Page 111 - Historical Dictionary of Political Communication in the United States

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ONE-PARTY
PRESS
ONE-PARTY PRESS became a key issue in the 1948 presidential campaign.
President Harry Truman's whistle-stop campaign, which won the election for
him, focused on two issues. One was the "do-nothing eightieth Congress." The
other was the one-party press. What Truman meant was that the newspapers,
which favored his opponent, Republican Thomas E. Dewey, heavily on the
editorial pages also favored him in their news coverage. It was a successful
campaign tactic, although there is little evidence to support the claim that news
coverage was influenced by editorial preference.
The issue was raised again by Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson after
the 1952 presidential election. Two studies of coverage found some support for
the charges. In subsequent presidential elections there have been numerous stud-
ies, and most have found that the editorial position of a newspaper does not
seem to influence the news coverage.
SOURCES: Nathan Blumberg, One Party Press, 1954; Guido H. Stempel III and John
W. Windhauser, eds., The Media in the 1984 and 1988 Presidential Campaigns, 1991.
Guido H. Stempel HI

OPINION LEADERS are individuals who, through informal communication,
influence public opinion. The concept comes from the work of Paul Lazarsfeld
and his associates in studies of elections. They found that communication about
campaigns was not one step directly from the media, but two steps from the
media to opinion leaders to those whom the opinion leaders influenced. Because
of this, political communication strategists recognize that they may need to reach
the opinion leaders through the mass media more than they need to reach the
general public.
SOURCE: Erik Barnouw, ed., International Encyclopedia of Communications, 1989.
Guido H. Stempel III

OPINION MEASUREMENT is the term used to explain the processes of
surveying and polling. The major considerations in opinion measurement are:
1. Research design.
2. Research skills of the pollsters.
3. Appropriateness of the measurement techniques used.
4. Competence of interviewers.
5. Representativeness of the sample.
6. Tabulation procedures.
7. Interpretation of the results.
These dimensions influence the results of the survey or poll and the likelihood
that the results mean what the researcher says they mean and can be trusted by
the group that hopes to use them and by the public.