This study highlights the importance of considering generational factors in the pursuit of understanding online media consumption. This thesis argues that previous explanations of why people may or may not consume news and political information are insufficient on their own. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of how people are using the internet and how people engage with political information and media online, generational factors must also be considered. This is done through quantitively examining the correlations between social media use and the number of online media sites visited within a week through five different generations using Swedish survey data from 2016 and 2020. The results of the analysis are mixed, as clear differences in online media consumption between the generations could be identified in 2020 whilst it could not in 2016. The general findings indicates that social media use is positively correlated with online media consumption, and that these correlations vary to a certain degree between different generations. The results of the analysis should not be interpreted as showing causality, but rather as an introductory overview that could inform future research on the role of generations online.

Following the 2004 U.S. presidential election, articles from the Associated Press and major news organizations came to very different conclusions regarding the impact of young voters on the election outcome. While some media outlets framed the youth turnout as a success, others framed it as a failure. This experimental study (N=237) utilized a pre-test/post-test design to build upon research on framing theory and political information efficacy theory. Articles about youth voter turnout in the 2004 election served as the stimuli to test the effects of news frame valence and frame substance on college student respondents' levels of trust, cynicism, and political information efficacy. Results indicated that while valence and level of substance of a news article may affect political attitudes, changes between experimental groups were not significant. Cynicism was negatively correlated with political information efficacy and trust. Attitudinal measures accounted for a significant amount of variance in respondents' interest in the 2006 campaign as well as perceived importance of both political engagement and youth voter turnout in past and future campaigns. / Master of Arts

Scholars widely acknowledge that democratic political leaders seek public support for their policy endeavors, particularly when conducting costly policies as in the case of military interventions. A deeper understanding of the factors that affect public support for military interventions is crucial to explaining more definitively the determinants of foreign policy decisions regarding military interventions. However, most studies in this area of research examine the public as an undifferentiated mass that reacts uniformly to changes in the course of an intervention. In addition, scholars often overlook the varying dynamics of public support across different phases of a military intervention. Given these shortcomings in the literature, the objective of this dissertation is to examine the formation of public support as a function of political information levels and intervention stages. This dissertation is important in both methodological and theoretical terms. Methodologically, the major contribution of my dissertation is the adoption of a multimethod approach that is almost non-existent in this line of research. By bringing together a formal framework, experimentation, and statistical analyses of public opinion survey data, I develop a more refined theory and attain more robust empirical results. Theoretically, the study challenges the dominant mode of research on military interventions in which public opinion is treated as a homogenous mass. Specifically, I explore how major factors related to public support for military interventions (such as casualty rates) play different roles and weigh differently in their impact on the opinions of politically informed versus less informed individuals across stages of an intervention. The results of the experiments and survey data analyses demonstrate that politically informed individuals express less support for a military intervention at the starting (rally) phase of that intervention compared to the less informed. That said, as the intervention proceeds and casualties are incurred, support of politically uninformed individuals decreases at higher rates than does support of politically informed ones. In other words, politically informed individuals demonstrate more stable levels of support across intervention stages. In addition, both experimental and survey data analyses show that policy-specific information is generally a more influential factor on public support for military interventions compared to general political information.

There is a growing body of research on the ways in which people process and organize political information. However, these studies have focused almost exclusively on textual analysis at a time when people are turning to more visually oriented media in increasing numbers. While researchers have failed to account for this trend, political organizations have quickly adapted and begun to use visual media to their advantage for political messaging. This study examines people’s ability to perceive bias in visual representations of political information. Through a series of surveys and one-on-one interviews, I found that participants exhibited significant confirmation bias in their assessments of visual information. This effect was particularly strong in participants’ initial assessment of each example. The results reveal two potential paths to increasing awareness of bias in visual information. First, basic training in visual design could encourage more thorough examination of new information and result in increased awareness of bias. Second, illustrating the effects of confirmation bias could encourage viewers to pause and reassess their initial reaction to information, again resulting in increased awareness of bias. With these two hypotheses in mind, I have created an interactive guide that teaches basic elements of visual design, such as size and color, and then illustrates the effects of cognitive biases on assessment of information.

Användandet av sociala medier ökar i samhället, både som källa till information men även för diskussion på olika plattformar. Politiska partier använder därmed sociala medier för kommunikation med potentiella väljare, men även opinionsbildare utan officiella uppdrag har idag möjlighet att sprida åsikter på diverse kanaler. Syftet med denna studie är att få ökad kunskap kring hur gymnasieelever får tillgång till politisk information på sociala medier och hur detta påverkar deras intresse för politik. Metoder som använts är en kvantitativ enkätundersökning och fyra kvalitativa intervjuer med gymnasieelever i Malmö. Resultatet visade på att gymnasieelever har sociala medier som deras största informationskälla till politik, men ej aktivt letar efter nyheter. Resultatet antydde även att gymnasieelever är kritiska till källor på sociala medier och upplever ett hårt debattklimat på diverse plattformar. Att gymnasieelever inte litar på källor och inte vill gå in i debatter på sociala medier kan möjligen bidra till ett minskat intresse för politik hos gymnasieelever. / The use of social media is increasing in society, both as a source for information but as a place for political debates. Political parties are there for using social media to communicate with potential voters, but also digital opinion leaders who does not work in the political area have the opportunity to communicate their opinions. The purpose with this study is to gain increased knowledge about how High School students get political information on social media and how this affect their interest in politics. Methods that have been used are a quantitative survey and four qualitative interviews with high school students in Malmö. The result shows that high school students have social media as their main source for political information, but that they don’t actively searching for it. The results also indicate that high school students are critical against sources on social media and experiences a rough debate climate online. That high school students do not trust in sources on social media and do not want to participate in debates could possibly contribute to a decreased interest in politics among high school students.

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Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T18:24:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 27 / Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos / Este trabalho trata dos jornais Semanário de Informação Política (Ijuí, outubro de 1975 a abril de 1976) e Jornal Informação (Porto Alegre, julho de 1976 a janeiro de 1977) como componentes de um caso de imprensa alternativa, alinhado à resistência à ditadura. A pesquisa foi desenvolvida com base na análise interpretativa das 22 edições de Semanário de Informação Política e 23 edições de Jornal Informação, além da realização de entrevistas com pessoas que atuaram no financiamento, produção, discussão e distribuição dos jornais. A partir de comparações, verificação de singularidades e características gerais dos jornais, e de uma leitura orientada pelos referenciais teóricos utilizados, construiu-se o argumento de que a imprensa alternativa, apesar do vínculo estreito com o campo da política, contribui para a construção da autonomia do campo do jornalismo / This thesis deals with two Journals: Political Information Weekly (Semanário de Informação Política (Ijuí, October, 1975 – April, 1976)and Information Journal (Jornal Informação (Porto Alegre, July, 1976 – January, 1977), as components of one case of alternative press, aligned with the resistance to the dictatorship. The investigation was carried out based on the interpretive analysis of 22 issues of the Semanário de Informação Política and 23 issues of Jornal Informação, as well as through interviews with people that worked in the financing, production, discussion and distribution of the two weeklies. Through comparisons, verification of singularities and general characteristics, and an analysis oriented by the theoretic references utilized, the argument was constructed that the alternative press, although with strong connections to the political arena, contributed to the affirmation in the mediatic realm

Cette thèse porte sur la «désolation du Palatinat», et explore au travers de ce cas les interrelations qu’entretiennent la guerre et l’information politique dans l’Europe de la fin du XVIIe siècle. Elle s’inscrit dans le «tétraèdre médiatique de l’espace européen» formé alors par la France, le Saint-Empire, l’Angleterre et les Provinces-Unies. Elle montre pourquoi et comment des opérations françaises répondant à une logique stratégique, une chronologie et une géographie composites ont été érigées en une unité historique distincte et chargée de sens. Ce travail met ainsi en lumière le processus complexe de fabrication de cet événement appelé «désolation du Palatinat», et analyse pour cela à la fois les opérations militaires et le traitement informationnel dont elles ont fait l’objet. Dans un premier temps, l’étude de la réalité à la fois stratégique et opérationnelle révèle un ensemble d’opérations de destruction, qui se sont déployées sur près d’un an — de l’hiver 1688 à l’automne 1689 —, et répondaient à une même logique stratégique défensive, dont les principes et les pratiques ont évolué au fil des mois. Les caractéristiques de ces opérations ont participé de la manière dont elles ont été, dès qu’elles sont advenues, rapportées, représentées, comprises et interprétées. C’est dans ce cadre informationnel qu’elles ont acquis une unité chronologique, géographique et opérationnelle, dont elles étaient initialement dépourvues. Dans un second temps, l’étude croisée de la diffusion des informations relatives à ces opérations et de leur mise en forme textuelle et iconographique montre donc comment l’événement a pris forme au fil des mois et des productions imprimées. / This dissertation focuses on the “Desolation of the Palatinate”, and examines through this case study the interrelations of war and political information in Europe at the end of the 17th century. The “media tetrahedron of early modern Europe”, which was made up of the Dutch Republic, France, Britain, and the Holy Roman Empire, is the geographical frame of this research. This work demonstrates why and how some French operations with a compound strategic logic, a composite chronology and a changing geography became a distinct and meaningful historical unit. This research emphasizes the complex fabrication of this event known today as the “Desolation of the Palatinate”. It studies both the military operations and their process through the European information system. First, the analysis of the strategic and operational reality highlights a group of destructive operations, that were implemented for almost a year — between winter 1688 and autumn 1689 —, and guided by the same strategic logic of defense but with evolving principles and practices over the months. The characteristics of these operations took part in the way in which they were recounted, depicted, understood and interpreted as soon as they occurred. Within this framework of their process through the European information system, they gain a chronological, geographical and operational cohesion, of which they lack initially. Second, this work studies both the dissemination of news on the French operations and the way they were textually and visually shaped. This analysis shows how the French operations were gradually shaped in particular by the print production into a significant event.

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Research over the past several decades suggests there are persistent political knowledge gaps among electoral cohorts in the United States. Of particular concern to many scholars is a generational gap in political knowledge that appears to be widening. The current generation of young voters has lower levels of political knowledge than any of its cohorts of past generations despite having higher levels of formal education. Although formal education is a significant predictor of political knowledge, the strength of this relationship has declined in recent years. Since the 1950s, overall levels of formal education in the United States have significantly increased, yet there has not been a proportionate increase in overall levels of political knowledge. Some scholars attribute this decline in the relationship between formal education and political knowledge to a preceding decline in the quality of civic education in our primary and secondary schools. Quality civic education is important because it provides young people with civic knowledge—knowledge of how their system of government functions and how they can become effective participants within that system. Civic knowledge is important because it also provides a context for a deep understanding of information disseminated in the media about current political issues. Although voters can learn about political issues by encountering information in various types of media, there is a strong correlation between consumption of text-based news media and levels of political knowledge. Newspaper readership has declined, however, especially for traditional print newspapers, which is at its lowest level since 1945. Digital readership is difficult to assess, but there is some evidence that digital newspaper readership is not nearly enough to account for the decline in readership for traditional print newspapers. Civic background knowledge and interest in reading about political issues can enhance deep-level comprehension of text-based political information. Finding ways to make civic background information interesting for young voters could stimulate their interest in reading about political issues and result in increasing their levels of political knowledge. If the Millennial generation continues to be less knowledgeable than their predecessors, it could erode this cohorts’ ability to effectively represent its interests and could eventually result in a polity in which the “vox populi” is reduced to a mere whisper. This study examined text comprehension and interest within the context of an embodied cognition perspective in which the abstract symbols of language are viewed as fundamentally grounded in our bodily responses to our environment. Emerging media, such as interactive computer simulations and virtual environments, provide a way to ground unfamiliar and complex political text-based information in embodied, experiential contexts that could increase comprehension of abstract concepts. These media often evoke the perception of “being there,” in a virtual space. The sense of “being there,” or virtual spatial presence, creates a degree of spatial uncertainty that can result in an increase in arousal that stimulates interest in the information encountered in the virtual space. A within-subjects experiment was conducted to determine whether providing civic background information in a more embodied media format (i.e., an interactive desktop computer simulation) versus a less embodied format (i.e., an onscreen document) for newspaper articles about Obamacare increased interest in and comprehension of the articles. The data were analyzed with paired t-tests and repeated-measures ANOVA. Other statistical tests were also performed to determine relationships among the variables of text comprehension, virtual spatial presence, situational interest, self-reported core affect, and physiological arousal. The findings indicate that surface-level text comprehension of a newspaper article about Obamacare was significantly higher when civic background information for the article was presented in the more embodied format; however, format did not have a significant effect on deep-level comprehension. The findings also indicate that levels of virtual spatial presence and self-reported core affect were significantly higher when participants read information in the more embodied format. Although the results did not reveal a significant effect of format on situational interest in the information, there was a significant order effect of format on situational interest. This was likely the result of a novelty effect and not specifically a result of the level of embodiment the format provided. Within the more embodied format, significant positive correlations emerged between virtual spatial presence and situational interest and between virtual spatial presence and self-reported core affect (i.e., subjective feelings of arousal and enjoyment); however, a negative correlation emerged between virtual spatial presence and skin conductance level. Significant positive correlations also emerged across format conditions between situational interest and self-reported core affect and between situational interest in civic background information for a newspaper article and situational interest in the article itself. The main predictors of overall text comprehension of the newspaper articles about Obamacare were posttest civic knowledge and situational interest. / Media & Communication