Study guide 261- Which of the following statements best characterizes
soft news?
a Soft news stories sell far better than hard news stories.
b Journalists aren’t interested in writing hard news and would prefer
to write soft news pieces.
c Hard news and policy analysis articles tend to sell better than
soft news.
d Most citizens have several sources of hard news and they have to
search to find soft news stories.
e Soft news was popular in the past but is now declining. - Which of the following would increase the amount of hard news
reporting on politics and public policy?
a Mandating that reporters covering American politics have degrees
in political science
b The rise of new publications that focus on scandals, electoral horse
races, and human interest stories
c Changes in the kinds of stories demanded by the electorate
d Repeal of the fairness doctrine
e Increased media concentration and consolidation
Suggested Reading
Baum, Matthew A. Soft News Goes to War: Public Opinion and American
Foreign Policy in the New Media Age. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 2003.
Bennett, W. Lance, and Shanto Iyengar. “A New Era of Minimal
Effects? The Changing Foundations of Political Communication,”
Journal of Communication 58 (2008): 707–31.Brader, Ted. Campaigning for Hearts and Minds: How Emotional
Appeals in Political Ads Work. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 2006.
Davenport, Christian. Media Bias, Perspective, and State Repression:
The Black Panther Party. New York: Cambridge University Press,
2010.
Druckman, Jamie. “Media Effects in Politics.” In Oxford Bibliographies
Online: Political Science, ed. Rick Valelly. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2012.
Iyengar, Shanto. Media Politics: A Citizen’s Guide. New York:
W. W. Norton, 2016.
Ladd, Jonathan M. Why Americans Hate the Media and How It Matters.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012.
Mutz, Diana. “Effects of ‘in Your Face’ Television Discourse on
Perceptions of a Legitimate Opposition.” American Political
Science Review 101 (2007): 621–36.
Norris, Pippa. A Virtuous Circle? Political Communications in
Post-Industrial Democracies. New York: Cambridge University
Press, 2000.
Prior, Markus. Post-Broadcast Democracy: How Media Choice
Increases Inequality in Political Involvement and Polarizes Elections.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007.Full_08_APT_64431_ch07_232-261.indd 261 16/11/18 1:40 PM