The effects of media framing of political conflicts on party identification and political participation

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Prior research identified the logical chain from strategic coverage to cynicism to demobilization. Considering the fact that party identification anchors an individual's patterns of political behavior, and that political cynicism might be negative attitudes generalized from particular leaders or political groups to the political process as a whole, the present study postulated that party identification mediates the effect of conflict coverage on political participation. The results from an experiment conducted in the context of Korean politics were as expected. Strategic coverage engendered negative feelings toward political parties; issue coverage made party identification more polarized than before. Party identification change, in turn, had a significant impact on political participation. Strategic coverage depressed the intention of political participation while issue coverage facilitated political participation.