The Ever-Evolving Media Environment and Its Impact on Political Behavior

In 1935:

  • Commercial television didn't exist.

  • Two-thirds of U.S. households had a radio and there were about 600 AM stations.

  • Print media was predominant, with 41 million daily newspapers circulating (one per three Americans).

In 1970:

  • Television was widely available but mostly in black and white, averaging six hours of use per day with limited channels.

  • Broadcast networks dominated, capturing 80% of viewership, while cable was in only 6% of homes.

  • The evening news attracted three-quarters of viewers.

In 2005:

  • Television usage rose to eight hours daily on 2.6 screens, with 85% of households having cable or satellite.

  • Viewers had around 100 channels, with less than 40% of viewing on broadcast networks.

  • Over half of viewing shifted to cable, with average monthly consumption of 4 hours of broadcast news and 5 hours of cable news.

  • Accessibility of news expanded to cell phones, online platforms, and broadband internet, which over two-thirds of Americans had access to.

  • Per-capita newspaper circulation declined, but online editions gained significant readership, with the New York Times' site seeing 1.7 million daily visitors.

Political science struggles to explain the impact of such media differences on politics.

  • Converse (1962) acknowledged that information propagation changes significantly over time.

  • Kinder (2003) emphasized mass communication's transformative role in American politics and suggested that scholars often overlook media environments in political theories.

  • This book aims to centralize the media environment in political behavior analysis, showing how the media landscape affects political engagement.

  • People often absorb political information inadvertently from their environments rather than seeking it actively.

  • Other factors influence voting behavior, exemplifying concepts like 'by-product learning' and the 'floating voter.'

In a changing media landscape, individuals' political learning and engagement correlate with the media environment's efficiency, reflecting variations in accessibility and content preferences that have evolved over decades.