MIDAS & The Department of Political Science Co-Present: Stuart Soroka – University of Michigan

Stuart Soroka

Michael W. Traugott Collegiate Professor in Communication and Media and Political Science, University of Michigan

Associate Chair for Graduate Studies, University of Michigan

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Tracking the ‘Mood’ of U.S. Media Coverage, 1990-2020

Abstract: Survey research has for many years tracking the ‘mood’ of the country. That measure has been useful for understanding trends in economic and political behavior. But where does ‘mood’ come from? And are there other ways to capture the mood of the country? This presentation explores the potential for a media-based measure of mood, explored both as a driver and reflection of pubic attitudes. Media mood is estimating using automated content analytic techniques on a very large corpus of full-text news content. Time series analysis is used to explore differences across news outlets, and the relationship between media content and public opinion from 1990 to the present.

Bio: Stuart Soroka is the Michael W. Traugott Collegiate Professor of Communication and Media & Political Science, and Research Professor in the Center for Political Studies at the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. His research focuses on political communication, the sources and/or structure of public preferences for policy, and the relationships between public policy, public opinion, and mass media.