable source of evidence […] only 3% of references to
citizens or publics on television news in the USA or Britain make any reference
to polling data.
“If polls are the only systematic
form of evidence available to journalists about what citizens think or feel,
protests or demonstrations are, perhaps, the most conspicuous forms of citizen
activism. Protests, however,
receive even less coverage than polls – in our study only 2% of references to
public opinion involved these kinds of citizen activity. […]
“This means that, unless all
journalists are assiduous student of polling data, the impressions created
about public opinion may be misleading.
This matters, because in a system when political policies and decisions
are made all the time but the electorate consulted only once every few years
(and even then, only in the vaguest terms), to appear to have public support
(or little public opposition) is a key political commodity. It also matters because most evidence
suggests that journalists have little real understanding of their audiences and
their views, but rely on their own assumptions and biases when they talk about
public opinion (e.g. King and Schudson, 1995; Sumpter, 2000).” (Lewis et al
2005: 134-5)
Q1. According to Lewis et al, why
are representations of public opinion important?
Q2. What is the main problem with
the dominant news representations of publics and public opinion, according to
their research?
Interpreting opinion poll data
Q3. One recent story where polling
data has been used to support claims
about public opinion is US reporting on calls for stronger gun control laws in
the US. Reading these articles, do
you think American public opinion is in favour of gun control? What is the evidence that Americans
support or oppose gun control reforms?
Q4. What are the problems with
public opinion polling highlighted in these articles?
The role of publics and public
opinion in political communication
“[W]hat interests journalists are
not stories ‘showing how citizens could influence the problem, but showing
dramatic, graphic effects on common people’ (Eliasoph, 1998: 219) […]
“The consequences of focusing on
the personal experiences of self-interested citizens, however, is what Eliasoph
describes as the ‘evaporation of politics in the public sphere’: the idea that
it is not appropriate for regular people to talk about politics in public. […] When citizens are seen stating clear
preferences, it is usually to either grant or refuse consent for a political
party or agenda: a form of citizenship undoubtedly, but one that is both weak
and commodified. In the world
created by news, public opinion is little more than brand loyalty (Calhoun,
1992; Salmon and Glasser, 1995: 446). “ (Lewis et al 2005: 138)
Q5. Can you identify anything in
the reporting of public opinion on gun control that reflects Lewis et al’s
argument or challenges it?
Comments
Post a Comment