The Political Cynic: A product of corruption news?
The effect of consumption of corruption news on political cynicism
Marta Corral Cumbreras
Student nr: 11580518 mcorralcumb@gmail.com Master’s Thesis
Word count: 6468
Graduate School of Communication
Master’s Program Communication Science: Political Communication Supervisor: Tom E. Powell
Abstract
The disenchantment with politicians and politics –also called political cynicism- is understood as a phenomenon that deteriorates the well-functioning of democracy. This study investigates the impact of consumption of news reporting corruption cases on political cynicism in Spain, to argue that the consumption of these news increases cynical attitudes towards politics. The experimental design shows that political cynicism does not depend only on consumption of corruption news. The combination with the involvement of renowned politicians and individuals’ education play a key role in this process. The study also reveals how cynicism is a standard attitude among Spanish citizens, who show a baseline of cynicism that is already very high.
Keywords: cynicism, political cynicism, corruption, news, media, trust in institutions, education.
The effect of consumption of corruption news on political cynicism In the recent years, corruption has become a common phenomenon in Spain. According to Transparency International -who elaborates a yearly index of corruption by ranking countries on their perceived level of corruption -with the opinion of experts from every country- in 2017 Spain obtained its lowest score in history; Spain scored 57 points out of 100 –100 meaning “very transparent”- and a global position of 42 out of 180 (Transparency International, 2017). As a result, and according to the Center for Sociological Research in Spain, who monthly measures the main concerns of the citizens, corruption has become one of the main worries of Spanish citizens (CIS, 2018).
This inevitably influences trust in politicians, and cynicism towards them. For a democracy to effectively function, citizens need to trust government institutions. The common definition of cynicism is the belief that people are only interested in
themselves and not sincere. The concept acquired another dimension related to public life, institutions and politics: politicians and institutions being self-interested and looking only for self-profit instead of the general interest is what we understand as political cynicism.
Understanding political cynicism is very important, especially in a context of corruption. If citizens do not trust politicians because of their corruption, cynicism can result. In the case of Spain and other Southern European countries, there is abundance of corruption within the political elites. These cases are very often front pages of the newspapers and receive large TV coverage. Attitudes like political boredom or political disenchantment can be enhanced by a media diet dominated by corruption news, which highlights the dysfunctionalities of the system.
This paper will provide an insight of the role of the media on political cynicism when corruption is involved, a new approach that will specifically look for the relation between news and political cynicism. Knowing more of the elements that trigger
disconnection with politics can help to understand how to re-engage citizens with public discourse and reduce the lack of interest that results of political cynicism.
The aim of this study becomes especially relevant after that, in the process of this research, the situation of corruption in Spain lead to a critical moment in the Spanish history: the first successful motion of censure against the Government party in the Spanish democracy. Presented after the Government party was convicted for the most media covered case of corruption, the sentence and subsequent motion of censure resulted in the dismissal of the Government, and the designation of a Socialist
Government. This is the best example of the severity with which corruption has affected Spain and its institutions. The motion of censure came after years of political boredom, outrage and media coverage of political scandals.
Therefore, I want to shed light on the phenomenon of political cynicism. Analyzing the role of the media, and more specifically, the role of corruption news on political cynicism will help to understand the latter, and hopefully, aim to reduce it. Therefore, the main question of this study is: “To what extent does exposure to media coverage of corruption cases influence individuals’ political cynicism?”
Political cynicism
A 2017 Pew Research study showed that trust in government in the United States was near historic lows; only 20 % of respondents said they usually trusted the
government “to do the right thing” (Pew Research Center, 2017). This disengagement is not unique in America though. In recent years, a disconnection with politics can be observed across many other Western countries as an increasing phenomenon (Torcal,
2014). Through the years, citizens’ trust in political and social institutions has decreased, becoming more popular the belief that the aim of politics is no longer to work for the general interest, but to self-profit. This study considers political cynicism the phenomenon of general distrust in which the words politics and politicians
symbolize something negative (Agger & Goldstein & Pearl, 1961).
This early definition of political cynicism, employed by other authors (Pattyn et al., 2012), which alludes to the perception of a political elite disconnected from the ordinary citizens’ concerns, still applies today. Other scholars had referred to a spiral of cynicism (Cappella & Jamieson, 1997) that “fuels public discontent and eventually leads to individuals’ disengagement from politics” (De Vreese & Elenbaas, 2008).
Another definition is a “strong distrust in the reliability and competence of politicians” (Adriaansen et al., 2010). Political cynicism has also been described as a perceived gap between voters and their representatives, presumably increased by media coverage (Jackson, 2011; Schuck et al., 2013). The common ground of these definitions is the existence of a gap between politicians and citizens.
Corruption news
The deterioration of institutional trust, and the increase of political cynicism has been attributed to disturbing elements, like crime in the case of some Latin American countries (Blanco & Ruiz, 2013), economic struggle, or corruption cases. The latter is the case of Southern European countries like Spain or Portugal (Torcal, 2014). Torcal (2014) presents in his study evidence of the decrease of trust in politics in Spain as a result of the spread of corruption. Corruption is, therefore, a key element for the study of political cynicism.
The main vehicle for information about corruption is the media. In the case of Spain, where corruption appears frequently, when the media provides a high coverage
of this type of news, the number of citizens who consider corruption as one of the main national problems increases simultaneously (Palau & Davesa, 2013). This high
coverage of corruption news is due to the attention that negative stories trigger (Bradley et al., 2018), being considered as more salient, arousing and relevant information (Freedman & Goldstein, 1999; Haselmayer et al., 2017; Meffert et al., 2016; Soroka & McAdams, 2015). This negativity of corruption news is due to the attention paid to the deficiencies of the political system.
In addition, the Spanish media has been defined as an extension of political parties (Castromil, 2012), being newspapers aligned with the right and left wing
traditional parties, while covering more extensively the scandals of the rival party. This behavior contrasts with the traditional watchdog role of the media, deteriorating when providing unequal visibility to corruption scandals depending on the parties involved (Palau & Davesa, 2013). This behavior is in line with the high political parallelism that characterizes the Spanish media system (Hallin & Mancini, 2004).
Prior literature has shown that “there is a positive relationship between news media use and political trust” (Strömbäck et al., 2016).If reading more news about corruption leads to an increase of people’s concern about this topic, like Palau & Davesa (2013) findings indicate, consuming this type of news can be demotivating, especially for cynics, who tend to interpret ambiguous information in a more negative way (Dancey 2012). Does the level of exposure to corruption news influence political cynicism? This question drives us to the first hypothesis:
H1. Political cynicism will be higher after exposure to corruption news (high and low levels of corruption), compared to no exposure to corruption news.
The erosion that corruption news cause has to do with the way they are framed, in other words, whether they are presented as isolated cases or as people’s daily intake of news. Using a frame means paying attention to certain aspects of reality while putting aside others, leading audiences to have different reactions (Entman, 1993).
“Episodic framing breeds individualistic as opposed to societal attributions of responsibility” (Iyengar, 1991). The thematic frame will always provide more context than the episodic, more understanding. However, when telling a story with an episodic frame, a narrative that involves separated cases with no connection link, emotional responses are usual. In addition, the process of shaping opinions is easier if these
emotions are intense (Aarøe, 2011). This would be the case of a news item that reports a
single case, with no broader picture.
Are cynical attitudes a response to isolated cases (episodic frames), or, on the contrary, they are based on layers of information that point to an extended trend (thematic frames)? The expectation for this study is that, when reading news that are more contextualized and provide understanding of the extended problem that corruption is, citizens will be more demotivated by this frame. In other words, perception of corruption will be high for thematic frames and low for episodic frames. Thus, political cynicism will vary as well:
H2. Political cynicism will be higher after exposure to a high level of corruption news (generalized trend), compared to exposure to a low level of corruption news (isolated case).
Politicians involved
Political cynicism caused by corruption news might vary depending on the status of the politician involved. Scandals oftentimes receive media attention due to the
“Being involved in a scandal […] generates more media attention for the party as a whole” (Vos, 2014). The presence of a celebrity, for instance, is considered as more interesting to the public. To make a story more attractive, journalists usually look for the news values that make it newsworthy, and build upon them (Boukes &Vliegenthart, 2017). One of these values is personification, this is, centering the story on a specific person, like a famous politician, to add value to the story. Studies have found that the perceived political relevance plays an important role on journalists publishing the information, since this is perceived as more relevant (Helfer & Aelst, 2016).
The involvement of a renowned politician might have an impact on the severity of people’s evaluation, and therefore, their cynicism. Thus, whether the politician is well-known or a low-profile politician is relevant not only for the gatekeeping process (Reese & Shoemaker, 2016), but also for the severity with which individuals will evaluate politicians after the reported events. The following hypothesis will test this: H3. Political cynicism will be higher after exposure to corruption news that include renowned political figures.
Since the main variables could have an impact on political cynicism, the interplay between both variables might also be influential. If consuming news about corruption can increase cynicism, as well as reading about prominent political figures, together they could also increase political cynicism. News values such as the magnitude and drama (Boukes &Vliegenthart, 2017) of political scandals, combined with the personification of political figures involved can together influence political cynicism. This leads to the fourth hypothesis:
H4. Political cynicism will be higher after exposure to a high level of corruption news, compared to a low level of corruption news, but this effect will be more pronounced when renowned politicians are involved than when they are not involved.
Education
Whether political cynicism affect citizens equally is to be determined based on individual-level characteristics. One of the characteristics that might make a difference is the level of education. The extent to which someone gets tired of news and start becoming cynical about politics can be related to how high their education is. Higher educated individuals can more easily have a deeper understanding of the functioning of politics and institutions, and therefore, be less demotivated by corruption news. There is empirical evidence of a negative relation between education and cynicism. In other words, higher educated people tend to be less cynical.
Adriaansen et al. (2010) found that “less educated citizens express somewhat higher levels of political cynicism than highly educated ones”. Similar findings were exposed by Pattyn et al. (2012), who found that participants with a college or university degree were less politically cynical than those with a high-school degree, and those without a high-school degree. For their part, Agger et al. (1961) analyzed the relation of education and income with political cynicism and argued that lower social status lead to high political cynicism. Less educated people might show a more punitive attitude towards an elite who consider to be away from reality, the ordinary citizens and their claims.
Some studies have found dissenting results, however, (De Vreese & Elenbaas, 2008; Schuck et al., 2013), suggesting that lower educated people were less cynical. Although smaller in number, these incongruent findings indicate that education plays a role in political cynicism, and more information is needed.
The most relevant finding for this study was made by Hakhverdian & Mayne (2012), who found that education was negatively related to institutional trust in corrupt societies. This could be applied to the case of Spain, and therefore I expect a similar
outcome when reading corruption news. Education should have a moderating effect on the relation between consumption of corruption news and political cynicism. The following hypothesis will test this effect:
H5. The effect of exposure to corruption news on political cynicism will be stronger for lower educated people than for higher educated people.
To summarize, this study will test whether political cynicism is influenced by the consumption of corruption news; the involvement of famous politicians in these news; an interaction of the above mentioned and individuals’ level of education.
Methods Design
A between-subjects 2(corruption: high, low) by2(politician: renowned, regular) plus 1 (control) design is used, with participants randomly assigned to one of the four conditions or to the control group. The conditions in this study are:
1. a group with a manipulation/treatment consisting of an article reporting low levels of corruption that mentions a renowned politician involved.
2. a group with an article reporting low levels of corruption, that mentions a regular politician involved.
3. a group with an article reporting high levels of corruption that mentions a renowned politician involved.
4. a group with an article reporting high levels of corruption that mentions a regular politician involved.
5. a control group with no exposure to any stimuli.
Participants answered a battery of questions after the manipulation to measure their political cynicism. This design allowed to check to what extent the independent
variable exposure to corruption news causes the expected effect (increase of political cynicism), by comparing these results with the results of the control group.
Figure 1. Conceptual model
Sample
The sample was contacted through Facebook contacts and groups, Twitter and via personal contact with friends and family (convenience sample). Participation was open to any person who identified as having the Spanish nationality and over eighteen. The total number of participants was 359, with approximately 70 people per condition.
Randomization was successful among conditions. Participant’s distribution according to their gender (p=.949) was not significantly different between groups. The mean age was also similar in all conditions, with no significant differences (p=.902).
The composition of the sample consists of 97 men (27%), 253 women (70.5%) and 9 participants who preferred not to indicate their gender (2.5%). Participants with different educational backgrounds were present, to test the moderation effects of level of education. 1.7% of participants attended only to primary school; 24.3% had a high Exposure to corruption news Level of corruption Renowned politician Political cynicism Level of education (Main effect) (Moderator) Interaction
school diploma; 53.8% of participants had a bachelor’s degree; 17.3% a master and 3.1% of them had a PhD. The mean age of participants was 36.21 years old.
Participants’ ideology had a left-wing tendency (0=left and 10=right; M=4.83, SD=2.32). Overall, 60,4% of the participants placed themselves in the left range of the ideological spectrum.
Procedure
In the experiment, respondents were told that they would participate in a study of “political affairs”, after which they were randomly assigned to one of the conditions (four experimental conditions and a control group). The procedure was composed of three phases.
Firstly, participants answered a questionnaire that measured their political knowledge with questions regarding the Spanish politics and a battery of statements measuring anti-elitism attitudes. They also had to place themselves in an ideological scale from left to right, and indicate their highest level of education achieved. Secondly, participants were randomly assigned to one of the conditions, and depending on the condition they were assigned to, they either read one of the four manipulated articles reporting a corruption case or not read anything in the control group. Respondents were told that the article was published recently by a national newspaper, and altered not to give hints about the newspaper, to avoid biased responses.
Lastly, participants had to complete a posttest with questions measuring their political cynicism and trust in institutions, as well as some demographic questions regarding their age, gender, income and news consumption. After finishing the questionnaire, participants were debriefed.
The stimuli material consisted of four versions of an article that reported the investigation of illegal financing of one of the main Spanish political parties, the Socialist Party (PSOE). This illegal financing consisted of irregularities during the political campaign of the 2008 general elections.
The choice of this party was due to its lower involvement in corruption cases compared with the rival party (PP, the party in government at the start of this study, representative of the right wing), so it could be less familiar to participants to read about it, and therefore have more impact. For this reason, I preferred to include the party representative of the left-wing. The articles that contained a renowned politician focused on the Spanish left-wing Socialist ex-president Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Mentioning a high-profile politician such as an ex-president made it more scandalous.
The politician used for the non-renowned condition was fictional, and I called him “Andrés Reyes”. A real but unknown politician was originally mentioned. However, after conducting a pre-test with 47 participants, results showed that people tended to indicate that they had recognized a politician in the text, when asked about it. The question asked if they had recognized a politician in the text, which could be understood as if they noticed a politician was mentioned in the article, even though they did not know him. To solve this, the question was reworded to: “did you recognize a politician who you previously knew in the text?”. Either due to a misunderstanding of the question or just to social desirability -pretending to look more knowledgeable- the use of a fictional name would avoid this problem in the main study.
The levels of the factor level of corruption were high, low and none (control group). The article with low levels of corruption reported a single corruption case, while the high corruption category presented the same case, with an additional paragraph that contextualized the case within previous corruption cases in the party. The aim of this
additional context paragraph was to provide a thematic frame where corruption was not seen as an isolated case (low corruption), but as a generalized trend (high corruption).
Originally, this was the only difference between the conditions, but after
conducting the pre-test, there were no significant differences on participants’ perception of the level of corruption of the different articles, so the text was modified to make these differences more obvious. To do so, the low corruption article became more neutral, not assuming anymore that the alleged crimes were committed, but only suggesting it, and highlighting the isolated nature of the case without a broader picture (episodic frame), while the high corruption article was modified to look even more severe, and show it as a systemic problem.
Measures
The main dependent variable was political cynicism, and it was measured through a battery of questions. To measure political cynicism, I combined different items used in prior research, which proved to be reliable. This battery was combined in a single scale made of 13 statements. Individuals had to answer to a 5-point Likert scale, indicating to what extent they agree or disagree with the statements.
Some examples of these statements are: (1) In Spain, politicians never tell us what they really think; (2) To succeed in politics, a politician does have to give up his personal integrity. These statements were retrieved and modified from scales used by Adriaansen et al., (2010); Agger et al. (1961); Dancey (2012) and Pattyn et al., (2012). The statements originally measured “cynicism towards elected officials” and “political cynicism”.
A factor and a reliability analysis revealed that this battery measured two different concepts: political cynicism and perception of politicians’ personal integrity (composed by only two statements “to succeed in politics, a politician does have to give
up his personal integrity” and “no man can hope to stay honest once he enters politics”). The first scale (M=3.99, SD=.61) was reliable, Cronbach’s alpha=.88. The one
measuring personal integrity of politicians (M=2.63, SD=1.02), however, was not, Cronbach’s alpha=.55. Thus, I decided not to include those two statements in the analysis, only using the scale measuring political cynicism.
Participants were also asked about their trust in institutions, and had to rate their own trust in the country’s parliament; legal system; politicians and political parties. This was measured on a scale from 0 (‘‘no trust at all’’) to 10 (‘‘completely trusting’’). This battery was originally obtained from the 2017 World Values Survey. This scale (M=4.05, SD=1.90) consistently measured trust in institutions, Cronbach’s alpha=.85.
Level of education was the moderator, so I expected the effect of exposure to corruption news on political cynicism to be stronger for those who were lower educated. Categories were (1) No studies; (2) Primary school; (3) High school; (4) Bachelor’s degree; (5) Master’s degree; (6) PhD studies.
Participants were also asked about their average income, as well as gender, political knowledge, anti-elitism attitudes and news consumption. Political knowledge was measured with a series of original questions designed for the Spanish current political landscape and recent history. A battery of three questions measured frequency of news consumption (Benesch, 2012).
A battery made of four statements measured anti-elitism attitudes, to which participants had to agree or disagree, e.g. “the people, not the politicians, should take the most important political decisions”. The factor and reliability analyses showed that these statements measured a single concept, giving as a result a scale (M=3.83, SD=.73) with average reliability, Cronbach’s alpha=.68.
I also included the variable “time” (the time that participants took to complete the survey) to make sure that participants used a reasonable amount of time when taking the survey.
Manipulation checks
I conducted a chi-square test to check that the manipulation worked the way it was intended. For the first manipulation check, I found a small but significant difference between having noticed the level of corruption and the assigned condition, x2(3,285) = 47.34, p<.001, τ=.056. In other words, participants were aware of the level of corruption they were reading, according to the group they belonged to.
For the second manipulation check (whether they had recognized a politician in the text), I found a significant and strong difference between having recognized a politician and the assigned condition, x2(3, 285) =150.27, p<.001, τ=.53. People placed in a condition with a famous politician indicated more that they had recognized them in the text. Participants were aware of the presence of a famous politician. Thus, both manipulations were successful.
Results
Regarding the first and second hypothesis (high exposure to corruption news compared to low and no exposure increases political cynicism), I conducted a one-way ANOVA analysis that included the independent variable exposure to corruption, and the dependent variable political cynicism.
I did not find a significant effect of the level of corruption on political cynicism; there were no significant differences F(4,354)=1.30, p=.272 on political cynicism between those placed in the high category (M =3.96, SD=.59), the low category (M=3.98, SD=.62) and the ones in the control group (M =4.1, SD=.62). Thus, seeing
corruption as a generalized trend or an isolated case did not modify significantly participants’ score on cynicism.
For the third hypothesis (corruption news that include renowned politicians increase political cynicism), I conducted a one-way ANOVA analysis with the independent variable presence of a famous politician and the dependent variable
political cynicism. There was no significant effect of the presence of a famous politician in the news on political cynicism F(2,356)=1.27, p=.281. People in the famous
categories (M =3.97, SD=.62) did not score significantly different on political cynicism than people in the regular politician categories (M=3.97, SD=.59) or in the control group (M=4.09, SD= .62). In other words, the involvement of renowned characters by itself did not have an impact on political cynicism.
To test the fourth hypothesis (the interaction between exposure to corruption and presence of famous politician), I conducted a two-way ANOVA analysis. The results was, F(1,281)=3.70, p=.057, n2=.01. Results show that the effect of reading corruption news on political cynicism is more pronounced when this mention a famous politician.
Table 1. Political cynicism. Exposure to corruption and renowned politicians
M
Renowned politician High corruption 4,03
Low corruption 3,90
Regular politician High corruption 3,90
Low corruption 4,05
Those who read an article with a famous politician reported more cynicism when corruption was high than when corruption was low. However, the same did not happen when the article contained a regular politician. In other words, the probability of being
more cynical increases if, when reading news that report high levels of corruption, this news include a well-known politician.
For the fifth hypothesis (relation between corruption news and political cynicism is stronger when education is low), I conducted a two-way ANOVA analysis including the moderator education.
Table 2. Political cynicism. Exposure to corruption and education
Education Level of corruption M
Primary school High corruption 4,36
Low corruption 2,91
Control 4,14
High school degree High corruption 4,06
Low corruption 4,07
Control 4,18
Bachelor’s Degree High corruption 3,89
Low corruption 4,03
Control 4,07
Master High corruption 3,93
Low corruption 3,99
Control 4,08
PhD High corruption 4,27
Low corruption 3,23
Control 4,18
The interaction effect of education and corruption news was, F(8,344)=1.86, p=.06, n2=.04. The effect of corruption news significantly differs for people of different
education levels. Individuals with only primary studies and PhD graduates are the most cynical when exposed to high corruption and the least when exposed to low corruption. Both groups are the most affected by the news they consume.
I did not find a main effect of education, F(4,335)=.679, p=.607, but I found a small to medium significant main effect of exposure to corruption F(2, 344)=6.00, p=.003 n2=.03. When analyzing exposure to corruption and education together, the effect of being exposed to corruption news is significant. In other words, when people with different levels of education is exposed to different levels of corruption,
differences on their cynicism are significant.
Table 3. Political cynicism. Exposure to corruption news
Level of corruption M
High corruption 4,10
Low corruption 3,64
Control 4,13
The control group is the most cynical group. Scoring so high on cynicism highlights the importance of previous cynical attitudes that participants already had, inviting us to pay closer attention to this group. Even when considering the control group as free of stimuli, no one is free of corruption news daily, and the consumption of these news has an impact on citizen’s attitudes, setting a baseline level of political cynicism that, according to these results, is already quite high. This high baseline of political cynicism could explain why the stimuli was not as successful as expected. Since 2000, more than 2.000 cases of corruption had appeared in Spain (El País, 2018). In other words, frequent consumption of corruption news might make the stimuli lose part of its power.
Discussion
The aim of this study was to know more in depth the causes of a phenomenon of distrust where politics and politicians symbolize something negative, also called
political cynicism. More specifically, if political cynicism can appear as a result of consumption of corruption news. Also, to know the extent to which the presence of renowned politicians mentioned in this news is also an influence. In addition, this study aimed to find out if this effect of consuming corruption news on political cynicism was stronger for those who are lower educated.
Reporting high levels of corruption in the news, this is, framing it as a
generalized trend, made no relevant impact on citizens’ cynicism. Reading news about severe cases of corruption or isolated cases was not a significant element for triggering political cynicism, according to the results. This contrasts with previous literature that suggested that media use can be related to political trust (Strömbäck et al., 2016). It also contrasts with other research indicating that cynics tend to interpret ambiguous
information in a more negative way (Dancey, 2012). This study did not find a clear sign of individuals being more cynical after reading news about corruption that were more alarming.
The findings did not support the idea that personification –centering the story in the involvement of certain prominent characters- by itself would be influential in the severity which with citizens would judge the reported cases. This differs from previous research that argued that the involvement of certain characters in scandals increased media and public’s attention, and that there was a relation between public opinion and media coverage (Romano, 2014).
Even though the appearance of prominent characters did not influence political cynicism by itself, two things are noticeable when looking at personification: first,
people who received no stimuli at all were the most cynical, supporting the idea of a normalization of the phenomenon of cynicism in Spain. Second, consumption of corruption news plus the involvement of renowned politicians together were more influential on cynicism than separated. Political cynicism is a complex reality and this combination of elements were more influential than these same elements by their own. Even though consuming high corruption was not a relevant influence on cynicism, it was when famous politicians were involved.
Another concern of this study was to understand the role that education plays on political cynicism. Education by itself had no influence on political cynicism; it was when combined with exposure to corruption news that it made a difference. This partly contrasts with prior research (Adriaansen et al., 2010; Agger et al.,1961; Pattyn et al., 2012) that indicated how lower educated people had more chances of being more punitive towards politicians, more cynic. Findings reveal how individuals with low education were the most cynical when consuming high levels of corruption news, followed by individuals with high education. Both with the lowest and highest level of education showed a big influence of the news they consumed when giving their opinion about politics and politicians.
Hakhverdian & Mayne (2012) argued that education was directly related to citizens’ capacity to acquire and process information. According to this, higher educated could be more influenced by the news they read due to their ability to interiorize this information. In addition, the motivational consumption model (Lee & Chyi, 2014) explains how education leads to a more favorable attitude towards news, and enhances motivation to continue consuming news. Thus, higher educated people would trust more the information they read, and therefore be more influenced by it.
According to Ksiazek et al. (2010), who categorized news consumers
distinguishing between news avoiders and news seekers, news avoiders tend to be less educated, and “the influence of exposure to news is significantly greater for avoiders than news-seekers”. This would explain how news influence lower educated
individuals, and their cynicism varies depending on the news they read, this is, how cynicism increases when corruption does.
Furthermore, I would like to highlight one last time the importance of the control group. The discovery of people’s level of cynicism being so high without receiving any stimuli at all is a revealing symptom of the current state of politics and public opinion in Spain, and it should be taken as a warning sign of how much political disenchantment can represent a dominant reality. Political cynicism looks like a standard attitude in Spain, where corruption news can be extremely usual in daily media diets.
The findings mirror a phenomenon of general distrust towards politics and politicians, in line with the negativity that politics symbolize (Agger et al., 1961). Some lessons can be obtained: political cynicism is a reality in Spain. As mentioned in the introduction, Spanish citizens consider corruption as one of the main worries (CIS, 2018), and results suggest that not much has changed.
Spanish’ political sphere needs to take notice of this reality: citizens are quite cynical. This study can serve to encourage politicians to implement more measures against corruption, and to be more emphatic in their condemnation of corruption.
The recent motion of censure in Spain, explained in the introduction of this study, is an excellent example of this. Political immobility can result in unexpected outcomes. It was not until a judicial sentence was delivered that actions were taken. Politicians should reconsider their position in corruption matters, react before judges leave them without other options, and pay more attention to citizens’ claims in
corruption matters. In regards to this, it is worth to mention that after the motion of censure scandal, the ex-government party (PP) is holding the first primary elections in their history.
For their part, journalists can draw their own conclusions. It is their duty to continue informing about these issues, but they should acknowledge that the increase of this coverage can lead directly to an increase on citizens’ worries (Palau & Davesa, 2013).
The coverage of corruption news is usually extensive, but does not necessarily promote deliberation. When coverage of corruption does not contribute to public discussion, mobilization, or engagement in public life, democracy can be perceived as minimalistic (Strömbäck, 2005). Reporting corruption news as a depressing reality that citizens cannot change might enhance cynical attitudes. To reduce this, I suggest the implementation of a journalistic work that promotes citizens’ empowerment, showing the political and decision making process as an open procedure and promote inclusion.
Overall, this study has some limitations. Firstly, manipulations were ambitious, since they aim to have an impact on a single point in time. In addition, distinguishing between different levels of corruption is not an easy task: low corruption can be considered high for some people and vice versa. Individuals’ perceptions can be subjective. However, the stimulus material was modified many times until having the desired manipulation, after the pre-test and the manipulation checks.
Secondly, attitudes like the one measured can evolve over time, and this cross-sectional study analyze it at a specific point in time. A longitudinal study might provide the opportunity of seeing how the consumption of these news over time can result in an evolution of political cynicism.
Another limitation is the generalizability of the results. The sample is composed only by Spanish citizens. Findings can be discussed within the Spanish context only. A follow-up study could focus on different countries and media systems. Lastly, the convenient sample provided with different educational background, but a more balanced distribution would be very positive for the generalization of the results.
Overall, this study brings fresh and interesting findings after analyzing the function of education more in detail. Some authors argued that higher education leads to low levels of cynicism, while others (De Vreese & Elenbaas, 2008; Schuck et al., 2013) suggested the opposite. This study has found a middle point between these positions: lower and higher educated being cynical depending on the news they consume, with cynicism increasing as corruption does.
These groups are very influenced by the information they consume. Thus, reconsidering the role of journalism could be a starting point for reducing cynicism among them. This reconsideration of journalism involves more commitment to the public interest than to political scandals (Blumler & Kavanagh, 1999).
This exemplifies how consumption of news can still be further studied to analyze the impact it has on political cynicism. Future research could consider other moderator variables, like income (Agger et al., 1961), ideology or even need for
cognition. If political knowledge is related to cynicism, enjoying the process of thinking (need for cognition) could be an interesting approach as well.
Overall, I encourage researchers to focus on more elements that could lie behind political cynicism. This study focused on consumption of corruption news and
education, but other factors could be brought into the equation, and be studied over a broader period of time.
One of the main concerns at the beginning of this research was the societal relevance of this study, the aim of knowing if it was possible to prevent political cynicism from increasing, an even more relevant mission after the Spanish motion of censure.
Now we know that education and consumption of news are related, and are relevant in the development of citizens’ cynical attitudes. Political cynicism is a complex phenomenon, but some key elements were identified. The approach of this study focusing on news and education gives us some hope. Some positive changes should be adopted: the reconsideration of the journalistic work, understood as more committed to the public interest and a more open and inclusive political decision process looks like a winning combination.
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Appendix Appendix A – Questionnaire (English)
Informative consent Dear participants,
We are interested in the mechanisms behind political attitudes and their relationship with the media. In addition, we will ask you some questions related to your profile, which will help us to interpret the results.
It is important to note that the questionnaire is completely anonymous. We will not be able to identify participants so that you can respond according to their opinions and beliefs. That said, anonymous data may be shared with other researchers for scientific purposes only. Participation is purely voluntary.
You may refuse to participate in the survey and may resign at any time without giving a reason. After completing the questionnaire, you will have up to 10 days to request exclusion from the use of your data in the survey. None of these actions will have adverse consequences.
You can contact principal investigator Marta Corral Cumbreras
(mcorralcumb@gmail.coml) or her supervisor Tom Powell (t.e.powell@uva.nl) for any questions, as well as the Ethics Committee for any complaints or questions:
ASCoR Secretariat Ethics Committee University of Amsterdam PO Box 15793 1001 NG Amsterdam Tel: + 31 20-525 3680 Email: ascor-secr-fmg@uva.nl
The questionnaire takes approximately 10 minutes. It is imperative that you carefully read all questions and information provided.
Please tick the box below to indicate that you have read and understood the information provided on the scope of the investigation, anonymity and the possibility of
withdrawing your answers at a later stage.
Thank you!
o Yes, I have read and understood the participation statement and I agree to participate in this research study.
Is your nationality or one of your nationalities Spanish? a) Yes
b) No
You are going to be presented with different questions regarding political issues. Please answer to the best of your knowledge.
What is the name of the minister of Health? a) Dolors Monserrat
c) Alfonso Alonso
Who was the first president of the democracy? a) Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo
b) Felipe González c) Adolfo Suárez
In which year was approved the Spanish Constitution? a) 1977
b) 1978 c) 1980
When did the Spanish civil war take place? a) 1936-1939
b) 1932-1936 c) 1930-1934
In which year did the dictator Franco die? a) 1974
b) 1975 c) 1978
Who is the General Secretary of the Popular Party (PP)? a) Mariano Rajoy
b) Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría c) María Dolores de Cospedal
Who is the spokesperson of the PP in the Congress? a) Rafael Hernando
b) Antonio Hernando
c) María Dolores de Cospedal
Anti-elitism attitudes
Below you will read some statements. Please, indicate to what extent do you agree or disagree with the statements.
○ Strongly disagree ○ Somewhat disagree ○ Neither agree nor disagree ○ Somewhat agree ○ Strongly agree
a) The people, not the politicians, should take the most important political decisions
b) The political elites should accept people’s will
d) The ordinary people should have more influence in the political decision making process than companies that only seek profit
Please introduce your highest level of education completed. 1) No studies 2) Primary school 3) High school 4) Bachelor’s degree 5) Master’s degree 6) Phd studies. Ideological scale
In political matters people usually talk of ` left´ and ` right´. Please indicate your views using any number on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means `left´ and 10 means `right´. Which number best describes your position?”
Left 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Right
Now, you will read an article recently published in a national media. The format of this article has been visually modified in order not to provide information regarding the media outlet. Please read it carefully since you won’t be able to go back to the text, and answer the questions.
--Manipulation-- Political cynicism
Below you will read some statements related to Spanish politics. Please indicate to what extent you agree or disagree with these statements. Try to think about the statements in the context of Spain. There is no right or wrong answer, answer according to your opinion.
○ Strongly disagree ○ Somewhat disagree ○ Neither agree nor disagree ○ Somewhat agree ○ Strongly agree
1) Politicians never tell us what they really think.
2) To succeed in politics, a politician does have to give up his personal integrity. 3) Money is the most important factor influencing public policies.
4) People are very frequently manipulated by politicians.
5) Politicians represent special interests more frequently than they represent the general interest.
6) Politicians are only interested in getting and maintaining power. 7) Politicians pretend to care more about people than they really do. 8) No man can hope to stay honest once he enters politics.
9) Most of the politicians are corrupt.
10) Politicians consciously promise more than they can deliver. 11) Politicians are primarily self-interested.
12) Political parties are only interested in my vote, not in my opinion. 13) Politicians do not understand what matters to society.
Trust in institutions
Please indicate to what extent do you trust the following Spanish institutions: a) Parliament
No trust at all 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Completely trust b) Legal system
No trust at all 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Completely trust c) Politicians
No trust at all 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Completely trust d) Political parties
No trust at all 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Completely trust Manipulation checks
·Exposure to corruption.
You have read an article. How many cases of corruption it mentioned? a) One
b) More than one
·Presence of renowned politicians
Did you recognize any politician who you previously knew in the text? a) Yes
b) No
Demographic questions What is your age? (open field) What is your gender?
a) Male b) Female
c) Prefer not to say
Please place yourself in one of the following ranges according to your yearly average income: a) 0-12.450 €. b) 12.450-20.200 €. c) 20.200-35.200 €. d) 35.200-60.000 €. e) >60.000 €. f) Prefer not to say.
News consumption
Please indicate how much time do you spend consuming news through the following sources:
Time watching TV news yesterday a)0-45 minutes
b) 46-90 minutes c) 91-135
d) >135 minutes
Time listening to radio news last week a)0-45 minutes
b) 46-90 minutes c) 91-135
d) >135 minutes
Time reading newspapers last week a)0-45 minutes
b) 46-90 minutes c) 91-135
d) >135 minutes
Debriefing
Thank you for participating. The purpose of this research is to study the relationship between exposure to corruption news and political cynicism. Also, to study the role of the level of education in this relationship. In case you have read an article, know that this article is completely fictitious and has been created for the sole purpose of this study.
Appendix B – stimuli
Appendix C. Stimuli translated into English
Condition 1. High corruption+renowned politician
Cornide: "I know that Zapatero was aware"
The former PSOE treasurer implicates ex-president Zapatero after the investigation by the Public Prosecutor's Office
The former Socialist Party treasurer, Xoan Cornide, said today that ex-president José Luis Rodríguez-Zapatero was aware of the alleged illegal funding of the Socialist Party (PSOE) "from the beginning." The former treasurer of the party between 2004 and 2014 said today in a statement to Cadena SER that the ex-president was aware of irregularities committed during the 2008 general campaign, which has already been transferred to the Office of the Prosecutor Anti-corruption.
The Public Prosecutor's Office investigates crimes of alleged prevarication, false documents and embezzlement of public funds. The documentation to which this newspaper has had access includes the payment of invoices for events related to the campaign. According to this documentation, the total payments would amount to 251,000 euros.
Revelations of a systemic evil
This case is in addition to the illegal financing of the Socialist Party of the Valencian Country (PSPV) and the Bloc between 2007 and 2011, through alleged payments by companies to cover electoral expenses, as well as the award of public contracts. The news comes only days after the resignation of the socialist Gabriel Echávarri as Mayor of Alicante, after the double accusation of prevarication, for which the Public Prosecutor's Office is requesting 10 years of disqualification.
Condition 2. Low corruption+renowned politician
Cornide: "I wouldn’t vouch for Zapatero"
Former PSOE treasurer insinuates that the former president might have been aware of the illegal funding
The former Socialist Party treasurer, Xoan Cornide, suggested today that ex-President José Luis Rodríguez-Zapatero might have been aware of the irregular funding of the Socialist Party (PSOE) during the 2008 campaign. The former treasurer of the party between 2004 and 2014, has assured in statements to Cadena SER today that despite "not being aware of it", he wouldn’t “even vouch for the ex-president", who, according to these statements, could have known of the irregularities committed during the 2008
general campaign, which have already been transferred to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.
The Public Prosecutor's Office investigates crimes of alleged prevarication, false documents and embezzlement of public funds. The documentation to which this newspaper has had access includes the payment of invoices for events related to the campaign, which would amount to a total of 251,000 euros. Both the sources of the investigation and the party leadership note that this is an extremely unusual case, and the latter has announced that action is already being taken.
Condition 3. High corruption+regular politician
Cornide: "I know that Andrés Reyes was aware"
The former PSOE treasurer implicates the ex-socialist candidate, Andrés Reyes The former Socialist Party treasurer, Xoan Cornide, said today that the ex-Socialist Party candidate for Madrid, Andrés Reyes, was aware of the alleged illegal financing of the Madrid Socialist Party (PSM) "from the outset". The former treasurer of the party between 2004 and 2014 told Cadena SER today that the ex-socialist leader was aware of irregularities committed during the 2007 municipal campaign, which have already been transferred to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.
The Public Prosecutor's Office investigates crimes of alleged prevarication, false documents and embezzlement of public funds. The documentation to which this newspaper has had access includes the payment of invoices for events related to the campaign. According to this documentation, the total payments would amount to 251,000 euros.
Revelations of a systemic evil
This case is in addition to the illegal financing of the Socialist Party of the Valencian Country (PSPV) and the Bloc between 2007 and 2011, through alleged payments by companies to cover electoral expenses, as well as the award of public contracts. The news comes only days after the resignation of the socialist Gabriel Echávarri as Mayor of Alicante, after the double charge of prevarication, for whom the Public Prosecutor's Office is requesting a 10-year disqualification.
Condition 4. Low corruption+regular politicician
Cornide: "I wouldn’t vouch for Andrés Reyes"
Former PSOE treasurer insinuates that the ex- socialist candidate might have been aware of the illegal funding
The former Socialist Party treasurer, Xoan Cornide, suggested today that ex-socialist candidate for Madrid Andrés Reyes might have been aware of the irregular funding of the Socialist Party (PSOE) during the 2007 campaign. The former treasurer of the party
between 2004 and 2014, has assured in statements to Cadena SER today that despite "not being aware of it", he wouldn’t “even vouch for the ex-candidate", who, according to these statements, could have known of the irregularities committed during the 2007 municipal campaign, which have already been transferred to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.
The Public Prosecutor's Office investigates crimes of alleged prevarication, false documents and embezzlement of public funds. The documentation to which this newspaper has had access includes the payment of invoices for events related to the campaign, which would amount to a total of 251,000 euros. Both the sources of the investigation and the party leadership note that this is an extremely unusual case, and the latter has announced that action is already being taken.
