Do elections help reduce the knowledge gap? Evidence from the primaries and the general election in Argentina

• In Event: Media, Trade Agreements, and National Security

Abstract

This paper analyzes the relationship between interest in politics, attention to news media and acquisition of political information in Argentina, before and during the 2011 presidential campaign.Through a mixed-methods strategy, it explores how the political context and the media environment interact with the personal motivations that drive the level of political awareness at different times of the political cycle. A panel survey shows slight increases in political information from April 2011, before the campaign, to October 2011, a few days before the election. Although content analysis of news indicates that the amount of public affairs coverage did not increase significantly just before the October presidential election at the seven sites examined, there had been a peak in coverage of public affairs news in general and campaign stories in particular two months prior to the general election due to the first simultaneous, compulsory presidential primaries held in Argentina. Thus, at the height of the campaign, demographic factors diminished as predictors of political knowledge, while attention to news through various media continued to be significantly related to levels of information, which suggest that some elections, rather than media coverage, motivate citizens to pay more attention to their political environment. In-depth interviews indicate that the primaries, which had unknown results, attracted public attention and increased information levels to a greater extent than the general election, whose result was completely predictable by the outcome of the primaries.

Author

• Maria Eugenia Mitchelstein, Universidad de San Andres