IMPLICATIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

opportunity depends on type of information available in political environment:
Delli Carpini and Keeter 1996
Gordon and Segura 1997
Kuklinski et al 2001

environment may contribute to public ignorance:
Key 1966
Lippmann 1922

uniformly one-sided media messages promote conformity:
Zaller 1992

journalists unconsciously internalize common frames of reference as a result of organizational pressures and incentives:
Cook, 1998
Epstein, 1973
Gans, 1979
Sigal, 1973
Sparrow, 1999
Tuchman, 1978

Frames may direct attention away from alternative problem definitions and reduce the likelihood of critical debate:
Dorman & Livingston, 1994

By organizing policy discourse around certain problems rather than others, frames heighten the apparent utility of some solutions over others:
Entman, 1991
Iyengar, 1991
Nelson, Clawson, & Oxley, 1997

journalistic reliance on official sources often limits press criticism to procedural rather than substantive issues, and to tactical matters of implementation rather than the strategic dimensions of policy problems:
Entman & Page, 1994
Hallin, 1994
Herman & Chomsky, 1988
Hertog, 2000
Mermin, 1999

outside voices are considered less newsworthy by journalists:
Graber, 2002
Wolfsfeld, 1997

news coverage is unlikely to criticize administration policies unless prompted to do so by domestic officials:
Alexseev & Bennett, 1995
Bennett, 1990
Bennett & Manheim, 1993
Dorman & Livingston, 1994
Eilders & Lumlter, 2000
Nacos, 1990
Zaller & Chiu, 1996

likelihood of news reception is a person's preexisting political knowledge:
Bennett 1988
Neuman and Just 1988
Robinson and Levy 1986

frames heighten the apparent utility of some solutions over others:
Entman, 1991
Iyengar, 1991
Nelson, Clawson, & Oxley, 1997

framing may have decisive effects on perceptions and choices:
Tversky and Kahneman 1982

opinions based on elite frames and group discussions:
Iyengar and Kinder 1987
Huckfeldt and Sprague 1995
Mutz, Sniderman, and Brody 1996
Mendelberg 2002
Mutz 2002a
Walsh 2003

frames have greater impact on the less knowledgeable:
Kinder and Sanders 1990
Haider-Markel and Joslyn 2001
Jacoby 2000

frames have greater impact on more knowledgeable:
Nelson, Oxley and Clawson 1997

Information is not only important but is the essence of power within a democracy (290).  Knowledge is a public good and political resource, and as such it is not only the individual's responsibility to ensure they know of political issues, but also that of society (it is in the public's best interest).  What people know is dependent upon the opportunities they have available to them to acquire this information, as well as ability and motivation.  Because information depends upon opportunity, there are large gaps of knowledge among various groups (females, blacks, poor); education alone does not seem to be able to explain this gap.  Overall, the prognosis for democracy is fair: many voters have 'depressingly low' information, but most have a reasonably acceptable level of information to "foster optimism about democratic possibilities" (269).
--CARPINI & KEETER 1996

The environment can either enhance or fail to enhance the ability of voters to make quality judgments (411).  Specifically, it is the quality of information, and not the quantity, that is significant in improving decision-making.  To factors indicative of 'environment as motivator' for increased quality decision-making are diagnostic value and strength.  The interaction between these two factors increases the quality of decision-making, but each factor alone does not.
--KUKLINSKI, QUIRK, JERIT & RICH 2001

While our experimental frames did influence respondents' beliefs about their corresponding policy areas, the effects were relatively small and could not fully account for the magnitude or even the direction of the resulting opinion shifts.
--NELSON & OXLEY 2000

It seems that though framing may have had a significant influence on opinion results, much of the results indicated that participants were still falling back on core beliefs when questions pertaining to the issue were more generalized.
--NELSON & OXLEY 2000

The study focuses on the ability, or lack thereof, of framing techniques to change either belief patterns/ideas, or at least a respondents position on an immediate issue topic. Specifically, whether framing changes the actual belief of the respondent, or just changes their perspective on this one issue, as a result. "We report on a pair of experimental studies that seek to demonstrate that alternative issue frames can significantly influence issue opinion, and that this influence will not be primarily explained by belief content, but rather by the importance respondents assign to different beliefs" (1043).
--NELSON & OXLEY 2000

authors indicate instead that the media is the best medium for exposing citizens to diverse topics and opinions largely because of the lack of selectivity with media information sources. In other words, it is easier to suppress or ignore opinions coming from interpersonal relationships than from more objective media sources. The authors conclude, however, that as consumers are offered more and more diverse media sources, this will lessen the amount of diverse opinions most people will be exposed to as they will select media sources closest to their own opinions.
MUTZ & MARTIN 2001

Elite framing effects are polarized when individuals participate in conversation with people having the same opinions, whereas these effects are moderated (wash out) when individuals participate in cross-cutting or mixed-message discussions after an elite frame.
--DRUCKMAN 2003

Information is not only important but is the essence of power within a democracy (290).  Knowledge is a public good and political resource, and as such it is not only the individual's responsibility to ensure they know of political issues, but also that of society (it is in the public's best interest).  What people know is dependent upon the opportunities they have available to them to acquire this information, as well as ability and motivation.  Because information depends upon opportunity, there are large gaps of knowledge among various groups (females, blacks, poor); education alone does not seem to be able to explain this gap.  Overall, the prognosis for democracy is fair: many voters have 'depressingly low' information, but most have a reasonably acceptable level of information to "foster optimism about democratic possibilities" (269).
CARPINI & KEETER 1996

Social science studies often fail to show substantial media impact.  This is likely because of narrow approaches, because of theories about the way people use the media have enhanced the belief that impact is minimal, or because effects are only one part of a complex combination of social stimuli (13).
--GRABER 2002