Based on the information in the textbook and your own experiences, what is the most likely causal relationship:

Question

(a) public opinion influences media coverage, or (b) media coverage influences public opinion? In your answer, provide solid arguments, evidence, and examples whenever possible.

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

An ideal response will:
1, Discuss how several key events in the early part of the twentieth century, including the stock market crash, the rise of fascist regimes in Italy and Germany, and the dramatic 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds, led many scholars to worry that mass media could enable leaders to manipulate public opinion.
2, Explain the minimal effect theory, which argued that a change in voting by citizens as a result of mass media exposure was relatively rare.
3, Discuss the ways that the media can influence public opinion, including agenda setting, priming, and framing, and how they work to shape the content of the public's views of news and news events.
4, Discuss the three phenomena that work to limit the media's influence on public opinion, including selective exposure, selective perception, and selective retention, which respectively involve a process by which citizens pick and choose the information to which they are exposed, how they understand that information, and what information they remember based upon their political beliefs.
5, Take a position with respect to the two competing statements that draws upon clear evidence from personal experience and the text to support the position.
6, Provide a clear and concise conclusion.