Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: The Communications Contest: Candidate Discourse, News Coverage, and Effects on Voters

本论文主要探讨政治竞选活动中候选人与新闻媒体的相对话语权。其目标有三：要确定是否一组的精英候选人或记者是比其他更成功地塑造公众舆论的重要政治问题;研究如何设置的影响，根据选举的问题背景不同;并确定个人层面的因素如何塑造一个人的易感性候选人或媒体的影响。将在2006年得克萨斯州州长选举的早期阶段进行一项实验室实验，以检验与该项目目标有关的一系列假设。受试者将接触到不同程度的候选人和媒体对不同问题的沟通，并在实验前后测量对重要问题的感知。这些结果将为当代美国大选期间选民面临的政治信息雪崩的现实影响提供深入了解。几十年来，候选人沟通和新闻报道对选民的影响一直是学术审查的来源。然而，很少有研究试图比较候选人和记者对公民对重要国家问题的看法的影响。这是一个重要的遗漏，原因有三。首先，竞选活动可以被视为候选人以有利于选举的方式构建政治话语的竞赛。他们赢得这场战斗的能力取决于他们偏好的议题议程在公众心目中的地位，但他们必须与新闻媒体经常不愿关注这些相同的话题作斗争。第二，每一方的相对话语权可能在不同的选举中有所不同，这取决于候选人和媒体的议程是一致还是不同。这一点很重要，因为研究表明，议程趋同的程度在不同的竞选活动中波动很大。第三，个人对候选人或媒体议程设置的敏感性应该有所不同，这取决于党派依恋和对新闻媒体的信任。虽然每一个都在其他论坛上受到关注，但缺乏系统的调查，以了解这些属性如何使个人或多或少地接受候选人或媒体的沟通。更广泛的影响：对候选人沟通和媒体对政治竞选活动的报道的研究从未像今天这样重要。每个选举周期候选人都要花费数十亿美元，有线电视节目和互联网上的新闻激增，为选民提供了一系列令人眼花缭乱的政治信息。学者们必须了解这种新的媒体环境如何塑造公众对重要问题的看法，这对立法和治理产生了巨大的影响。此外，本研究有助于弥合政治学与传播学之间的差距。来自这两个学科的学者经常谈论彼此，未能利用每个领域积累的知识。当这两种观点结合在一起时，政治沟通领域最近的一些最富有成效的工作就出现了。本项目旨在延续这一传统，并有助于使政治传播研究在理论上更加强大，在实证上更加严谨。

This dissertation investigates the relative agenda-setting power of candidates and the news media during political campaigns. Its objective is three-fold: To determine whether one group of elites-candidates or journalists-is more successful than the other in shaping public opinion about important political problems; to examine how agenda-setting effects vary according to an election's issue context; and to determine how individual-level factors shape a person's susceptibility to candidate or media influence. A laboratory experiment, to be conducted during the early stages of the 2006 Texas gubernatorial election, will be used to test a series of hypotheses related to the project's objectives. Subjects will be exposed to varying levels of candidate and media communications on different issues, with the perception of important problems measured before and after the experiment. The results will provide insight into the real-world effects of the avalanche of political information voters face during contemporary American campaignsThe effect on voters of candidate communications and news coverage has been a source of scholarly scrutiny for decades. Little research, however, has sought to compare the influence that candidates and journalists have on citizens' perceptions of important national problems. This is an important omission for three reasons. First, campaigns can be seen as contests by candidates to frame political discourse in electorally advantageous ways. Their ability to win this battle is contingent upon their preferred issue agenda taking hold in the public mind, but they must contend with the news media's frequent reluctance to focus on those same topics. Second, the relative agenda-setting power of each is likely to vary across elections, depending on whether candidate and media agendas converge or diverge. This matters because studies show that the amount of agenda convergence fluctuates substantially from campaign to campaign. Third, the susceptibility of individuals to candidate or media agenda setting should vary, depending on partisan attachments and trust in the news media. While each has received attention in other forums, there has been a dearth of systematic investigation into how these attributes make individuals more or less receptive to candidate or media communications. This project is designed to shed light on these critical issues.Broader impact: The study of candidate communications and media coverage of political campaigns has never been more important than it is today. Billions of dollars are spent by candidates each election cycle, and the proliferation of cable television shows and news on the Internet has presented voters with a dizzying array of political information. It is imperative that scholars understand how this new media environment shapes public opinion of important problems, which can have a massive impact on lawmaking and governance. Furthermore, this study helps bridge the gap between the fields of political science and communication. Scholars from the two disciplines often talk past one another, failing to leverage the accumulated knowledge each field has produced. Some of the most fruitful work in political communication of late has emerged when the twin perspectives have come together. This project is designed to continue in that tradition and help make the study of political communication more theoretically robust and empirically rigorous.