The West Wing as Endorsement of the U.S. Presidency: Expanding the Bounds of Priming in Political Communication

Abstract

This study uses priming as a theoretical basis from which to investigate potential effects of NBC'sThe West Wing on individual-level perceptions of the U.S. presidency. As a result, this work extends political communication-based priming research to entertainment television content. Josiah Bartlet, the fictional president portrayed on the show, is generally perceived more positively by viewers than either the Republican President George W. Bush or Democrat William Jefferson Clinton. Perceptions of the importance of being engaging to presidential success rose as a result of watching the program, and The West Wing viewers retained more positive images of Bush and Clinton after the viewing experience. Viewing The West Wing seems to prime more positive images of the U.S. presidency that subsequently influence individual-level perceptions of those individuals most directly associated with this office. The authors make theoretical connections to previous work on role display and trust in democratic institutions.

When Fake News Becomes Real

“…Be as it may, this study concurs with others (Baum 2003(Baum , 2005Baumgartner & Morris, 2006;Cao & Brewer, 2008;Holbert, 2005b;Holbert et al, 2003;Holbert et al, 2007;Moy et al, 2005Moy et al, , 2006Mutz, 2004;Tsfati et al, 2009;Young, 2004a;Young, 2004;Young & Tisinger, 2006) in stressing the important role played by the entertainment media in shaping political perceptions. Although intended to entertain, rather than inform, fake news seems not only to educate viewers about political candidates and current affairs (Hollander, 2005;Young, 2006), but also to contribute to deeper attitudes regarding the political world.…”

“…The latter kind is also referred to in the literature as "fake news" (Holbert, 2005a). These studies show that such political entertainment programming can produce a wide range of effects, including salience (e.g., Young, 2006), perceptions (e.g., Holbert et al, 2007), attitudes (Holbert et al, 2003;Moy et al, 2005b;Tsfati, Tukachinsky, & Peri, 2009), and behaviors (Cao & Brewer, 2008;Moy, Xenos, & Hess, 2005), and generate politically relevant outcomes (Holbert, 2005a;Holbert Garrett, & Gleason, 2010). Most research in this field has either investigated the political entertainment outlets in isolation from other media sources (i.e., news) or compared and contrasted hard news with various forms of political entertainment.…”

“…Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that only individuals who perceive fake-news messages as realistic will be affected by them. Studies have repeatedly shown that political-entertainment programming can have a negative impact on political attitudes (Baumgartner & Morris, 2006;Holbert et al, 2003;Moy et al, 2005b;Tsfati et al, 2009). A formal hypothesis to this effect can be formulated in the following terms:…”

Primacy Effects ofThe Daily Showand National TV News Viewing: Young Viewers, Political Gratifications, and Internal Political Self-Efficacy

“…However, recent works are moving beyond the entertainment-news divide by analyzing potential political outcomes relative to soft news (Baum, 2003), situation comedies (Cantor, 1999), crime dramas (Holbrook & Hill, 2005), made-for-television docudramas (Delli Carpini & Williams, 1996), political dramas (Holbert, Pillion, et al, 2003), and late-night talk shows (Young, 2004b). Indeed, Mutz (2001) stated that "the traditional distinctions between news and entertainment content are no longer very helpful" (p. 231), and the discipline appears to be embracing this point of view.…”

Trends in political television fiction in the UK: Themes, characters and narratives, 1965–2009

“…Audience research about the interpretation of The West Wing supports this claim and has shown that regular viewers have a more positive understanding of the institution of the presidency, and of individual presidents , regardless of their political affiliation (Holbert et al, 2003). Van Zoonen (2007) has shown for many other examples of political film and television fiction (mostly from the US) how it enables audiences to learn about politics, reflect on it and judge it, and to imagine ideal political situations and practices.…”