Thomas J Johnson
Biographic Data
| ID | 3620573 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Thomas J Johnson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Thomas J |
| FAMILY NAME | Johnson |
| SIGNATURE | JOHNSON T J |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Texas at Austin |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0028-4248 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 54 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 380 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 54 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1965 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Shouts and Whispers
This study, based on reliance on various types of media as well as the Gamson Hypothesis, investigates why people doggedly hang on to election fraud theories from the 2020 election. The results show that reliance on mainstream media and CNN negatively predicts belief in election conspiracy theories. In contrast, reliance on Fox News, hyperpartisan websites, conservative media, and text-based and video-based social media, positively predict belief…
Voto Latinx
In the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump captured a substantial share of the Latinx vote, renewing debates about identity, media effects, and political behavior. This study examines how nativist attitudes and hyper-conservative media consumption shape support for Trump, with particular attention to racial and national identity. Using a moderated mediation model, we find that nativism and hyper-conservative media consumption both incre…
HIV Conspiracy Beliefs Among Black LGBQ+ People
As Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) disproportionately affects racial and gender minorities in the U.S., this study investigates the role of intersecting identities – specifically being Black and LGBQ+ – along with the sociocultural and communicative factors intertwined with these identities in shaping beliefs in HIV conspiracy theories. An online survey (N = 1,505) shows that Black LGBQ+ people display higher levels of HIV conspiracy beliefs t…
Toxicity of political participation and news cynicism
The Dynamics of Misinformation Sharing
How social media users become misinformed
This study explores the role of the news-finds-me (NFM) perception—the belief that people can be well-informed without actively seeking news due to their social networks—in fostering social media users’ inaccurate beliefs about COVID-19. Findings from a US national survey ( N = 1003) suggest that NFM perception is positively associated with belief in COVID-19 misinformation and mediates the positive relationship between social media use and false…
You Can’t Handle the Lies
This study examined the third-person perception (TPP) in terms of the influence of fake news through the lens of the Gamson hypothesis – the combination of political trust and political self-efficacy – and how the perception may affect one’s fake news sharing behavior. Data from a national survey (N = 1,024) indicates that Dissidents (low political trust, high political self-efficacy) who are likely to perceive greater exposure to fake news are l…
Politically Contested Beliefs
The COVID-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented risk to society. Studies suggested that people's beliefs about COVID-19 are divided depending on partisan affiliations. Building on the belief gap hypothesis, this study adopts a nationally representative survey (N = 1,119) to examine whether political identity or support for Trump is more strongly related to having false beliefs about COVID-19. Results showed that support for Trump is a better predict…
Navigating the Coronavirus Infodemic
The present study explores the relationship between the need for orientation (NFO) and knowledge/misperception about COVID-19 using a two-wave panel survey of U.S. adults (W1: N = 1,119; W2: N = 543). The findings suggest that moderate-active NFO rather than high NFO better predicts individuals’ level of knowledge and misperception. We also found that different media use (vertical media and horizontal media) and individuals’ epistemic beliefs (in…
A galaxy of apps
The power of app-driven mobile phones was first unleashed in 2011 when they were used to mobilize protesters and gain support for political movements in the United States and abroad. Mobile devices have since become the bedrock of political activism. To examine the influence of app reliance on offline and online political participation, this study builds on the Orientation-Stimulus-Reasoning-Orientation-Response (O-S-R-O-R) model by (a) applying …
A wall of incivility? Public discourse and immigration in the 2016 U.S. Primaries
This study uses computational methods to investigate public incivility in Facebook comments to campaign messages during the primaries of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, focusing on candidates’ posts about immigration. Specifically, we investigate the relationship between campaign messaging strategies, such as advocacy and attacks, and the presence of incivility in public comments. We find that Trump dominated both in terms of number of posts…
Conceptual overlap of spirituality and religion
Despite growing usage of the term “spirituality,” there is no agreed upon operational definition for the term, and measures of the construct vary in content. The following research analyzed several common measures of spirituality. In Study 1, 70 participants rated items on common instruments for spirituality and religiosity. Items containing the word “God” were more related to religiosity and less related to spirituality. In Study 2, 256 particip…
An APPetite for APPs
The ubiquity of mobile devices and the apps that power them has spurred concerns that they are contributing to the decline in news media use. Mobile devices, however, have been credited with spurring political participation. In its examination of app-reliant individuals, this study found that reliance on apps positively predicts political participation, and respondents who rely heavily on mobile apps for political information are more politically…
The meaning as a buffer hypothesis
Led it on Reddit
Is it possible to identify opinion leaders in a semi-anonymous online network? To answer this question, this study examines the social news site Reddit to determine whether opinion leadership can be recognized in an online network that, at face value, does not allow users to associate with their off-line personas. Identifiable characteristics, such as commenting, longevity, karma scores, posting frequency, and posting scores were analyzed. Result…
Kick the bums out
How App Are People to Use Smartphones, Search Engines, and Social Media for News
The growing use of tablet and smartphone news applications, search engines, and online social media for political and news information deserves attention because of the political implications. Using data from a statewide Texas opt-in poll from February 2012, this study tests the direct versus the differential hypothesis for each of the information acquisition tools with respect to political knowledge and voting. Results indicate a direct effect f…
Credibility of Social Network Sites for Political Information Among Politically Interested Internet Users
Scholars have confirmed that political candidates are increasingly turning to social network sites (SNS) to persuade voters to vote for them, and that these sites have become prominent sources of political information. But a fundamental question arises about the sustainability of social networks as a campaign tool: How much do users trust the information they find there? This study employed an online survey to examine the degree to which politica…
The Shot Heard Around the World Wide Web
This study investigated what sources were relied on to find out about Osama bin Laden's death and whether perceptions of credibility and political party affiliation influenced these media choices. The most striking difference in media reliance for bin Laden news was that whatever sources Tea Partiers relied on and thought credible were those that Democrats did not rely on or see as credible. Despite the clamor about how quickly news flows through…
Site Effects
The rise of social media, such as blogs, social network sites, Twitter, and YouTube, encourages hope for renewed confidence in the government and news media because these venues connect users directly to candidates and officeholders. This article indicates that blogs most heavily relied on the type of social media for political information. Moreover, reliance on blogs and YouTube leads to reduced confidence in the presidency, Congress, and the ne…
Does the Medium still Matter? The Influence of Gender and Political Connectedness on Contacting U.S. Public Officials Online and Offline
Invasion vs occupation
This study aimed to determine how well embedded reporters perceived they covered the Iraq War and whether those attitudes have changed over time. While findings suggested embeds continue to judge their overall performance as positively in 2005/6 as in 2004, respondents largely recognized problems with the embedding process. Data analysis indicated after the official declaration of victory that embedded reporters became significantly less likely t…
Hot Diggity Blog
Using two-step cluster analysis this study identifies four groups of users who deem seven types of blogs (general information, media/journalism, war, military, political, corporate, and personal blogs) as highly credible. The four groups are each motivated to turn to blogs for many of the same reasons; however, some differences emerged among the groups. In addition, the four user clusters differ on demographic and political characteristics. Notes…
The path to war
This study combines both the agenda-building and the second-level agenda approaches. It proposes an expansion of agenda-building research by examining the interaction among the president, the media and the public for an event that was not considered an existing ‘real-world’ condition. Specifically, this study uses former President Bush’s five most prominent rationales for invading Iraq to explore the three-way reciprocal relationship among the me…
Embeds' Perceptions of Censorship
This study examines a survey of embedded journalists worldwide to explore their opinions about press freedom and the degree to which they believe their reports were censored during the Iraq War. Our findings suggest most journalists took a social responsibility approach to freedom of the press during the war in Iraq, saying the needs of the media and the military need to be balanced. Overall, embeds reported that they experienced little censorshi…
The Revolution Will be Networked
Social networking is a phenomenon of interest to many scholars. While most of the recent research on social networking sites has focused on user characteristics, very few studies have examined their roles in engaging people in the democratic process. This paper relies on a telephone survey of Southwest residents to examine the extent to which reliance on social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube has engaged citizens in civic a…
A Boost or Bust for Democracy
This study employed an online survey of 442 politically interested Web users during the 2000 presidential election to examine the extent to which relying on the Web for political information influences political interest, campaign interest, political involvement, likelihood of voting, and voting behavior after controlling for demographics, political attitudes and use of the traditional media. Results from this study are compared to a similar one …
Research Methodology
The World Wide Web and other new electronic technologies might soon become prime survey vehicles due to convenient, verifiable, low-cost delivery and return systems as well as easy access and feedback mechanisms. However, along with the benefits of this new technology come new experiences and lessons to be learned and shared by researchers. The authors created and posted a survey on the Web to examine the uses of the Web for political information…
Communication Communities or CyberGhettos
This study used an online panel of Internet users to examine the degree to which blog users practice selective exposure when seeking political information. The research employed a path analysis model to explore the extent to which exposure to offline and online discussion of political issues, and offline and online media use, as well as political variables and demographic factors, predict an individual's likelihood to engage in selective exposure…
Every Blog Has Its Day
This study employs an online survey to examine U.S. politically-interested Internet users' perceptions of the credibility of blogs. The article focuses on the influence of blog reliance compared to motivations for visiting blogs in determining blog credibility. The study found that blogs were judged as moderately credible, but as more credible than any mainstream media or online source. Both reliance and motivations predicted blog credibility aft…
Credibility of Social Network Sites for Political Information Among Politically Interested Internet Users
Scholars have confirmed that political candidates are increasingly turning to social network sites (SNS) to persuade voters to vote for them, and that these sites have become prominent sources of political information. But a fundamental question arises about the sustainability of social networks as a campaign tool: How much do users trust the information they find there? This study employed an online survey to examine the degree to which politica…
Voices of Convergence or Conflict? A Path Analysis Investigation of Selective Exposure to Political Websites
This research used a path analysis model to explore the degree to which reliance on off-line and online media, off-line and online discussion of political issues, as well as political attitudes predict whether an individual will engage in selective exposure to political websites. The study also looked at selective avoidance of contradictory information on websites. The results indicate that respondents did indeed practice selective exposure when …
Show the Truth and Let the Audience Decide
This survey examines how viewers of Al-Jazeera perceive the network's presentation of graphic and war-related visuals and whether the viewers perceive that the TV channel provides visual information they cannot find in national Arab media, CNN, and other Western media. Nearly 9 in 10 respondents supported the use of graphic imagery saying watching those visuals was a good decision for them and that the network provides a unique source of visual i…
How social media users become misinformed
This study explores the role of the news-finds-me (NFM) perception—the belief that people can be well-informed without actively seeking news due to their social networks—in fostering social media users’ inaccurate beliefs about COVID-19. Findings from a US national survey ( N = 1003) suggest that NFM perception is positively associated with belief in COVID-19 misinformation and mediates the positive relationship between social media use and false…
Hot Diggity Blog
Using two-step cluster analysis this study identifies four groups of users who deem seven types of blogs (general information, media/journalism, war, military, political, corporate, and personal blogs) as highly credible. The four groups are each motivated to turn to blogs for many of the same reasons; however, some differences emerged among the groups. In addition, the four user clusters differ on demographic and political characteristics. Notes…
The CNN of the Arab World or a Shill for Terrorists
This study surveyed Al-Jazeera viewers through a survey posted on the network's Arabic-language website to examine how credible Al-Jazeera viewers judge the network. Not surprisingly, Al-Jazeera viewers rated the network as highly credible on all measures. They rated CNN and BBC high on expertise, but ranked them low on trustworthiness. Consequently, BBC and CNN were also rated low on other credibility measures. Local Arab media were judged lowes…
Influence Dealers
This agenda-building study employed a path analysis model to examine the three-way relationship among the public, the media, and the president on the issue of drug abuse during the Nixon administration. The path model also measured the extent to which these actors were influenced by real-world conditions about the number of drug-related arrests in the United States. Past studies have suggested a cyclical relationship should exist among the presid…
The path to war
This study combines both the agenda-building and the second-level agenda approaches. It proposes an expansion of agenda-building research by examining the interaction among the president, the media and the public for an event that was not considered an existing ‘real-world’ condition. Specifically, this study uses former President Bush’s five most prominent rationales for invading Iraq to explore the three-way reciprocal relationship among the me…
Invasion vs occupation
This study aimed to determine how well embedded reporters perceived they covered the Iraq War and whether those attitudes have changed over time. While findings suggested embeds continue to judge their overall performance as positively in 2005/6 as in 2004, respondents largely recognized problems with the embedding process. Data analysis indicated after the official declaration of victory that embedded reporters became significantly less likely t…
Exploring FDR'S relationship with the press
This historical agenda‐setting study examined the extent to which Franklin Roosevelt's issue agenda, as expressed in his first seven State of the Union speeches, correlated with subsequent coverage in seven major newspapers and the degree to which newspaper coverage correlated with FDR's issue agenda. While past works have emphasized Roosevelt's ability to influence media coverage, this study suggests that Roosevelt reacted to previous coverage m…
Embeds' Perceptions of Censorship
This study examines a survey of embedded journalists worldwide to explore their opinions about press freedom and the degree to which they believe their reports were censored during the Iraq War. Our findings suggest most journalists took a social responsibility approach to freedom of the press during the war in Iraq, saying the needs of the media and the military need to be balanced. Overall, embeds reported that they experienced little censorshi…
Site Effects
The rise of social media, such as blogs, social network sites, Twitter, and YouTube, encourages hope for renewed confidence in the government and news media because these venues connect users directly to candidates and officeholders. This article indicates that blogs most heavily relied on the type of social media for political information. Moreover, reliance on blogs and YouTube leads to reduced confidence in the presidency, Congress, and the ne…
Around the World Wide Web in 80 Ways
This study examines what online activities politically interested Internet users regularly engage in and how online activities are linked to motivations for using the Internet. This study found that politically interested web users were motivated to go online for different reasons than the general public and therefore they participated in different activities online. However, only for entertainment sites did audience activity serve as an importan…
Africa
Believing the blogs of war? How blog users compare on credibility and characteristics in 2003 and 2007
This study surveyed those who used blogs for information about the war in Iraq to investigate the degree to which judgements of credibility, reliance, demographics, and political characteristics of war blog users have changed between 2003 and 2007. In both 2003 and 2007, blog users judged blogs as more credible sources for war news than traditional media and their online counterparts. This study also found that different types of blogs were rated…
Use of Newspaper Political Adwatches from 1988–2000
A analysis of newspaper advertising coverage found most adwatch stories examined both strategy and accuracy, while general advertising stories focused on strategy over accuracy
How App Are People to Use Smartphones, Search Engines, and Social Media for News
The growing use of tablet and smartphone news applications, search engines, and online social media for political and news information deserves attention because of the political implications. Using data from a statewide Texas opt-in poll from February 2012, this study tests the direct versus the differential hypothesis for each of the information acquisition tools with respect to political knowledge and voting. Results indicate a direct effect f…
A wall of incivility? Public discourse and immigration in the 2016 U.S. Primaries
This study uses computational methods to investigate public incivility in Facebook comments to campaign messages during the primaries of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, focusing on candidates’ posts about immigration. Specifically, we investigate the relationship between campaign messaging strategies, such as advocacy and attacks, and the presence of incivility in public comments. We find that Trump dominated both in terms of number of posts…
Does the Medium still Matter? The Influence of Gender and Political Connectedness on Contacting U.S. Public Officials Online and Offline
When ‘good’ conflicts go bad
Scholars have debated how successful the government was in managing coverage of the ground war in Iraq through the embed system, but few have surveyed the embedded journalists themselves to discover the degree they believe their press freedom was restricted. This study compares results from a survey conducted of embedded journalists in late 2005 and early 2006 to one conducted in early 2004 to examine whether embeds’ opinions toward press freedom…
Achievement, Affiliation, and Power Motivation in Adolescents
364 adolescents from a stable, homogeneous community were tested for the relationships among age, sex, and amount of achievement, affiliation, and power motivation. Findings indicate that power motivation increases in later adolescence and females have more affiliation motivation than males. The three motives were apparently unrelated
Africa
Education and Development
Democracy and Totalitarianism
Peace in the Liberal World
The idea of power politics
(1995). The idea of power politics: The sophistic foundations of realism. Security Studies: Vol. 5, Roots of Realism, pp. 194-247
Restitution after apartheid from revenge to forgiveness
(1995). Restitution after apartheid from revenge to forgiveness. Cambridge Review of International Affairs: Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 10-24
Exploring FDR'S relationship with the press
This historical agenda‐setting study examined the extent to which Franklin Roosevelt's issue agenda, as expressed in his first seven State of the Union speeches, correlated with subsequent coverage in seven major newspapers and the degree to which newspaper coverage correlated with FDR's issue agenda. While past works have emphasized Roosevelt's ability to influence media coverage, this study suggests that Roosevelt reacted to previous coverage m…
Influence Dealers
This agenda-building study employed a path analysis model to examine the three-way relationship among the public, the media, and the president on the issue of drug abuse during the Nixon administration. The path model also measured the extent to which these actors were influenced by real-world conditions about the number of drug-related arrests in the United States. Past studies have suggested a cyclical relationship should exist among the presid…
Cruising is Believing
This study surveyed politically-interested Web users online to examine whether they view Web publications as credible as their traditionally- delivered counterparts. Credibility is crucial for the Internet because past studies suggest people are less likely to pay attention to media they do not perceive as credible. This study found online media tended to be judged more credible than their traditional versions. However, both online and traditiona…
Research Methodology
The World Wide Web and other new electronic technologies might soon become prime survey vehicles due to convenient, verifiable, low-cost delivery and return systems as well as easy access and feedback mechanisms. However, along with the benefits of this new technology come new experiences and lessons to be learned and shared by researchers. The authors created and posted a survey on the Web to examine the uses of the Web for political information…
Using Is Believing
This study surveyed politically interested Web users online to investigate the degree to which reliance on traditional and online sources predicts credibility of online newspapers, television news, news-magazines, candidate literature, and political issue-oriented sites after controlling for demographic and political factors. Reliance on online and traditional media was the strongest predictor of credibility of online sources. Reliance on traditi…
Online and in the Know
The uses and gratifications approach is well suited for studying the World Wide Web as a whole and for examining specific types of sites within the Web. This study, therefore, examines the uses and gratifications of accessing online sources for political information. A factor analysis revealed 4 primary motivations for connecting to online political information: guidance information-seeking surveillance, entertainment, and social utility. Additio…
A Boost or Bust for Democracy
This study employed an online survey of 442 politically interested Web users during the 2000 presidential election to examine the extent to which relying on the Web for political information influences political interest, campaign interest, political involvement, likelihood of voting, and voting behavior after controlling for demographics, political attitudes and use of the traditional media. Results from this study are compared to a similar one …
Around the World Wide Web in 80 Ways
This study examines what online activities politically interested Internet users regularly engage in and how online activities are linked to motivations for using the Internet. This study found that politically interested web users were motivated to go online for different reasons than the general public and therefore they participated in different activities online. However, only for entertainment sites did audience activity serve as an importan…
Wag the Blog
This study surveyed Weblog users online to investigate how credible they view blogs as compared to traditional media as well as other online sources. This study also explores the degree to which reliance on Weblogs as well as traditional and online media sources predicts credibility of Weblogs after controlling for demographic and political factors. Weblog users judged blogs as highly credible—more credible than traditional sources. They did, how…
Use of Newspaper Political Adwatches from 1988–2000
A analysis of newspaper advertising coverage found most adwatch stories examined both strategy and accuracy, while general advertising stories focused on strategy over accuracy
Every Blog Has Its Day
This study employs an online survey to examine U.S. politically-interested Internet users' perceptions of the credibility of blogs. The article focuses on the influence of blog reliance compared to motivations for visiting blogs in determining blog credibility. The study found that blogs were judged as moderately credible, but as more credible than any mainstream media or online source. Both reliance and motivations predicted blog credibility aft…
Show the Truth and Let the Audience Decide
This survey examines how viewers of Al-Jazeera perceive the network's presentation of graphic and war-related visuals and whether the viewers perceive that the TV channel provides visual information they cannot find in national Arab media, CNN, and other Western media. Nearly 9 in 10 respondents supported the use of graphic imagery saying watching those visuals was a good decision for them and that the network provides a unique source of visual i…
Empirical Identification of Dimensions of Religiousness and Spirituality
Numerous measures of Religiousness and Spirituality (R/S) exist, but the number and type of dimensions represented by these measures remain unclear. We used exploratory and confirmatory analyses in two U.S. college-student samples to identify five dimensions of R/S: Religious/Spiritual Involvement, Search for Meaning, Religious Struggle, Quest, and Spiritual Well-Being. Over half of the measures loaded on the first factor (Religious/Spiritual Inv…
The CNN of the Arab World or a Shill for Terrorists
This study surveyed Al-Jazeera viewers through a survey posted on the network's Arabic-language website to examine how credible Al-Jazeera viewers judge the network. Not surprisingly, Al-Jazeera viewers rated the network as highly credible on all measures. They rated CNN and BBC high on expertise, but ranked them low on trustworthiness. Consequently, BBC and CNN were also rated low on other credibility measures. Local Arab media were judged lowes…
How embedded journalists in Iraq viewed the arrest of Al-Jazeera reporter Taysir Alouni
Studies suggest that US reporters, who enjoy the protection of the First Amendment, are strong supporters of freedom of the press. However, studies also suggest that the press rarely challenges the positions of government elites, unless those elites do not agree on a course of action. What happens when attitudes toward free press and government policy collide? This study relies on a survey of embedded journalists conducted soon after the convicti…
Communication Communities or CyberGhettos
This study used an online panel of Internet users to examine the degree to which blog users practice selective exposure when seeking political information. The research employed a path analysis model to explore the extent to which exposure to offline and online discussion of political issues, and offline and online media use, as well as political variables and demographic factors, predict an individual's likelihood to engage in selective exposure…
The Revolution Will be Networked
Social networking is a phenomenon of interest to many scholars. While most of the recent research on social networking sites has focused on user characteristics, very few studies have examined their roles in engaging people in the democratic process. This paper relies on a telephone survey of Southwest residents to examine the extent to which reliance on social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube has engaged citizens in civic a…
When blood becomes cheaper than a bottle of water’
This study examined the degree to which visitors to Al-Jazeera’s English-language website support broadcasters presenting graphic and war-related imagery in comparison to users of Al-Jazeera’s Arabic-language website. The authors found that users of the Al-Jazeera English-language website overwhelmingly supported the network’s decision to run graphic images and claimed the network contained valuable information missing from Western competitors, s…
Political science (42 works) · Social Media and Politics (36 works) · Politics (32 works) · Psychology (31 works) · Sociology (31 works) · Law (26 works) · Law (25 works) · Media Studies and Communication (25 works) · Computer Science (24 works) · Business (21 works)