PM Modi : Media Effect on Performance Rating

This study analyses the effect of media exposure and perceived bias on performance rating of the Modi government that was elected in 2014 in India. A sample of Coimbatoreans (N = 210) was chosen for the survey. Results showed that media exposure had a positive and direct effect on performance rating, while bias had a significant but negative effect. Such perceived media bias also had an ability to alter the political affiliation of the people, which in turn affected the performance rating, positively. Political participation of the people also exerted a direct effect on public perception about media bias towards the ruling Modi government. © 2016 Elixir All rights reserved. Elixir Social Studies 98 (2016) 42432-42438 Social Studies Available online at www.elixirpublishers. com (Elixir International Journal) Francis Philip Barclay and C. Pichandy/ Elixir Social Studies 98 (2016) 42432-42438 42433 Exposure to media content and interpersonal political discussions affect political mass behaviour. However, assessment of the relationship between media and discussion has complicated due to the difficulty in establishing the causal order of that relationship, noted Mondak (1995). These studies have produced crucial evidence suggesting credible political effects of mass media. Winter (1987) observed that presidential appeal, defined in terms of electoral success, significantly correlated with the congruence or match between the president’s motive profile and that of his contemporary society. In contrast, presidential greatness, as rated by historians, as well as several important outcomes involving war and peace are associated with certain of the president’s motives by themselves, but not with president-society congruence. Perceptions about a leader’s political skill are associated with the leader’s effectiveness ratings after controlling for demographic variables (Ammeter and Douglas, 2004). The idea that the modern mass media have a strong and malign effect on many aspects of social and political life is wide and strongly held. Newton (2006) assessed a politics-centered theory that focuses on the performance of government and the economy. The researcher examined a combination of aggregate crossnational comparative data and detailed case studies of four countries that had suffered exceptional decline of political support for politicians, political institutions and the systems of government. While cross-national comparative evidence about a large and diverse number of nations supported social capital theory, an in-depth study of four countries that had experienced substantial decline of political support did not. The erosion of support coincided in all four with poor economic and/or political performance. Reviewing past studies, it can be assumed that biased media coverage could impact the public performance rating of governments. At times, media is biased—that is, their political coverage exhibits an observable slant favouring a section of the political class or a party. Media bias has been empirically examined and its effects on other variables have been widely studied (Iyengar, 1990, DellaVigna and Kaplan ,2006; Entman, 2010; Chiang and Knight, 2011; Durante and Knight, 2012; Baum and Yuri M. Zhukov, 2015). Morris ( 2007 ) observed the popular television news influence to the U.S audience during the 2004 president election campaign period and found that televisions was biased towards the party. Bernhardt, et al.,(2008) examined that political polarization, the median ideology is a centrist and centrist voters gain access to unbiased news, media bias can generate excessive cross-over voting, which, in turn, can lead to the election of the wrong candidate. Prior (2013) observed that the partisan media has contributed to political polarization and newer media outlets have added more partisan messages to a continuing supply of mostly centrist news. Endersby (2011) examined the newspaper readership has associated with the partisan preferences and found that press bias has effect on newsreaders. Smith (2010) estimated the political elite’s news coverage and the news media increased for perception of media bias. Barclay, et al., (2014) examined the political orientations of the top four English newspapers published from India during the 2014 Lok Sabha, election campaign period and found that each of those four newspapers was biased towards a certain political party in its overall election coverage. Barclay, et al., (2014 A) in their study, observed that media content and bias have a direct and positive effect on public opinion and mass political preference. Political Participation Generally, political participation is defined as any activity that shapes, affects or involves the political sphere. Political participation ranges from voting to attending a rally to sending a letter to a public representative. Going by De Vreese (2004), the levels of political participation of the people have an effect on their evaluations of political leaders. Brouer,et al.,(2013) assessed the leader political skills affect the leader and the follower effectiveness. Lee (2015) performed a content analyses of president performance rating also examined the effect of speech pattern on their performance rating in the following years. Bush (1989 – 1992), Clinton (1993 2000), G.W. Bush (2001 – 2008), and Obama (2009 – 2011) and tested survey results from 1989 to 2010 and found that the speech patterns has a high effect on their Performance Rating. Treadway,et al.,(2013) studied bullies can achieve the higher ratings of performance through successful navigation of social and political organizational environment. Goel (1976) studied the impact of socio-demographic factors like area of residence, education, occupation, income and age on political interest and participation in India. Tolbert and McNeal (2003) and Woodly (2008) studied the impact of online political participation and voting preference. Mcleod, et al., (1999) had studied the impact of television news on political participation. Political alienation and low participation was related to the consumption of entrainment content in television and the popular press (HoltzBacha, 1990). Gentzkow, et al.,(2009) observed the newspaper effects on political participation, party vote shares and electoral competitiveness and they found that the newspaper have a positive effect on political participation. Entman (1989) has observed that political news reports considerably altered the political attitudes of the readers. Political interest was found to moderate the relationship between digital media use and traditional forms of political participation. While mass media are found to affect political participation of their users, they also play a major role bridging the gap between the people and politicians. Analysing online social media, Hyuna and Kimb (2015) found that political participation and conversation shared a differential and interactive relationship. The relationships between political participation and several other variables like self-transcendence (Pacheco and Owena, 2015) and personal values (Schwartz, 1992) have also been tested. Bimber, et al., (2015) estimated political interest using factors like political conversation and levels of seeking political information in the media. Political participation in general but not voting was greater among heavy television news consumers and avid newspaper readers than poor consumers (Eveland Jr, et al., 2000). Wong (2000) studied the effects of political exposure on the development of political partisanship. The researcher also found an association between age and political exposure, attitudes and partisanship. Goerres (2007) observed that older people participated differently from younger people in politics. Varnalia and Vehbi Gorgulu (2014) studied online political participation and examined the social determinants of action that drive expressive political participation on Twitter. Bodea and Kajsa E. Dalrymple (2014) found that more the Twitter users are interested in and engage in politics in general, less trusting they are of the mainstream media. Francis Philip Barclay and C. Pichandy/ Elixir Social Studies 98 (2016) 42432-42438 42434 On the other hand, Baek (2015) observed that the online social networking websites are contributing to an increase in political participation, while discussing media mobilization and its effect. Several other studies had focussed on democratic participation through the Internet (Holt, et al., [2013] and Kim [2015]). Examining these past studies, it can be assumed that media exposure, perceived bias, political participation and affiliation are inter-related. Performance Rating, in the present study, is defined as people’s rating on the performance of the Narendra Modei-led Central government ruling the country. On the other hand, Political Participation of the people, their level of Media Exposure, perceived Media Bias and their Political Affiliation are estimated with the help of a questionnaire. Using these variables, a path model is proposed (Fig. 1). Fig 1. Initial model In this model, the variable Performance Rating is regressed on Political Participation of the people (De Vreese, 2004; Tolbert and McNeal, 2003; and Woodly, 2008) and Media Exposure (Pan and Kosicki, 1997; McLeod and McDonald, 1985; Bartels, 1993; Fernandes, 2000; Gerber, et al., 2006; Arceneaux, et al., 2015; and Feldman, et al., 2015). It is also assumed that Political Affiliation and perceived Media Bias could have a direct influence on Performance Rating, while Political Participation and Media Exposure could affect perceptions of Media Bias. Based on this model, the following hypotheses are proposed: 1) Media Exposure has a direct effect on Performance Rating (H1) 2) Media Exposure has a positive direct effect on Political Participation. (H2) 3) Media Exposure has an indirect effect on Performance Rating mediated through Political Participat