Does a steady diet of negative news foster mistrust of government and political disenchantment? This paper examines the impact of the media on public perceptions and argues that although plausible, the evidence for theories of negative news is inconclusive. In fact, regular exposure to news can improve engagement with democratic norms. Further, evidence from Britain and the USA shows that the impact of media coverage of political scandals is mixed. Considerable caution is needed in any claims regarding journalism’s role in public dissatisfaction with government. There is no evidence supporting the ‘video-malaise’ theory that exposure to broadcast news damages people’s democratic orientation. In fact, regular media exposure is positively related to democratic aspirations. But is public trust damaged by regular exposure to negative news and to coverage of political scandals in particular?
Comparative data on news coverage and public opinion in the USA and Britain from 2000-2008 can help to address this question. These countries share many cultural and social characteristics, including their experience of particular scandals during these years. For example, both administrations were implicated in the ‘sexed up’ Downing Street memo, which functioned as the ‘smoking gun’ in the run up to the invasion of Iraq.
Overall, results from the USA and Britain provide limited support for claims that scandal can damage confidence in government institutions. The lack of consistency across the two cases means that the results cannot be regarded as robust.
- In Britain, people’s overall satisfaction regarding the government was most clearly enhanced by general elections, and by the impact of ‘rally-round-the-flag’ effects arising from the aftermath of major terrorist events.
- The tone of news coverage significantly improved satisfaction with government.
- In the USA, the ‘rally-round-the-flag’ effect of 9/11 was the greatest single factor affecting Congressional job ratings, reflecting stronger effects than those in the UK.
- However, Congressional job ratings were sharply depressed following news coverage of scandal.
These findings show that considerable caution must be exercised before blaming distrust in government on the press. The precise role of news media in media in contributing to public dissatisfaction remains unclear.
- It is also unclear why there are contrasts between the British and American results. These could be put down to the particular type of scandals or to the nature of the journalistic coverage.
- Complex patterns evolve in the USA and Britain rather than a simple narrative. Further research is needed to disentangle the different factors contributing to public perceptions of corruption.
- It is possible that direct experience of corruption in the public sector could affect perceptions irrespective of journalistic coverage.
