How the Media Affect What People Think: An Information Processing Approach

TLDR

Recent studies claim that media influence what people think about, but not what they think. Newspaper political messages, news diversity, and editorial liberalism are linked to readers’ political attitudes, with effects differing by ideology, showing that media shape what people think by influencing what they think about.

Abstract

The political messages of newspapers are significantly associated with the substantive political attitudes of a national sample of their readers. Diversity of news perspectives and editorial liberalism show significant relationships to readers' support of interest groups, public policies, and politicians. The relationships vary among self-identified liberals, conservatives, and moderates in accordance with the predictions of information-processing theory. The standard assertion in most recent empirical studies is that "media affect what people think about, not what they think." The findings here indicate the media make a significant contribution to what people think--to their political preferences and evaluations--precisely by affecting what they think about.