Page 50 - Historical Dictionary of Political Communication in the United States

OLIEN, CLARICE N., AND
GEORGE A.,
39
DONOHUE,
TICHENOR,
it
a college campus found that most people found out about PHILIP J. other people
from
and that the newspaper was the most relied-upon source.
It would thus appear that for major events in a political campaign, television
will be the first source, but for many events, either the print media or other
people will be the main source.
SOURCES: Walter Gantz, Kathy Krendl, and Susan R. Robertson, "Diffusion of a
Proximate News Event," Journalism Quarterly, Summer 1986; Daniel Riffe and James
Glen Stovall, "Diffusion of News of Shuttle Disaster: What Role for Emotional Re-
sponse," Journalism Quarterly, Autumn 1989.
Guido H. Stempel HI
DIPLOMACY is used as an instrument of a nation's or group's foreign policy.
Diplomacy is how that nation or group interacts with others in a local or global
environment. It can be formal or informal but always involves communication
or personal interaction such as meetings, negotiations, and public events. Diplo-
macy is usually conducted by representatives of a nation, such as an ambassador
or a group. Generally, the role of a diplomat is to discuss political issues outside
the realm of formal politics and to attempt to reach solutions to problems
through negotiations.
SOURCE: Jack C. Piano and Ray Olton, The International Relations Dictionary, fifth
edition, 1995.
Jacqueline Nash Gifford

DISINFORMATION. The deliberate actions of governments or political parties
in distributing incorrect or incomplete information or lies meant to cause harm
or mislead. It is common during wartime because governments want to mislead
the opposing forces and because governments are reluctant to tell their own
people the entire truth. It is also common in political campaigns. A candidate
may put out false information about his or her opponent to gain political ad-
vantage. Disinformation succeeds in part, because it is spread unknowingly by
the mass media.
SOURCE: Jay M. Shafritz, The HarperCollins Dictionary of American Government and
Politics, 1992.
Guido H. Stempel HI

DONOHUE, GEORGE A. (1924- ), OLIEN, CLARICE N. (1933- ), AND
TICHENOR, PHILIP J. (1931- ). The collaboration of this trio over a period
of more than 30 years is unprecedented in the annals of social science research.
So closely are they linked together that the Association for Education in Jour-
nalism and Mass Communication presented the Paul J. Deutschmann Award for
Excellence in Research to all three in 1994. Never before had collaborators been
so honored.
The focus of their research has been knowledge gain from the media, and