News that matters : television and American opinion /

This splendid work will stand as a hallmark of social science research into the social and political effects of television news. The authors have put together a complex, integrated system of experiments testing the effects of television news that is equal to the complexity of the process by which viewers comprehend such information. Iyengar and Kinder, established researchers in mass communication, public opinion, and political communication, created a unique testing situation in which they unobtrusively altered 30-minute evening news broadcasts to achieve systematic experimental variations in the amount and nature of coverage given national problems. The altered ``broadcasts'' were shown, under two different conditions, to groups of viewers in Michigan and Connecticut over a three-year period. Data were statistically analyzed and results were compared with supplemental data derived from survey analyses. Their findings confirm beyond doubt the ``agenda-setting'' effect of evening TV news; i.e., Americans' views of national priorities are shaped by TV news. More important, the authors have clearly established that it is the ``priming'' effect that gives television the power to set the national agenda. The conclusions are carefully and cautiously presented, making it one of the most readable works of experimental research. Recommended for graduate, undergraduate, and community college libraries.-R.S. Cathcart, Queens College, CUNY