Date of Award

1-1-2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Specialization

Communication and Leadership

School or Department

School of Leadership Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Nobuya Inagaki

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find out whether people can better recall news information that is consonant or dissonant with their personal ideological beliefs. This study is a follow-on study to Joel Turner’s study (2007) that found that people’s perceived biases in the news are often triggered prior to the people reading the actual news information. The scope of this research was to determine the type of news information people are better able to recall. The two main research questions this study was attempting to find answers for were:

  • RQ1: Are conservatives better able to recall news information that is consonant or dissonant with their ideological beliefs?
  • RQ2: Are liberals better able to recall news information that is consonant or dissonant with their ideological beliefs?
The methods used for the study included a literature review involving a variety of studies concerning news biases and a probability sampling survey. The survey included basic demographic questions as well as an area that required respondents to read news stories and then answer questions about the news stories that tested their recall abilities. The study found that people are better able to recall news information that is dissonant to their personal ideological beliefs. Approximately 75 percent of the respondents recalled correctly the news information from the news source most associated with their opposite political views.

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Additional Files
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