Comparing the Differential Gains and Communication Mediation Models as Predictors of Political Participation and K

1. Comparing the Differential Gains and Communication Mediation Models as Predictors of Political Participation and Knowledge Communication’s Next Top Model: Hong Vu, Joseph Yoo, Maegan Stephens, Brian Barech, Rachel Reis Mourao & Tom Johnson The University of Texas at Austin

2. Introduction • Well-agreed: Interpersonal communication works in tandem with mass communication to influence political participation and knowledge. • But which model better explains the relationship between media, discussion, and political effects? Differential Gains? Communication Mediation Model?

3. Literature • Differential Gains Model (Scheufele and colleagues) The political effects of news media messages are contingent upon the media’s interaction with interpersonal communication. • Communication Mediation Model (Shah and colleagues) Mass Communication has an influence on political aspects but such relationship is indirect: interpersonal communication mediates the effects

4. Additional Theoretical Inquiry • Would wider range of media reliance variables influence the predictive power of the two models?

5. Hypotheses and Research Questions Interaction effects on political outcomes: H1- Exposure to news media; H2-Interaction between news media and face- to-face communication, and; H3 - Interaction between news media and online communication:  Greater political outcomes (e.g., online, offline political participation, and knowledge). Which effects are larger? Direct or interaction? RQ1 media vs. interaction bt.media & face-to-face; RQ2 media vs. interaction bt. media & online comm

6. Hypotheses and Research Questions • Mediation effects on political outcomes: • H4 – Face-to-face communication: • H5 – Online communication: •  Mediate the relationship between news media and political outcomes. • Which effects are larger? Mediation or direct? • RQ3: Media reliance vs. mediation bt. Media & face-to-face communication. • RQ4: Media reliance vs. mediation bt. Media & online communication

7. Method Amazon Mechanical Turksurvey N = 1267 U.S. respondents Analysis Hierarchical regression analysis (Differential Gains Model) Path analysis (Communication Mediation Model)

8. Independent variables Age Gender Race Education Income Party Ties Ideology Interest Online/Offline FOX/CNN/MSNBC Newspapers News Magazines News & Talk Radio Online Discussion Interpersonal Discussion Interaction Variables

9. Dependent variables

10. Results • Offline political participation is predicted by: • Media reliance: • Radio news, • Fox news • Political discussion: • Both online and offline discussion • Interaction: • Face-to-face discussion – Fox News; • Online discussion and print news; radio news; and Fox news.

11. Results (cont.) • Online Political participation is predicted by: • Interaction: print news - online discussion • Political knowledge is predicted by no variable • Comparing effects on political participation (RQ1 &RQ2): • Direct effects of media > interaction - face-to-face discussion on political participation; • Effects of media reliance > media interaction – online discussion

12. Research Questions and Hypotheses

13. Discussion • Comparison of two models: • No perfect prediction on either of the two • Differential Gains: Little support • Communication Mediation: Considerable support. • Political discussion should be used as mediation rather than interaction in predicting political participation and knowledge. • Fox News is different from other media variables in predicting political knowledge and participation. • Online discussion is important in motivating people to engage in political activities.