Qualitative Quotes
The Prevalence and Effects of Survey Respondent Exemplars in Political News Coverage
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12977211 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ben Gaskins (Lewis & Clark College), Jason Barabas (0000-0002-4083-8428, Stony Brook University), Jennifer Jerit (0000-0002-7982-9959, Stony Brook University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 96-114 |
| Publication date | 2019-06-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The International Journal of Press/Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1940-1612 • E-ISSN: 1040-1620 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1940161219851071 |
| OpenAlex | W2948780544 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 31 |
National newspapers regularly report on public opinion as part of their political coverage. In addition to covering aggregate survey trends, journalists occasionally conduct follow-up interviews with respondents from those surveys to present the views of real people in news stories. The practice of reporting these “qualitative quotes” has existed for decades, yet, there has been little scrutiny of the voices that appear in news stories or their effect on public opinion. We examine this phenomenon in the context of the United States with a historical examination of New York Times stories and other major U.S. outlets that contain polling information and follow-up interviews. Consistent with past work on exemplars, there is considerable evidence for the nonrandom nature of the people invited to comment for news stories. In particular, the use of qualitative quotes reinforces some of the biases that exist in news sourcing more generally. Finally, we demonstrate in an experiment that qualitative quotes influence policy attitudes as least as much as aggregate polling figures
Advertising · Business · Context (archaeology · Media studies · Newspaper · Political science · Politics · Polling · Public opinion · Public relations · Qualitative research · Respondent · Scrutiny · Social science · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · History · Law · Social Media and Politics · Survey Methodology and Nonresponse
Reporters and officials
Collective Preferences in Democratic Politics
Impersonal Influence
The Utility of Exemplars in Persuasive Communications
Invisible Power
Media Effects on Political and Social Trust
The Influence of Reporter Gender on Source Selection in Newspaper Stories
Media Systems and the Political Information Environment
The Effects of Exemplification on Perceptions of News Credibility
The Manufacture of `Public Opinion' by Reporters
The Media Representation of Public Opinion
Numbered Voices
News Reporting of Opinion Polls
Apostles of Certainty
How Ordinary is the Ordinary (Wo)man on the Street
Opinion Balance in Vox Pop Television News
Sourcing and Reporting in News Magazine Programs
Lumpers and Splitters
Polls as Journalism
For Whom the Poll Airs
Silent Voices
New Evidence About the Existence of a Bandwagon Effect in the Opinion Formation Process
Insensitivity to sample bias
The Advent of Polling and Political Representation
Analyzing Incomplete Political Science Data
The Citizen as Respondent
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,86 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2025 (7) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |