Putting out Fire with Gasoline: Testing the Gamson Hypothesis on Media Reliance and Political Activity

Abstract

This study extends the Gamson Hypothesis, which asserts that trust and self-efficacy affect political activity, by examining how reliance on mainstream and alternative sources of political information interact with trust, self-efficacy, and political activity. Overall, this study supports the Gamson Hypothesis: Dissidents (those high in self-efficacy and low in political trust) are more likely to protest the government than Assureds (high levels of trust and efficacy), who are more likely to engage in more conventional political activities. Dissidents avoid online newspapers and broadcast news sites and instead turn to more polarizing sources, such as radio talk shows and political blogs. On the other hand, Assureds rely on mainstream sources such as broadcast television online and avoid more partisan sources such as political Web sites and talk radio.

Notes

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***p < .001.

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¹Notices of the survey were also posted on 37 MySpace and 86 Facebook groups, 11 media and 55 political Web sites and 70 blogs, as well as 12 political and educational listservs/mailing lists and political newsgroups representing various political ideologies candidates and issues. For a complete list, contact the authors.

²The survey's first question asked respondents to enter their e-mail addresses; all but 17 (99.1%) complied. The respondents' e-mail addresses together with a computer generated ID were used to delete duplicated surveys. Additionally, after sending the completed survey a Web page would immediately appear thanking the respondents for their participation and verifying that the survey had been sent so respondents would not retransmit the survey.

³Cooperation Rate, as defined by AAPOR “Standard Definitions”: “The proportion of all cases interviewed of all eligible units ever contacted.”

⁴To create the Gamson typology we first divided both trust and efficacy into high, medium and low. The trust index ranged from 3–15. Low (3–7) and high (11–15) consisted of five numbers each. The numbers 8, 9 and 10 were treated as moderate and, to create a buffer between high and low trust, we excluded moderate scores. Similarly, self-efficacy ranged from 4–20. Low (4–10) and high (14–20) consisted of seven numbers each. The numbers 11–13 were treated as moderate and again, to create a buffer between high and low trust, moderate scores were excluded.

⁵Respondents were given the following definitions of media:

For this survey, you will be asked to examine if and how you use the following online and non-online resources for political information: • Traditional and Online news media: Broadcast (local affiliate or network news such as ABC, CBS, NBC) and cable television news (CNN, MSNBC, Fox News), and printed newspapers, and their online counterparts (Cnn.com, Nytimes.com) • Talk Radio: Politically oriented talk/interview/call-in programs delivered over-the-air. • Political Blogs: Primarily comment on politics and may have a clearly stated political bias. • Politically oriented Websites: Sites that focus on politics. • “Fake” or parody news shows, such as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.