Shaping Political Attitudes

Book excerpt: Recent research in the area of public opinion has focused most of its attention on the effect of the mass media, television in particular, as an influencing agent. The author argues that media effects are only half of the equation; the mass media cannot be seen as the exclusive source of political information. In a model of `total information flow', the media must share the political information environment with interpersonal communication. This volume bridges the gap between media and interpersonal communication and their combined effect on political attitudes and cognition.