Research Note: Making News Based on Public Opinion Polls

Abstract

■ By widely disseminating news reports about opinion poll results, news media give politicians and citizens a particular indication of people's opinions. Problems arise when journalistic statements are based on opinion polls that do not conform to methodological standards or when a `biased' image of `public opinion' is published. In order to study the intertwined relationship between news media, opinion polling and public opinion, it has to be understood how the media present polls in the news. Using a content analysis of newspaper articles, this study addresses the question of how the media manufacture news based on opinion polls. Because to date there are few empirical studies available for Belgium, this research focuses on the Flemish (Dutch-speaking) case through an analysis of print articles about opinion polls published in six newspapers between 2000 and 2006. The results show that a recent quantitative growth in poll news does not go hand in hand with a similar increase in the quantity of methodological poll information disclosed. Predominantly, poll-related articles disclose on average between 0.5 and 2.5 methodological aspects and a large number of the articles (69 percent) do not contain any methodological evaluation of the poll results. Furthermore, more poll articles consist of an informative report of poll results (54 percent) than a mere subjective analysis of polls (26 percent) and if polls are compared with each other, they are mostly compared longitudinally. ■

Keywords

content analysis methodological disclosure polling poll news public opinion

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Andersen, Robert (2000) `Reporting Public Opinion Polls: The Media and the 1997 Canadian Election', International Journal of Public Opinion Research 12(3): 285-98.

Barnett, Steven (2001) `Distorting Democracy: Public Opinion, Polls, and the Press', pp. 287-309 in S. Splichal (ed.) Public Opinion and Democracy: Vox Populi-Vox Dei. Cresskill, NJ: The Hampton Press.

Brettschneider, Frank (1997) `The Press and the Polls in Germany, 1980-1994: Poll Coverage as an Essential Part of Election Campaign Reporting', International Journal of Public Opinion Research 9(3): 248-65.

Broh, Anthony C. (1980) `Horse Race Journalism: Reporting the Polls in the 1976 Presidential Election', Public Opinion Quarterly 44(4): 514-29.

Crespi, Irving (1980) `Polls as Journalism', Public Opinion Quarterly 44(4): 462-76.

De Vreese, Claes H. and Holli A. Semetko (2002) `Public Perception of Polls and Support for Restrictions on the Publication of Polls: Denmark's 2000 Euro Referendum', International Journal of Public Opinion Research 14(4): 367-90.

Kim, Sung Tae and David Weaver (2001) `Traditional, Online Polls Reported Differently' , Newspaper Research Journal 22(3): 71-85.

Miller, Peter V. , Daniel M. Merkle and Paul Wang (1991) `Journalism with Footnotes; Reporting the "Technical Details" of Polls', pp. 200-14 in P.J. Lavrakas and J.K. Holley (eds) Polling and Presidential Election Coverage. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Paletz, David L. , Jonathan Y. Short , Helen Baker , Barbara Cookman Campbell , Richard J. Cooper and Rochelle M. Oeslander (1980) `Polls in the Media: Content, Credibility and Consequences', Public Opinion Quarterly 44(4): 495-513.

10.

Smith, Ted J. and Derek O. Verall (1985) `A Critical Analysis of Australian Television Coverage of Election Opinion Polls', Public Opinion Quarterly 49(1): 58-79.

11.

Suhonen, Pertti (2001) `Opinion Polls and Journalism: The Case of Finland' , pp. 311-35 in S. Splichal (ed.) Public Opinion and Democracy: Vox Populi-Vox Dei. Cresskill, NJ: The Hampton Press.