Scandals & Media Effects on Public Opinion

Question 1

Why do the media obsess 
with scandal coverage?

Answer 1

• newsworthy stories
• exposes corruption
• dramatization of the news
• enhances competition

Question 2

What are the 2 kinds of scandals?

Answer 2

1. Corruption/ Illegal Activity: ex. watergate
2. Morality scandals: ex. Bill Clinton affair

Question 3

What was the Gary Hart scandal

Answer 3

Gary Hart was
Gary Hart was the presumed Democratic presidential candidate in the spring of 1987 when the Miami Herald reported that rumors of his “womanizing” were true. The ensuing scandal over his extramarital affair with a woman named Donna Rice ended his candidacy.

Question 4

watergate scandal

Answer 4

5 men had broken into the house of Democratic National Committee. Nixon had close relations with this. There were tapes that he did not want to release because he believed it was not in the publics interest to do so. The Supreme Court ordered for him to release them and did not declare he had executive privilege in this case.

Question 5

Survey research

Answer 5

• large samples/ generalizable
• relies on self reporting
• hard to differ cause and effect

Question 6

experimental method

Answer 6

• small samples
• random assignments into control groups
• cannot be genrealized

Question 7

What are the effects of media?

Answer 7

1. Being informed
2. agenda setting
3. priming
4. framing stories
5. persuasion

Question 8

What is agenda setting?

Answer 8

The media does not tell people what to think, rather it tells people what to think about.

Question 9

What is Priming?

Answer 9

Through the ability to set the agenda, the media allows people to make political evaluations.

Question 10

What is framing?

Answer 10

How news/stories are framed? This can be done: episodic framing or thematic framing