2 - Conditional Political Learning

Summary

Political information and exposure to news motivate people to go to the polls. In the media environment dominated by broadcast television, many Americans watched the news. Some viewers turned on the news out of a strong interest in politics and public affairs. Others happened to be watching television and took the path of least resistance to the next entertainment opportunity: Do not leave the couch, do not turn the dial. For many of these less politically interested viewers, exposure to a few newscasts each week made just the difference between voting and not voting. As the media environment changed, they could find content more to their liking than news. As a result, they stayed home on Election Day.

This chapter begins to investigate the media environment's power to change whether and how people encounter politics and what they learn about it. Choice between different media content is the key variable for understanding the impact of changing media environments. In a low-choice environment, people's preferences have little power to influence media exposure. When choices abound, people do what they like best, so preferences drive exposure. The chapter introduces the theoretical framework and illustrates empirically its core mechanism, the impact of media choice on political involvement. I draw on past research and my own experimental demonstration of these mechanisms to explain the Conditional Political Learning model.