Newspaper coverage and public opinion in Hong Kong

A time‐series analysis of media priming

Bibliographic Data

ID7971379
AuthorsLars Willnat (0000-0002-4965-2902, Chinese University of Hong Kong), Jonathan J H Zhu (0000-0001-6173-6941, City University of Hong Kong), Jian‐Hua Zhu
Year1996
Volume13
Issue2
Pages231-246
Publication date1996-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Communication (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1058-4609 • E-ISSN: 1091-7675
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10584609.1996.9963109
OpenAlexW2073419236
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited30

Based on the psychological model of media priming, we examine the potentially strong link between news content and public opinion about Governor Patten's democratization plan for Hong Kong. Similar to previous priming studies, we hypothesized that an increase in the amount of media coverage of Patten's political reform plan would cause the public to assign more weight to the issue when evaluating the governor's overall performance. To validate the priming hypothesis in a nonexperimental setting, this study uses time‐series data obtained from 52 weekly public opinion polls, coupled with content analysis of three leading newspapers in Hong Kong between October 1992 and October 1993. The findings provide strong evidence supporting the media priming theory on an aggregate data level. Newspaper coverage of Patten's reform plan greatly inflated the relative importance of his proposal in the public's evaluation of his overall performance, with a 1‐week delay. The priming hypothesis survived a stringent test of several rival factors, including autocorrelation, the influence of the economy, and other important real‐world events

Advertising · Business · Content analysis · Governor · Newspaper · Political science · Politics · Priming (agriculture · Public opinion · Social science · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Engineering · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Psychology · Social Media and Politics

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub