The Mass Media as Sentinel: Why Bad News About Issues is Good News for Participation

When Good News Is Bad News: Explicating the Moderated Mediation Dynamic Behind the Reversed Mobilization Effect

“…This study not only investigates the factors that moderate the reversed mobilization dynamic, but it also formally assesses the underlying mechanism that accounts for this effect. Previous research has called for the application of more formal mediation tests in media effect and framing research (Bizer & Petty, 2005; Preacher & Hayes, 2008b; Tao & Bucy, 2007) and research on electoral mobilization also stresses the need for more thorough investigations of the underlying processes behind campaign effects (Martin, 2004, 2008; Sigelman & Kugler, 2003). We not only show that opponents of a referendum proposal become mobilized in response to positive news framing, but also demonstrate how they do so.…”

“…People pay more attention to negative information and also weigh in negative information more heavily in subsequent judgments as compared to positive information (Fiske, 1980; Pratto & John, 1991). In an election context, Kahn and Kenney (1999) report how negative messages produced greater interest and involvement in a campaign (see also Martin, 2008).…”

Social Media Advertising and Electorates’ Patronage of Political Parties in Nigeria

“…More so, Smith & Deaster (2011), assert that organizations are open to different social media platforms in disseminating information to the public among numerous of them, Facebook, tweeter, Instagram, YouTube, and MySpace; are among the most popular. Martin (2015) argued that tweeter and Facebook in recent times are arguably the most popular platforms used by most politicians to air their views in terms of criticisms or support for a course of programme. The authors also argue that political parties can use their media platforms to market their candidates especially during the eve of an election.…”

Turning Voters on? Effects of News Frame Exposure on Voter Mobilization in the 2008 Austrian Elections

“…Focusing on the US Senatorial race in 1990, Kahn and Kenney (1999) found that both the negativity of candidates' commercials and of the press coverage had a mobilizing impact on voting turnout [40]. Martin (2008) exemplarily showed for the 1974 US Presidential election that the proportion of negative stories in the news increased problem awareness as well as political interest [8]. By analogy to existing evidence on positive effects of negative campaign advertising on voting turnout [41][42][43], and in conjunction with the expectation that negative news attracts more attention, we assume that negative news functions as a voters' mobilizer.…”

“…Most recent research shows that not only the amount of coverage or the actor-related tone [4,7] and issue-related frames [8] but also generic news frames [9,10] might have an impact on voter mobilization. Every voter is exposed to different forms and levels of news framing, which are dependent on the individual set of media outlets he uses how frequently to gather political and electoral information.…”