JOURNALISTIC AND THIRD-PARTY SCRUTINY OF POLITICAL ADS ON TELEVISION AND THE WEB: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY By LISA MILLS A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2005 Copyright 2005 by Lisa Mills ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my family, friends, students and colleagues for their support, but most of all I would like to thank my husband Tim for his patience, understanding and sacrifice. Without the nurturing guidance of Dr. Lynda Lee Kaid and enthusiastic encouragement expressed by Dr. Marilyn Roberts this project would never have been attempted, much less completed. I would like to express my appreciation to Dr. Stephen C. Craig and Dr. Michael Mitrook for serving on my committee, reading my paper, and inspiring me to think beyond the obvious. The following people have helped me believe in myself and for that I am truly humble and grateful: Virginia Mills-Barfield, Andy Brown and Gillian Smith, Dr. Maria Cristina Santana, Linda Chapin, David Roberts, Rob Schweitzer, Tom and Rachelle Cappelini, Stephen Schlow and Jerry Klein. Many people have assisted me in important ways. There is not enough space to thank them all, but I would like to recognize some of them here: Greg Fox, Greig Powers, Dr. Jose Maunez-Cuadra, Dr. John Malala, Dr. Mary Alice Shaver, Dr. Steve Collins, Rick Brunson, Dr. Sam Lawrence, Dr. Mike Meeske, Carol Bledsoe, Dr. Ruth Marshall, Candice Green, Debbie Kirkley, Emely Jimenez, Jim McCully, Jeffrey Van Treese and, of course Timothy George Brown. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................iii LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................vi ABSTRACT .........................................................................................................vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................ 1 Statement of Problem .................................................................................... 3 Purpose.......................................................................................................... 5 Significance.................................................................................................... 6 Outline of Following Chapters ........................................................................ 7 2 LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................. 9 Conceptual Framework .................................................................................. 9 Voting Behavior ....................................................................................... 9 Political Participation and Social Capital ................................................ 10 Voter Information.......................................................................................... 11 Public Opinion and Media Effects ................................................................ 12 Media Analysis and Theoretical Approaches ............................................... 14 Media Effects......................................................................................... 14 Agenda-Setting...................................................................................... 15 Attribute Agenda-setting ........................................................................ 17 Framing ................................................................................................. 17 Priming .................................................................................................. 19 Implications of the Internet on Political Communication............................... 20 Political Ads and Ad Watches ...................................................................... 23 Historical Background .................................................................................. 23 Effects of Political Ads.................................................................................. 27 Effects of Ad Watches ................................................................................. 30 Political Ads on the Internet ................................................................... 31 Campaign Web sites as Political Ads .................................................... 32 Campaign Web Sites Hosting Traditional Political Ads.......................... 34 Ad Watches on the Internet ................................................................... 35 Hypotheses .................................................................................................. 37 iv 3 METHODOLOGY......................................................................................... 41 Study Design................................................................................................ 41 Test Groups ................................................................................................. 42 Experimental Stimuli .................................................................................... 44 Test Instruments .......................................................................................... 47 Manipulation Check...................................................................................... 49 4 RESULTS .................................................................................................... 51 Background of Selected Race...................................................................... 51 Credibility of Ad Watch Reports ................................................................... 52 Political Cynicism ......................................................................................... 53 Candidate Evaluation ................................................................................... 54 Information Seeking and Political Activity..................................................... 57 Campaign Knowledge .................................................................................. 58 5 DISCUSSION............................................................................................... 60 Framing and Ad Watch Credibility................................................................ 60 Understandability and Clarity of Ad Watch Reports ..................................... 65 Framing and Political Cynicism .................................................................... 66 Candidate Evaluation ................................................................................... 72 The Connections between Information,........................................................ 75 Awareness and Ad Watch Effects.......................................................... 75 Ad Watch Effects on Information Seeking ............................................. 77 Ad Watch Effects on Political Activity..................................................... 79 Campaign Knowledge .................................................................................. 80 Theoretical Contribution and Practical Application....................................... 83 Limitations and Future Research ................................................................. 89 APPENDIX A STIMULI SCRIPTS ...................................................................................... 92 B STIMULI WEB SITES .................................................................................. 98 C EXPERIMENT OPENING STATEMENTS ................................................. 101 D SURVEY INSTRUMENTS ......................................................................... 104 LIST OF REFERENCES .................................................................................. 144 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ............................................................................... 159 v LIST OF TABLES Table page 1 Research Design: 2X2 Factorial Design with 4 Test Groups (N=155) ...... 42 2 Test Group Demographics, Political Affiliation and Knowledge.................. 44 3 Journalistic Framing vs. Persuasive Framing............................................. 46 4 Cynicism Levels by Frame Before and After Treatments........................... 54 5 Candidate Evaluation by Channel Before and After Treatments................ 57 6 Posttest Channel Comparisons of Information Seeking and Political Activity ....................................................................................................... 58 7 Clarity and Understandability: Comparing Frames and Channels............. 66 8 Comparison of Candidate Temperature on Feeling Thermometer............. 75 vi Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy JOURNALISTIC AND THIRD-PARTY SCRUTINY OF POLITICAL ADS ON TELEVISION AND THE WEB: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY By Lisa Mills August 2005 Chair: Lynda Lee Kaid Major Department: Journalism and Communications The results of this quasi-experimental study reveal main effects of ad watch reports in some circumstances for either framing or channel. The main effect for persuasive or objective framing was found most notably for the credibility attribute. Subjects were more likely to believe objectively-framed ad watches on the Web. The main effect for television or Internet channel was found most notably for information seeking and