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Reporting Public Opinion

How the Media Turns Boring Polls into Biased News

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Explores the practice and politics of polling
  • Develops a model to portray the selection and use of opinion polls in the media
  • Focuses on the process of bringing polls to the public, rather than the polls themselves

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
  2. Bringing Public Opinion to the Public: From Polls to Media Coverage

    • Erik Gahner Larsen, Zoltán Fazekas
    Pages 1-12
  3. Explaining How Media Outlets Select Opinion Polls: The Role of Change

    • Erik Gahner Larsen, Zoltán Fazekas
    Pages 27-51
  4. Characteristics of Opinion Poll Reporting: Creating the Change Narrative

    • Erik Gahner Larsen, Zoltán Fazekas
    Pages 53-81
  5. Conclusion: How the Media Could Report Opinion Polls

    • Erik Gahner Larsen, Zoltán Fazekas
    Pages 123-134

About this book

This book is about how opinion polls are reported in the media. Opinions polls are not reported in the media as unfiltered numbers, and some opinion polls are not reported at all. This volume demonstrates how opinion polls travel through several stages that eventually turn boring numbers into biased news in the media. The framework offered in this book helps to understand how some polls end up in the news coverage, and which systemic biases abound in the news media reports of opinion polls. In the end, a change narrative will be prominent in the reporting of opinion polls which contributes to what the general public sees and shares. The findings cover journalists, politicians, experts and the public, and how they all share a strong preference for change. 


Authors and Affiliations

  • Conflict Analysis Research Centre, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

    Erik Gahner Larsen

  • Department of International Economics, Government and Business, Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark

    Zoltán Fazekas

About the authors

Erik Gahner Larsen is Senior Scientific Adviser at the Conflict Analysis Research Centre, University of Kent, UK. He has conducted multiple research projects on the coverage of opinion polls in the media, and his research has been published in journals such as the British Journal of Political Science and The International Journal of Press/Politics.

Zoltán Fazekas is Associate Professor of Business and Politics, with focus on quantitative methods in the Department of International Economics, Government and Business at the Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. His research is at the intersection of electoral behavior, psychology, and communication; it has been published in the American Journal of Political Science, Political Communication, and the Journal of Communication, among others.

 


Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access