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3. Confirmatory factor analysis for original data, not accounting for the hierarchical structure of the data.
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Thanks to technological advances over the past two decades, media consumers now have an unprecedented number of content options. Along with an increase in news options has come an even greater expansion in the number of entertainment options available to media consumers. This is especially true when it comes to fictional entertainment television pr...
Citations
... Perceived persuasive intent was measured using an adaptation of Dimension Two of the Politically Relevant Media Scale (Coles, 2020). We used two of the four items in this dimension (1. ...
... Dimensional relationships. Although developing a multidimensional measure of PRM evaluations is a distinct methodological undertaking (see Coles, 2020Coles, , 2021b, it is important to consider how the dimensions relate to each other on a conceptual level. Collective concerns/decisions/consequences is the primary dimension because it is a prerequisite for the other two dimensions to be meaningful regarding PRM evaluations. ...
... In other words, as indicators of the same higher-order construct, all three scores should correlate. Because of this theoretical correlation between dimensional scores (also as demonstrated empirically by Coles, 2020Coles, , 2021, PRM evaluations would be strongest when all dimensions receive strong evaluations. ...
... The objects depicted should influence PRM evaluations. Texts depicting implicitly political objects such as social issues may be evaluated differently than those depicting explicitly political objects such as politicians/parties/polls. Specifically how these objects influence PRM evaluations may depend on both user and text characteristics (Coles, 2020(Coles, , 2021bFitzgerald, 2013;Holbert & Young, 2013;Settle, 2018;Tchernev et al., 2021). Texts depicting explicitly political objects may not always receive stronger PRM evaluations, depending on these antecedents (Coles, 2020(Coles, , 2021b. ...
Prior research acknowledges the potential implications of how media users evaluate media texts as being relevant to politics. Yet there are limitations to existing operationalizations of these evaluations due to how people use the words "politics" and "political." What first appears as a measurement issue instead reveals a deficiency in the conceptualization of the evaluation being measured, as well as that evaluation’s relationships with its antecedents and consequences. This article fuses work from disparate fields such as political theory, media studies, media effects, and political communication to offer a multidimensional conceptualization of evaluations of the political relevance of media texts. It introduces the Politically Relevant Media Model (PRMM) connecting these evaluations to their text and user characteristic antecedents, as well as their cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes. Implications for various phenomena such as agenda setting, learning, selective exposure, message processing, narrative persuasion, reinforcing media spirals, and political polarization are discussed.
... This study paints a nuanced picture of reality television as a site where narratives about race in America are constructed and contested. More broadly, Harbin demonstrates how centering race can simultaneously foreground under-researched political communication contexts (i.e., politically relevant entertainment media, Coles, 2020), while also contributing to on-going scholarly conversations. As this piece demonstrates, movements toward enhanced diversity and inclusion in American entertainment programming could lead viewers to "tune out" of these programs, in the same way they selectively avoid news content. ...
Despite the centrality of race and ethnicity in social and political life, they are often absent from studies of the urgent questions in contemporary political communication research. In this essay introducing a special issue focused on Race and Ethnicity as Foundational Forces in Political Communication, we examine factors that may contribute to the relative absence of race/ethnicity in the political communication scholarship, including: 1) structural inequalities in the field, 2) contested conceptualizations of race, and 3) the domination of certain epistemological and methodological traditions. We introduce the articles in this issue as a means of moving toward a richer integration of race/ethnicity into the field’s big questions and expanding the boundaries of the field itself. In making a case for a more robust conversation about race and ethnicity in political communication, we note crucial areas for self-reflection, debate, and inspiration.
... Several studies provide evidence that existing beliefs are implicated in entertainment media selection. For example, Coles (2020) found that strength of political identity is associated with perceptions of entertainment as politically relevant, which then impacts selective exposure to the entertainment content. Entertainment genre preferences, including the appeal of specific narratives, can be predicted by moral values (Bowman et al., 2012;Tamborini et al., 2013), potentially reinforcing morality subcultures (Zillmann, 2000). ...
Broader, more diverse representation in mass media is frequently imagined as a tool for reduction of harmful stereotypes at scale. Increasingly, entertainment media in the United States feature representations that challenge or counter prevailing stereotypes. However, emergence of a high-choice media environment offers and facilitates the opportunity to be selective about the entertainment one consumes. Using a US sample, we show that entertainment media selection is predicted by preexisting beliefs — greater endorsement of a particular stereotype predicted a decrease in the selection of shows featuring representations challenging that stereotype. Findings indicate that those who could benefit most from these representations are less likely to be exposed to them, undermining the utility of mass media in the widespread reduction of harmful stereotypes.
... Mass media scholars have also explored a range of social processes influencing other types of media use, such as how social norms and identity impact media experiences (cf. Cohen, 2016); how interracial co-viewing impacts media appraisal (Banjo et al., 2015); how bias may be reduced through parasocial contact with outgroup representations on TV (Bond, 2021); how seemingly apolitical entertainment can be perceived as politically motivated choices (Coles, 2020); how social bonds are reinforced through sports viewing (Gantz, 2013); and how we manage our self-image in social networks through selective media sharing online (Johnson & Ranzini, 2018). ...
... Research exploring the social forces that impact media use at the individual-level often foreground social identity theory (Trepte, 2006). This work illustrates how any one of a number of salient social identities (such as age, race, political affiliation, or gender) can impact media selection (Coles, 2020;Ellithorpe & Bleakley, 2016;Harwood, 1999;Park et al., 2021). A salient group identity-and normative perceptions of the group and one's membership-encourage individuals to seek out positive portrayals of their ingroup (e.g., Ellithorpe & Bleakley, 2016). ...
A heuristic model aims to organize and synthesize the substantial body of work examining the social influences that shape media selection, experiences, and effects. The Social Influences and Media Use (SIMU) model describes three broad social forces (users’ internal social needs, their social environment, and the social affordances of media) and their recursive association with media use. This article (a) brings together diverse subdisciplines interested in the social factors and functions of media use, (b) discusses the micro–macro nature of social phenomena and its potential role in future inquires, and (c) illustrates how the model might foster new developments by applying it in a specific area of study. The model may help us identify cohesive patterns (and points of divergence or uniqueness) among existing findings as well as inform future work examining these relationships across a variety of social contexts and media channels.
... PRM's dimensions are consequential for cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes relevant to message processing and selection; see Figure 1. Thus, evaluating a media text as politically relevant may affect whether people approach or avoid media content (Coles, 2020;2021), as well as how they process that content when exposed (Valkenburg & Peter, 2013). Though selective exposure to news is well documented, people may also engage in politically motivated selective exposure to other media such as fictional entertainment, should they evaluate such content as politically relevant (Coles, 2020;2021). ...
... Thus, evaluating a media text as politically relevant may affect whether people approach or avoid media content (Coles, 2020;2021), as well as how they process that content when exposed (Valkenburg & Peter, 2013). Though selective exposure to news is well documented, people may also engage in politically motivated selective exposure to other media such as fictional entertainment, should they evaluate such content as politically relevant (Coles, 2020;2021). For message processing, people exposed to media they evaluate as politically relevant are likely to engage in reactance and counter-arguing if they perceive the messages to be inconsistent with their own attitudes. ...
... Liberals tend to rely on individualizing (care, fairness) intuitions, whereas conservatives tend to rely on binding (loyalty, authority, sanctity) intuitions (Graham et al., 2011). Although PRM evaluations should predict selective exposure to entertainment media (Coles, 2020;2021), moral foundations also predict appeal and selection in entertainment contexts (Long & Eveland, 2018;Tamborini et al., 2013). Yet despite moral foundations' relationship with ideology, it's unclear that people identify around their moral foundations in the way they identify as liberals or conservatives. ...
Although evaluating media as politically relevant should be consequential for outcomes related to political attitudes and persuasion, scant research takes a viewer-centric approach to exploring such evaluations. This study conceptualizes evaluations of the political relevance of media and introduces the Politically Relevant Media (PRM) scale, then examines how media characteristics, individual-level factors, and viewing behaviors are related to PRM evaluations. Across two experiments (total N = 649), participants evaluated news and fictional entertainment television program descriptions depicting either "explicitly" political objects (e.g., politicians) or "implicitly" political objects (e.g., social issues). Although fictional shows depicting "implicitly" political objects were evaluated as less "political" than other shows, participants evaluated these shows as more politically relevant using the PRM scale than fictional shows depicting "explicitly" political objects. Regarding behaviors, PRM evaluations positively predicted high political interest viewers' exposure to entertainment programs. Implications for selective exposure, message processing, persuasion, and political polarization are discussed.
... Still, political considerations, such as when media consumers evaluate entertainment media as politically relevant, may still factor into entertainment media selection. Particular attention must be paid to what types of objects are depicted in entertainment programming, as well as how one measures people's evaluations of the political relevance of media texts (Coles, 2020(Coles, , 2021. When these ENTERTAINMENT SELECTIVE EXPOSURE 8 evaluations are measured by asking people how "political" the media texts in question are, entertainment programs depicting "explicitly" political objects such as politicians are evaluated as much more "political" than those depicting "implicitly" political objects such as social issues (Coles, 2021). ...
... Yet entertainment programs depicting "implicitly" political objects are evaluated as more politically relevant than those depicting "explicitly" political objects when the PRM scale is used. Coles (2020Coles ( , 2021 evidence that evaluating entertainment programs as "political" seems largely driven by the presence or absence of politicians. ...
... Previous research on how people evaluate the political relevance of media texts points to political identity strength as influential for these appraisals. In addition to partisan and ideological strength (Settle, 2018), Coles (2020Coles ( , 2021 identified issue public membership (Iyengar et al., 2008;Krosnick, 1990) as another political identity whose intensity is associated with evaluating media as politically relevant. These three conceptualizations of political identity ENTERTAINMENT SELECTIVE EXPOSURE 9 relate to existing political processes, including voting, how political elites frame issues, and how people identify around issues (Coles, 2021). ...
Technological advances have brought with them an explosion in the amount of media available to consumers, particularly fictional entertainment programming depicting “implicitly” political content such as social issues. Although exposure to entertainment media is fractured along political lines, there remains an assumption that most viewers choose their entertainment media absent of political considerations. I contend that individuals with stronger political identities will evaluate “implicitly” political entertainment programs as more relevant to politics, and in turn engage in stronger selective exposure. In two studies (total N = 1,311), participants evaluated the political relevance of and rank their preferences for mock television shows. I find that political identity strength indirectly affects selective exposure through individuals’ evaluations of entertainment media as politically relevant. I discuss the implications that these findings have for narrative persuasion and entertainment media as a vector for political polarization.
