Spiral of Cynicism: The Press and the Public Good

by Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Joseph N. Cappella

Book Overview

Why do some citizens vote while others do not? Why does less than half of the American voting public routinely show up at the polls? Why is it that the vast majority of political issues affecting our day-to-day lives fail to generate either public interest or understanding? These questions have troubled political scientists for decades. Here, Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Joseph N. Cappella provide the first conclusive evidence to date that it is indeed...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195090640
• ISBN13: 9780195090642
• Release Date: May 1997
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.6" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Should provoke more discussion

Not as accessible as other books in the journalism reform genre (in other words, a little stat-heavy), but it provides a good framework for discussion. Anyone who thinks cynicism and journalism MUST go hand in hand should read this for a refutation and perhaps a few ideas of how to take the journalist's natural *skepticism* (which is very different) and use it a healthy manner.

Nice work but results not that overwhelming

A compilation of a number of experimental studies on the impact of the framing effects of news. The authors point out that political news nowadays uses mostly the strategic frame - focus on strategies of actors - rather than issue frame - focus on substantive aspects of the issues. And the authors try to test if the use of strategic frame would lead to enhanced cynicism.The findings of the experiments are actually not very clear-cut, at least not clear-cut than what the authors said in the book. But the book contains very good discussions about the likely impact of news on cynicism, definition of cynicism vs. skepticism, the nature of framing effects etc.