Page 85 - Historical Dictionary of Political Communication in the United States

KNOWLEDGE GAP
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The commission made its report on March 1, 1968. The commission found
the riots of 1967 were not caused by, or the consequence of, any organized plan
or conspiracy. The disorders were the result of racism and poverty. The com-
mission reported that segregation and poverty had created in the racial ghettos
a destructive environment totally unknown to most white Americans. In respond-
ing to the question "What can be done to prevent it from happening again and
again?" the commission found that there was widespread dissatisfaction among
blacks, with the unwillingness or inability of local governments to respond. The
commission recommended that great sustained national efforts were required to
combat racism, unemployment, and poverty.
The commission's recommendations embraced three basic principles: to
mount programs on a scale equal to the dimension of the problems, to aim these
programs for high impact on the immediate future in order to close the gap
between promise and performances, and to understand new initiatives and ex-
periments that can change the system of failure and frustration dominating the
ghetto and weakening the society.
SOURCE: Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, 1968.
Anju G. Chaudhary

KNOWLEDGE GAP. The knowledge gap hypothesis was introduced by Tich-
enor, Donohue, and Olien in 1970. They maintained that those in higher socio-
economic conditions would acquire information from the mass media more
readily than those in lower social strata. Mass communication would therefore
have the general effect of widening differences in information-holding between
those in the higher and those in the lower social classes. Thus, the hypothesis
holds, those hoping that mass media can be used to level the information playing
field between wealthier and poorer members of a community must face the
possibility of the very opposite effect. The researchers attributed the differential
growth of information to differences between social classes in personal experi-
ences, communication skills, education levels, social circles, economic power,
and interests. Because the mass media are generally expected to deliver audi-
ences with high purchasing power to advertisers willing to pay for that service,
the mass media target information to those in higher socioeconomic groups.
Coupled with the particular characteristics of audiences in different social classes
just noted, a knowledge gap is created.
SOURCE: P. J. Tichenor, G. A. Donohue, and C. N. Olien, "Mass Media Flow and
Differential Growth in Knowledge," Public Opinion Quarterly, Summer 1970.
Dominic L. Lasorsa

KOPPEL, TED (1940- ). This unflappable anchor and interviewer has become
one of the most respected political commentators in America with the success
of the late-night, live-interview television show he has hosted since 1980, ABC
News' Nightline. Born of German parents who fled to England before World