The Shifting Foundations of Political Communication: Responding to a Defense of the Media Effects Paradigm

Abstract

Our earlier article (Bennett & Iyengar, 2008) argued that because news audiences are increasingly self-selected, communications scholars will be increasingly hard pressed to document media-induced persuasion effects. Holbert, Garrett, and Gleason’s critique does not address the fundamental problem of endogeneity, instead proposing attitude reinforcement as a substitute for persuasion. But the problem of endogeneity applies equally to reinforcement and attitude-change research. Our critics also argue that exposure to alternative news outlets and entertainment programming is exogenous and has the potential to shape political attitudes. We respond that the political content of these programs, while surely promoting other desirable political outcomes, is too sporadic to produce large-scale message effects of the sort described by the classic persuasion paradigm.