Beyond the Federal Depository Library Program: Providing Access to Information From a Reinvented Government

The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), conceived in the nineteenth century, has served the American people and libraries for 100 years. It has provided free access to government information through a network of depository libraries distributed throughout the country. Currently, Democratic and Republican political leaders advocate reinventing, rethinking, reengineering, and renewing government. Despite significant differences between the political parties on specific changes, there is a consensus vision of a transformed or reinvented national government. What does this mean for the FDLP and access to government information? This essay looks beyond the current debates about specific legislation on the Government Printing Office or funding levels for the FDLP and outlines a vision of a reinvented federal government based on ideas expressed by Alvin and Heidi Toffler, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and Vice President Al Gore. This paper identifies the basic challenges that their ideas present for the FDLP and depository libraries. The author concludes that these challenges will move the United States beyond the FDLP as it is presently constituted and will force librarians to rethink fundamentally how they provide access to government information.     

Partisan Patriotism in the American Presidency: American Exceptionalism,Issue Ownership,and the Age of Trump

This study employs issue ownership theory to examine the partisan dynamics surrounding the idea of American exceptionalism in presidential discourse. We conducted a content analysis of invocations of American exceptionalism in all major U.S. presidential addresses—domestic and foreign—from the end of World War II through Trump’s 1st year in office. We find that even though Republicans have traditionally claimed ownership of American exceptionalism, patterns in presidential discourse tell a very different story. Specifically, our results show (a) in domestic contexts, Republican and Democratic presidents were very similar in their invocations of American exceptionalism during the Cold War but that Democrats have held a substantial advantage over Republicans throughout the post–Cold War era, including on issue areas that Republicans are perceived to “own” (e.g. national security); (b) in foreign contexts, Democrats have been much more outspoken in their embrace of American exceptionalism throughout both the Cold War and post–Cold War; and (c) President Trump has diverged significantly, both in substance and frequency, from his Democratic and Republican predecessors in his invocation of American exceptionalism. We reflect on the implications of these findings on our broader understanding of issue—and trait—ownership, presidential discourse, and American exceptionalism in American politics.     

When Social Media Become Hostile Media: An Experimental Examination of News Sharing,Partisanship, and Follower Count

This study examines whether the characteristics of those who share news articles on social media influence the hostile media effect. In an experiment, participants read a news article shared by 1 of 4 Twitter users, 2 (Republican vs. Democrat) × 2 (21 vs. 503,000 followers). Consistent with the hostile media effect, both Republicans and Democrats believed that a news article shared by a Twitter user from an opposing political party was more biased than one shared by a Twitter user from the same political party. As the Twitter account had more followers, however, this effect was more prominent among Republicans and less prominent among Democrats.     

A Functional Analysis of Presidential Direct Mail Advertising

This study investigated the nature of direct mail advertising, a commonly used but little studied form of political campaign communication. 715 brochures were content analyzed employing the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse and Issue Ownership Theory. Acclaims were more common than attacks, which in turn were more frequent than defenses. Primary campaign pamphlets used more acclaims and fewer attacks than general campaign brochures. Democrats used more attacks and fewer acclaims than Republicans. In the general campaign, incumbent party candidates acclaimed more and attacked less than challengers. Incumbents were also prone to use past deeds to acclaim more, and attack less, than challengers. Incumbents tended to use future plans to acclaim more, and attack less, than challengers. Winners used more acclaims and fewer attacks than losers. Overall, direct mail brochures discussed policy more than character. Democrats discussed policy more and character less than Republicans. Democrats discussed Democratic issues more, and Republican issues less, than Republicans. Incumbent party candidates discussed policy more, and character less, than challengers. Winners discussed policy more, and character less, than losers. Winners attacked more on policy, and less on character, than losers. Similarities and differences between direct mail advertising and other message forms were discussed.     

Television News Viewing,Governmental Scope,and Postmaterialist Spending: Assessing Mediation by Partisanship

This study uses 2000–2002 American National Election Study (ANES) panel data to assess the influence of national television news viewing on opinions concerning the need for federal involvement in social issues reflective of postmaterialist values. This relationship is analyzed in coordination with the testing of perceptions of the proper role of government in society as a potential mediator. In addition, political party identification (Democrat, Republican, and Independent) is assessed as a potential moderator. This study reveals 3 distinct processes of mediation (or the lack thereof) across the party identification groups, with the perceived role of government serving as a full mediator for Democrats, a simple mediator for Republicans, and not serving as a mediator for Independents.     

Whither Radio

This experimental study tested the effects of instrumental background music on subjects' opinions of the candidate in a political radio commercial. Democrats hearing a Democratic candidate commercial without music considered it more issue-oriented than those hearing it with music. No significant effects were found in Republicans. Controlling for party affiliation, results showed a significant correlation between subjects' perceiving the spot as issue-oriented and their stated intention to vote for the candidate. Subjects hearing the spot with music were more likely to consider the spot “well done,” but this did not translate into a statistically significant preference for the candidate.     

Partisan Balance and Bias in Network Coverage of the 2000 and 2004 Presidential Elections

This study conceptualizes news bias as a causal factor producing systematic imbalance in the coverage of conflicting sides. Partisan bias is distinguished from structural bias by coverage that systematically favors one side with more prominence and attention. Content analysis was used to compare the television networks' balance in their treatment of Republican and Democratic candidates in stories and segments covering the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. Presidential candidates received balanced aggregate treatment in both elections. But individual networks differed in their partisan balance. CBS News consistently favored the Democratic candidate in both elections, unlike the mixed results for ABC and NBC. CBS's pattern of imbalance, especially in the 2004 election, suggests a possible political bias in its coverage.     

Bordering on Empathy: The Effect of Selective Exposure and Border Residency on Immigration Attitudes

Two surveys, including an original survey and a survey containing substantial secondary data, found substantial links between party identity, selective media exposure and attitudes on immigration. Republicans were significantly more likely to segregate themselves to like-minded media and to avoid traditional objective sources like national and local newspapers, local and national broadcast television news. Border-state residency failed to moderate attitudes about immigration; differences were found between local and national media. Finally, Republican support for immigration fell between 2016 and 2018, after the election of President Trump.     

EXPLAINING LABOR'S WIN AT THE 1993 AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTION

This paper investigates Labor's victory at the 1993 AustralianFederal election. In the aftermath of the election a varietyof explanations emerged endeavoring to account for the result.From these explanations factors claimed as important are investigatedfor their influence on vote choice and importantly their contributionto the parties' shares of the vote. Confirming aspects of someof the explanations, the factors which gave the ALP the greatestbenefits were the opposition's proposed goods and services tax,and the medicare and health, and industrial relations issues.The coalition benefited from Labor's employment record, theeconomic management issue, and from the belief that it was timeto change government. This study demonstrates that careful analysisof survey data can provide accurate and detailed accounts ofelection outcomes. We discuss how explanations of election outcomesin general can be improved and the implications of the study'sfindings for the next election.     

Mother Goose and Mother Nature: Designing Stories to Communicate Information About Climate Change

Narratives have the ability to highlight climate change information in a relatable and engaging format. The purpose of the present investigation was to test the effects of five story structure types containing climate change information on perceived message effectiveness. Furthermore, we measured whether political affiliation moderated persuasive effectiveness of climate change messages among U.S. eligible voting adults (N = 594) who identified as Republican, Democrat, and Independent. The highest rated story overall was situated in the past, was realistic, and had clear moral values, indicating that certain appealing stories can serve as effective conduits for persuasive messages across the political spectrum. There were few differences between political affiliations, namely, that Democrats and Republicans rated messages differently on effectiveness when they differed on moral themes.     

Opening the Black Box: How Satisfaction with Democracy and its Perceived Efficacy Affect Regime Preference in Latin America

Exploring the micromotivations (Williams, 1979, 1988; Aguiar, 1991)or internal reasons (Williams, 1979; Lupia, McCubbins, & Popkin, 2000)that mold public preferences for either democracy or authoritarianism,this paper aims to discuss the types of rationality that liebehind people’s choices in survey studies in Latin America.From this perspective, we examine the balance between surveyrespondents’ evaluation of democratic government and theirviews of the efficacy of democracy to solve their country’sproblems, and their joint impact on the molding of citizens’preferences for a particular type of government. Results showthat satisfaction with how democratic government performs standsout as one of the reasons underlying individuals’ preferencesfor democracy. Also the belief that democracy does not solvethe problems significantly determines the people’s choice.Conclusions favor the hypothesis that, in the region, a utilitarianrationality prevails over an axiological rationality (Weber, 1922;Boudon, 1996) in the way citizens form preferences for or againstdemocracy.     

THE 1992 U.S. NATIONAL ELECTION

For from being inevitable, as it may now appear, Clinton's victoryover Bush in the 1992 U.S. presidential election required aconfluence of several largely unforeseen developments. For one,though the U.S. economy was recovering, sluggishly, in late1991 and then more robustly in the election year itself, deeppublic pessimism about the economy's status developed nonetheless,leading to a vague but highly insistent call to ‘Do something!’In addition, the independent candidacy of Ross Perot becameespecially injurious to the Bush campaign, because theTexasbillionaire's attacks on the President appeared so disinterested.Perot cut deeply into the political and attitudinal groups thatin recent elections have been giving generally strong supportto Republican nominees. Despite these and other developmentswhich led to Bush's defeat just 20 months after he had appeareddominant politically, however, the underlying political alignmentof policy and social groups changed little in 1992.     

OPINION RESEARCH, LIBERALISM AND THE FRENCH RIGHT

During the rewriting of its program in the early 1980s, theRassemblement pour la République (RPR) carried out anumber of opinion surveys. The person in charge of this wasnot a member of the inner leadership circle; he warned the partyleader, Jacques Chirac, that themes forming a coherent ‘liberal’program for the transformation of the relationship between citizens,state, and the economy, were not popular with public opinion,which remained attached to progressive taxation and a comprehensivesocial welfare system. The party leadership ignored these warnings.Rather than attempting to align their policies with voter aspirations,their principal use of political communications techniques aimedat improving their leader's image. The person in charge of thiswork was a stranger to politics whose understanding of the waycultural or political attitudes are changed led him to interpretvery fatalistically the chances of influencing election outcomesby communications techniques. His methods were treated withfrank skepticism by party communications colleagues, his client'spersonality was particularly unamenable to his efforts, andhis one successful initiative—the rejuvenation of theexecutive committee—was operated at the cost of a rowin the party. In the case of the RPR, opinion research seemsto have played no role at all in an important party policy review,the causes of which should be sought elsewhere.     

Why Do People (Sometimes) Become Selective About News? The Role of Emotions and Partisan Differences in Selective Approach and Avoidance

Recent advances in partisan selective exposure research have provided compelling evidence for the distinction between selective approach and selective avoidance. Yet the questions of whether, how, and to what extent discrete emotions systematically shape either of these patterns has not been sufficiently addressed. This study explores the differential roles of fear, anger, and enthusiasm in selective approach to and selective avoidance of partisan news programs, focusing on partisan differences in regard to a person’s general approach versus avoidance tendencies to external stimuli as a possible moderating mechanism. A secondary analysis of the 2012 American National Election Studies data suggested that fear and anger both significantly increased proattitudinal news exposure, whereas only anger decreased counterattitudinal news exposure. In addition, Republicans exhibit these patterns to a greater extent than Democrats. Furthermore, enthusiasm significantly predicted exposure to proattitudinal news for both Republicans and Democrats, whereas Democrats were significantly more likely than Republicans to increase their counterattitudinal news exposure as a function of enthusiasm. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.     

Principles and Boundaries of Fact-checking: Journalists’ Perceptions

This study examines journalists’ perceptions of fact-checking, a growing journalistic activity focused on assessing the veracity of public claims. Professional journalists working on fact-checking or interested in doing fact-checking and based in the United States were surveyed regarding the purpose of this activity; principles of fact-checking, including boundaries with activism or partisanship; and statements concerning which political party politicians are more likely to produce false claims. This study shows a high level of agreement between respondents on normative aspects of fact-checking. Journalists stated that there should be clear boundaries between fact-checking and activism and that fact-checking should be non-partisan. At the same time, participants showed discrepancies on topics like the use of the word “lie” when finding that a claim is false. In addition, among respondents, the perception that Republicans are more likely to make false claims was significantly higher than the perception that Democrats are more prone to produce false claims, although the difference was moderate, with considerable percentages of respondents answering that they neither agree nor disagree with the statements that Republicans, or Democrats, are more prone to make false claims.     

THE PRESS AND THE POLLS IN GERMANY, 1980-1994 POLL COVERAGE AS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF ELECTION CAMPAIGN REPORTING

Since their beginnings pre-election polls have been under attackfrom politicians and journalists. One of the most fundamentalcriticisms of polls is that they can influence the outcome ofelections. This article investigates news media reporting ofpoll results and comments on public opinion research beforeFederal elections in Germany. It presents empirical findingsfor the quantity as well as the formal and substantial qualityof this press coverage. The database is a content analysis of443 pre-election poll articles published in Germany's leadingdailies Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Frankfurter Rundschau(FR), Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), and Die Welt (Welt) between1980 and 1994. The quantity of news media reporting of publicopinion polls has improved over the years. Now, poll storiesare a standard feature of German newspapers. The frequency ofreports depends on the conditions of each election—e.g.on the expected closeness of the election outcome. The formalquality could be better—that is the conformity to AAPORstandards. Horse-race journalism isn't found as often as inthe USA. Journalists often use poll results to predict an electionoutcome. Moreover, the analysis revealed an ambivalent relationshipbetween liberal journalists and polls, while the reporting ofconservative journalists is more in favor of opinion research.     

THE AGENDA-SETTING EFFECTS OF INTERNATIONAL NEWS COVERAGE: AN EXAMINATION OF DIFFERING NEWS FRAMES

The agenda-setting impact of international news was examinedby comparing the coverage of 15 categories of internationalnews in four news media (the New York Times, ABC, CBS, and NBC)with the level of public concern with international problemsas recorded by all 41 Gallup organization's most important problempolls conducted from 1975 to 1990. The findings suggest thatthe way in which international news is framed in news reportsmay determine the magnitude of salience cues. Four categoriesof news coverage demonstrated the strongest agenda-setting influence:international conflicts involving the United States; terrorisminvolving the U.S.; crime/drugs; and military/nuclear arms.Generally, the results support previous findings which concludedthat stories with high degrees of conflict and stories withconcrete presentations (by including Americans in the stories)have the strongest agenda-setting impact. In addition, two newscategories—international trade not involving the UnitedStates, and politics not involving the United States—correlatednegatively with public concern for two of the news media. Thisresult suggests that press coverage, besides increasing publicconcern with certain issues, can also decrease concern. Certaincategories of news, such as stories dealing with internationalpolitics and trade, can give individuals cues that the internationalarena is functioning quite smoothly. These types of internationalnews stories show individuals that international problems arenot really serious problems at all.     

Polarization as a Function of Citizen Predispositions and Exposure to News on the Internet

Observers of democratic polities decry a seeming increase in social and political polarization. This article outlines the conditions under which Internet-based news exposure can facilitate polarization. Analyses of data from a nationally representative United States panel study reveal that frequency of news consumption over the Internet can widen disagreements between Democrats and Republicans over a wide range of social and political issues. The results reveal few signs of a similar Internet news exposure effect for disagreement linked to race and income. These findings point to some possible mechanisms of, and limitations to, processes driving social and political polarization.     

Recent Articles in the Field of Public Opinion Research

In this section the International Journal of Public OpinionResearch reviews articles that have recently been publishedin peer-refereed journals and which broadly relate to the fieldof public opinion. The intention is not to give an exhaustiveoverview of a given study but rather to alert our readers tointeresting ideas and research in our field. For this issuethanks are due to Ken’ichi Ikeda (University of Tokyo)for help in compiling the reviews. Arai, Kiichiro (2006). A mechanism of political participation:Experience and evaluation. Review of Electoral Studies, 6, 5–24. This paper examines how citizens are engaged in political activities,with a focus on their experience of political participationand their evaluation of the experience. Using data from theJapanese Election and Democracy Study 2000 survey, an empiricalanalysis shows that people who positively evaluate their experienceof participating in political activity (such as helping election     

Recent Articles in the Field of Public Opinion Research

In this section the International Journal of Public OpinionResearch reviews articles that have recently been publishedin peer-refereed journals and which broadly relate to the fieldof public opinion. The intention is not to give an exhaustiveoverview of a given study but rather to alert our readers tointeresting ideas and research in our field.