How did Americans Really Think About the Apple/FBI Dispute? A Mixed-method Study |
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| Authors: | Angela M Lee Ori Tenenboim |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication, University of Texas, Dallas, TX, USAangela.lee@utdallas.edu;3. School of Journalism, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2350-9005 |
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| Abstract: | ABSTRACTSecond-level agenda-setting suggests that news media influence how we think. As a case study examining the nature and effects of mainstream news media’s coverage of the 2015 Apple/FBI dispute about data privacy versus national security, this study found via content analysis that a majority of articles covering the dispute (73.7%) made the same potentially misleading claim about how the American public feels about the dispute. Nearly half (45.6%) of those articles made public opinion claims without offering empirical evidence, and almost all articles (97.4%) that cited the Pew survey appeared to have inadvertently created an unsubstantiated social reality. Then, this study found in a subsequent experiment that, consistent with impersonal influence, the above-mentioned news portrayals significantly affected the participants’ view on Americans’ collective opinion towards the Apple/FBI dispute. The long-term effect of this journalistic oversight is notable. Theoretical implications and practical recommendations for future science communication in the news are discussed. |
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| Keywords: | Science communication news coverage polls Pew survey content analysis experiment public opinion Apple FBI |
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https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2350-9005