Page 265 - Media Effects Advances in Theory and Research

254 McLEOD, KOSICKI, McLEOD

stories they cover. This may bolster the self-respect of the journalist, but its
impact on learning and interest in politics among the viewers is a matter to
be investigated.

Consideration of Audience Potential

Each of the first seven democratic standards concerns media performance
highly constrained by relationships where individual journalists have
limited room to maneuver. Consideration of audience potential is less
constrained by production forces and more a matter of how journalists
define their audiences. As Gurevitch and Blumler put it, consideration
involves “a sense of respect for the audience member, as potentially con-
cerned and able to make sense out of his or her environment” (p. 270). The
complaint here is that journalists and media executives, faced with pres-
sures to maximize their audiences and to produce news according to
consumer-driven standards, have bought into the hierarchical view that
there is only a small elite core of interested citizens and a very large unin-
terested mass. Existing preferences for light fare and the seemingly lim-
ited abilities of most citizens to comprehend news may be seen as being
natural and immutable, rather than as functions of life experiences or as
stemming from inadequacies in the construction of news. Journalists may
use their own working theories that see the information-seeking citizen as
a fiction to justify short sound bites, episodic stories, and the blurring of
lines between news and entertainment.
Research indicates that most citizens are at least somewhat aware of
important public issues, and many have greater interest and knowledge
in a particular issue that is consequential to them (Krosnick, 1990).
Despite low levels of specific knowledge, citizens often develop elaborate
frameworks to make sense of the world. Unless news producers make
efforts to develop alternatives to the increasingly homogeneous patterns
of news construction, the trend toward lower interest in politics is likely
to continue. The long-term consequences for the political system are to
erode political discourse toward the simplistic and to increase the social
status disparities in political participation.

SOME CONCLUDING REMARKS

We have presented various ways in which the boundaries of political
communication effects research have expanded in recent years. Move-
ment has been “horizontal,” connecting individual effects with other
parts of the mass communication process: potential problems of media
content, institutional and professional forms and practices constraining