Developing a new political reality: Political information and the 1988 Southern regional primary

Abstract

One byproduct of the 1988 Southern Regional Primary may have been a shift in the perceptions of Southerners about the political importance of their region. Indeed, the last decade and a half of research and theory in mass communication suggests that this kind of symbolic impact is a likely effect of the mass media. In this study, exposure to news media, but not partisan information, was positively and significantly related to awareness of the primary and perceptions of increased Southern political saliency. Exposure to both newspapers and television news was significantly related to awareness, but only newspaper exposure was related to perceptions of increased political saliency.