Résumé : Mass media play a central role in representative democracy. When media provide a sufficient amount of accurate information about politics and policy, there is at least the possibility that citizens have informed preferences. Media do not always succeed at providing sufficient or accurate information, however. Drawing on methodologies developed in Information and Democracy (Soroka & Wlezien, CUP 2022), this talk considers the measurement of “media accuracy” as a tool for assessing both (a) the quality of media coverage across multiple issue domains and (b) the potential for informed and responsive democratic citizenship. Results suggest that media accuracy and public responsiveness covary. But computer-automated “layered-dictionary” analyses of four decades of news content also suggest significant variability in the accuracy of news coverage across policy domains and news outlets. 

Organisé par le CÉCD.

Date : 8 décembre, 16h 

Lieu : C-6070, Pavillon Lionel-Groulx, Université de Montréal