PUBLIC OPINION AND MEDIA POLITICS

Presented by:

MICHELLE I. HERRERAM.P.S .– P.A.

PUBLIC OPINION – an aggregate of the individual views, attitudes and beliefs about a particular topic, expressed by significant proportion of a community.

citizens view on politics or government

FACTORS INFLUENCING PUBLIC OPINION

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS– plays a critical part in the development of opinions and attitudes. Most pervasive is the influence of the social environment: FAMILY, FRIENDS, NEIGBOURHOOD, PLACE OF WORK, CHURCH OR SCHOOL.

MASS MEDIA - Newspapers, radio, television, and the Internet—including e-mail and blogs—are usually less influential than the social environment, but they are still significant, especially in affirming attitudes and opinions that are already established.

INTEREST GROUP - Interest groups, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), religious groups, and labour unions (trade unions) cultivate the formation and spread of public opinion on issues of concern to their constituencies

OPINION LEADERS -   any person to whom others look for guidance in a certain subject.

PUBLIC OPINION AND GOVERNMENT - By its very nature, the democratic process spurs citizens to form opinions on a number of issues.

PUBLIC OPINION POLLING -  a poll taken by sampling a cross section of the public in an effort to predict election results or to estimate public attitudes on issues. However, survey findings do not provide much information about the opinion leaders who may have played an important part in developing the opinion.

OPINION RESEARCH - Opinion research developed from market research. Early market researchers picked small samples of the population and used them to obtain information on such questions as how many people read a given magazine or listen to the radio and what the public likes and dislikes in regard to various consumer goods.

WORLD OPINION - The increasing importance of global telecommunication, trade, and transportation have contributed to interest in a new concept of world public opinion, or “world opinion.”

THE MEDIA IN ELECTIONS - The media has become a decisive factor in electoral politics in democracies in all parts of the world. .The classical role of the media in a democracy is to inform the citizens and to control those with power.

-The power of the media is, however, not limited to the control over what is published and what is not.

- In most parts of the world television plays the dominant role in political campaigns - followed by radio and the press.

SOURCES OF OPINIONS1. Socialization: Families and Communities-Theories of political socialization show that many people’s political opinions and partisanship start with what they learned from their parents and surrounding environment.

2. Events 

People can revise their opinions in response to what happens to them and in the world around them. Some events have a greater impact than others, and some people are more likely to change their opinion in response to an event than others.

MEASURING PUBLIC OPINIONMost information about public opinion generally comes

from mass surveys, with the goal of measuring the attitudes of a particular population or group of people.

Problems in Measuring Public Opinion-is that people are sometimes reluctant to reveal their opinions and instead choose to give socially acceptable answers or answers that they think the interviewer wants to hear (called social desirability bias).

The Accuracy of Public Opinion

Inaccurate results are due to the fact that people do not take surveys seriously.

How the Mass Media Influence Public Opinion

Media can have an important affect on public opinion in several ways. Setting the news agenda, which shapes the public's views on what is newsworthy and importantFraming the details of a storyCommunicating the social desirability of certain kinds of ideas

A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows public opinion ~Chinese Proverb