Login

Publications  •  Project Statistics

Glossary  •  Schools  •  Disciplines
People Search: 
   
Title/Abstract Search: 

Dissertation Information for Dominic Lasorsa

NAME:
- Dominic Lasorsa

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Communication

SCHOOL:
- Stanford University (USA) (1986)

ADVISORS:
- None

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- None

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Not_Inspected

Title: DIMENSIONS OF NEWS MEDIA USE: EXPOSURE AND ATTENTION TO POLITICAL INFORMATION AS A FUNCTION OF TIME, FORM, AND CONTENT

Abstract: "Are there dimensions of news media use, what are they, and what do they tell us about how people use the media? To address these questions, survey data were gathered on a random sample of adults living in the San Francisco Bay area (N = 522). Respondents were categorized by their general exposure to each of the two major daily news media (newspapers and television news); each of these four groups of multi-users, readers, viewers, and non-users was further differentiated as either attentive or inattentive to political information.

Using discriminant analysis, the eight resulting groups were compared on an array of social and personal variables. They were found to differ along three dimensions.

Medium interacting appears to depend mostly upon the extent to which one personalizes the medium source. This dimension was found to separate news users by the form (television or newspaper) of the news medium to which they are predominantly exposed. Those high on this dimension tend to be television news viewers.

Political schemability appears to depend generally upon one's cognitive readiness to process information. This dimension was found to separate news users by the attentiveness with which they encounter the political content to which they are exposed. Those high on this dimension tend to be attentive news users.

Resource latitude appears to depend mostly upon one's age. This dimension was found to separate news users by the number of news media to which they devote time. Those high on this dimension tend to be multi-media users, that is, those who are older tend to be multi-users, while the young tend not to use the media much at all.

The results support the distinction between purposeful and unmotivated medium exposure upon which much communication theory rests, but they also suggest that content and form distinctions do not alone structure news media use. Another important consideration is the ""complementarity"" of use, that is, the number, as well as the form, of news media used."

MPACT Scores for Dominic Lasorsa

A = 0
C = 1
A+C = 1
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:26:04

Advisors and Advisees Graph