The study examined the association between consumption of ideological news media and perceptions of public opinion using two case studies - Israel's 2005 disengagement from Gaza and the 2004 US presidential election. It found that viewing conservative news media in Israel was linked to perceiving public opinion as conservative, supporting the spiral of silence theory. Similarly, in the US, viewing media favorable or unfavorable to either candidate shaped perceptions of where public opinion lied. The results supported the hypotheses that consumption of like-minded media can influence individuals' sense of public opinion and lead to a more polarized political environment.

1. EXPOSURETO
IDEOLOGICAL NEWS AND
PERCEIVED OPINION
CLIMATE: TESTINGTHE MEDIA
EFFECTS COMPONENT OF SPIRAL-OF-
SILENCE IN A FRAGMENTED MEDIA
LANDSCAPE
Jordon Pollard

2. Overview and Summary
■ The Study by faculty and students at the University of Haifa in Israel.
■ Sought to show the association of consumption of ideological news media and the
perception of public opinion.
■ Focused on the Israeli disengagement campaign and the 2004 US Presidential election
– 2005 Israel center-left proposed that Israel leave the Gaza strip, to decrease friction with
Palestine and to decrease international pressure on Israel to provide for the possibility of
Palestinian sovereignty.
– The 2004 election was polled as close election up through the final vote count.The
election rarely wavered from a four percent or less difference between the Bush and Kerry

3. Theory and Hypothesis
Theory
■ Spiral-of-Silence – people holding
views contrary to those dominant in
the media are moved to keep those
views to themselves for fear of
rejection.
Hypothesis
■ H1 – (a)Watching conservative news
is associated with perceiving public
opinion as being conservative, (b)
watching liberal news is associated
with perceiving public opinion as
being liberal
■ H2 – Differing perceptions of public
opinion is associated with a polarized
political environment
■ RQ1 – Can opinion perceptions
mediate the effect of likeminded
media on polarization?

4. Conclusion & Critique
Conclusion
■ Confirmation of both hypotheses.
– Israel example shows that viewing of
conservative news media was
associated with conservative
perceptions of public opinion
– US example confirms both
hypotheses, shows that viewing
either candidate as negative or
positive was related to the perception
of public opinion and consumption of
likeminded ideological media
Critique
■ A comparative study would have
been better, rather than two
different studies on two different
countries
■ Better explanation of the theory and
how it is relevant to the study
■ Better explanation of the data as it
relates to the research question