Killing the Messenger: an exploration of presidential newspaper coverage and public confidence in the press

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study is to explore whether scrutiny of the president in quality US newspapers is related to people's perceptions of the press. It was predicted that two chief factors-in addition to other forces-are contributing to declining press performance ratings: (1) an increase in the number of total stories devoted to the presidency and (2) an increase in the proportion of cynical stories surrounding this of ce. Data support both propositions to some extent. Finally, the implications of these ndings are considered.

Between partisanship and cynicism: Italian journalism in a state of flux

“…Scandals are an extreme form of government failure, often wrapped in a sensational style of reporting. Kiousis (2002) asserts that sarcasm is another relevant dimension of cynicism. It is probably not as pertinent as negativity or mistrust because, as he holds, it exists on a smaller scale.…”

“…With such different interpretations of journalistic cynicism, it is clear that a more systematic and comprehensive operational definition is required. Following Kiousis (2002), we consider media cynicism to be a multidimensional concept, consisting of potentially many characteristics. To minimize overlap and to combine aspects of the journalists' anti-politics attitude, the packaging of it in journalistic tone and style, and of the specific content focus in the article, we divide journalistic cynicism into four dimensions: mistrust (expressing the attitude of the journalist vis-a-vis a politician), negativity (point of view as expressed in tone), irony and/or sarcasm (style of presentation), and scandal or conflict orientation (content focus or frame).…”