Rushed to Judgment: Talk Radio, Persuasion, and American Political Behavior

by David Barker

Overview

Convenient, entertaining, and provocative, talk radio today is unapologetically ideological. Focusing on Rush Limbaugh—the medium's most influential talk show—Rushed to Judgment systematically examines the politics of persuasion at play on our nation's radio airwaves and asks a series of important questions. Does listening to talk radio change the way people think about politics, or are listeners' attitudes a function of the self-selecting nature of the audience? Does talk radio enhance understanding of public issues or serve as a breeding ground for misunderstanding? Can talk radio serve as an agent of deliberative democracy, spurring Americans to open, public debate? Or will talk radio only aggravate the divisive partisanship many Americans decry in poll after poll? The time is ripe to evaluate the effects of a medium whose influence has yet to be fully reckoned with.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231504218
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	08/27/2002
Series:	Power, Conflict, and Democracy: American Politics Into the 21st Century
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	141
Lexile:	1560L (what's this?)
File size:	17 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

David Barker is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh. Prof. Barker has published several articles on talk radio in the Journal of Politics, Social Science Quarterly, and Political Communication.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
2. Political Talk Radio and Its Most Prominent Practitioner
3. Toward a Value Heresthetic Model of Political Persuasion
4. Talk Radio, Public Opinion, and Vote Choice: The "Limbaugh Effect," 1994-96
5. Talk Radio, Opinion Leadership, and Presidential Nominations: Evidence from the 2 Republican Primary Battles
6. The Talk Radio Community: Nontraditional Social Networks and Political Participation
7. Information, Misinformation, and Political Talk Radio
8. Conclusion
Appendix A. The Limbaugh Message
Appendix B. Excerpts from the Rhetoric Stimulus
Appendix C. Excerpts from the Value Heresthetic Stimulus
Notes
References
Index

What People are Saying About This

Doris A. Graber

David Barker's theoretically grounded, empirically based analysis explains how persuasion works for all the new, unabashedly biased media that are flourishing today. Methodologically, the experimental research that grounds the figures is imaginatively designed and beautifully executed. It provides a model for sophisticated modern political communication research.

— Doris A. Graber, University of Illinois, Chicago

Editorial Reviews

[A] welcome addition to the growing shelf of scholarly works on radio broadcasting... well documented... offers useful research paths for others to follow.

Journalism and Mass Communication Educator - Christopher H. Sterling

the volume is useful not only for those who study media effects, but also for those who work in the area of political persuasion.

Public Opinion Quarterly - David C. Barker

The volume exemplifies both rigorous and creative sciences. It is appropriate for many political communication and behavior university classes.

Political Communication - C. Richard Hofstetter

[An] important and quite ground-breaking study of American conservative call-in talk radio.

Australasian Journal of American Studies - Bridget Griffin-Foley

The volume exemplifies both rigorous and creative sciences. It is appropriate for many political communication and behavior university classes.

— C. Richard Hofstetter

Political Communication

the volume is useful not only for those who study media effects, but also for those who work in the area of political persuasion.

— David C. Barker

Public Opinion Quarterly

[An] important and quite ground-breaking study of American conservative call-in talk radio.

— Bridget Griffin-Foley

Australasian Journal of American Studies

[A] welcome addition to the growing shelf of scholarly works on radio broadcasting... well documented... offers useful research paths for others to follow.

— Christopher H. Sterling

Journalism and Mass Communication Educator