The Dynamics of Democracy: Politicians, People, and the Press
Habel, Philip D.
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/82571
Description
Title
The Dynamics of Democracy: Politicians, People, and the Press
Author(s)
Habel, Philip D.
Issue Date
2006
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Kuklinski, James H.
Department of Study
Political Science
Discipline
Political Science
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Journalism
Language
eng
Abstract
While scholars have questioned and analyzed the influence of the media on politics through the lens of news reporting, there has been far less attention invested in whether editorials matter for policy outcomes. Editorials offer publishers and editors an opportunity to express openly their views on the issues of their choice; the extent to which these opinions matter is the central theme of this dissertation. Chapter One develops the conceptual argument for how and why editorials matter to the policy process, while Chapter Two documents the use of editorials on the floor of the House and Senate. Chapter Three develops a means of precisely identifying the ideology of two prominent national newspapers, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, over the course of the last five decades. The subsequent chapter uses these measures along with equivalent ones for members of Congress, the president, and the public in order to address the question of who influences whom among these actors. The results of this analysis are surprising: politicians exert influence on both the press and the public, while the press and the public remain largely exogenous to policy decisions. Chapter Five follows the results of the aggregate level analysis with a case study of the minimum wage, demonstrating that the previous chapter's conclusions hold true at a different level of analysis. Chapter Six summarizes the results of the dissertation and offers several possible avenues for future research.
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