Page 227 - Media Effects Advances in Theory and Research

216 McLEOD, KOSICKI, McLEOD

OBJECTIVES, ASSUMPTIONS, AND ORGANIZATION

The purpose of this chapter is to convey a sense of the broadened scope of
recent political communication research. The particular argument made
here is that understanding political communication effects, because of
their dependence on specific sociopolitical environments, requires exami-
nation in broader spatial and temporal contexts than that required by
other types of media effects. This argument is based on five metatheoreti-
cal assumptions:

1. The connection between normative democratic standards for the
media and empirical political communication research, which was sev-
ered for several decades, should be restored. In democratic societies, nor-
mative expectations can serve as useful criteria for evaluating the perfor-
mance of media institutions and the workings of political communication
more generally.
2. Evaluation of media performance requires specification of observ-
able indicators of the adequacy of institutional performance, their formats
and processes, and the products and output they produce.
3. Understanding of the performance by media institutions requires
examination of their constraints and conventions, both induced and self-
imposed. Attribution of effects to the media is dependent on evidence that
the media production process was involved in shaping the message and
not simply in acting as a conduit for other sources.
4. Examination of performance requires going beyond critiques of
media content and other institutional outputs to study individual cogni-
tive, affective, and behavioral effects of these products. It is important to
examine effects not only on individual citizens but also on key political
actors, such as political leaders, information strategists, and journalists.
5. Understanding political communication requires an examination
of outcomes for the political system resulting from the collective reac-
tions of individuals and the cumulative consequences of institutional
performance.

We begin by conceptualizing the boundaries of political communica-
tion. This is followed by a brief historical overview of political commu-
nication research. A third section examines the context of changes in the
social, political, and mass media environments. Media content is the
focus of the fourth section. The fifth section reviews results of recent
political communication research that fall into the traditional categories
of affective, cognitive, perceptual, behavioral, and systemic effects. The
sixth section considers recent work adopting more complex O-S-O-R
effects models. A seventh section discusses possible media effects on