The Elections in Israel 1992

CHAPTER 11. Voters as Consumers: Audience Perspectives on the Election Broadcasts

CHAPTER 11 Voters as Consumers: Audience Perspectives on the Election Broadcasts GADI WOLFSFELD The Hebrew University ofJerusalem Televised advertisements have become a central component of the Israeli election campaign in recent years. Millions of shekels are poured into the production of these commercials, and their content and tone have an important impact on the pace and agenda of the election campaign. The newspapers carry daily reviews of the previous evening's broadcasts as various pundits attempt to rate the effectiveness of the ads in the perennial attempt to determine who is "winning" the campaign. The underlying question appears to be, Who is doing the bestjob at manipulating the public? The controversy over whether or not these ads should be broadcast takes place during every election campaign. In addition to making the usual complaints about the dominance of "style" over "substance," many commentators are alienated by the often vicious attacks of the two major parties on one another. Questions are also raised about whether or not the ads really have any effect on anyone. This controversy continued during the 1992 election campaign, and concerns over the waste of public monies were fueled by press reports that the number of people who were viewing the election broadcasts had declined. In order to evaluate the utility of the election broadcasts, or whether or not there is a need to change the existing format, we need to be more specific about their purpose. The approach that will be adopted in this article is best described byJoslyn (1990) in which he calls on researchers to look at elections campaigns as "occasions for civic education." While the 235 > Home | TOC | Index 236 Wolfsfeld intended goal of the election broadcasts is persuasion, they also provide an important channel for the dissemination of political information about the candidates and positions of the various political parties. This type of information can be valuable for many citizens, including those who have already decided on how they will vote. The broadcasts can also serve other positive functions such as stimulating a greater level of political interest, discussion, and participation in the election campaign. We see voters as intelligent consumers of political information (Himmelweit, Humphreys, andJaeger 1985; Popkin 1991) who are perfectly capable of evaluating whether or not tile election broadcasts are meeting their needs. This perspective differs from a good deal of the previous research in political communication, which looks almost exclusively at the "effects" of such commercials on candidate images and voting behavior (see, e.g., Biocca 1991; Kaid, Nimmo, and Sanders 1986; Kaid and Boydston 1987). The ideas which are presented in this article do, however, dovetail ratller well with the "uses and gratifications" school of thought, which also looks at these issues by looking at the needs of the audience (Blumer 1985; Blumer, Gurevitch, and Katz 1985; Caspi 1984; Caspi and Levinsohn 1993; Donohew, Palmgreen, and Rayburn 1987). The starting point for any evaluation of these broadcasts should begin by comparing what tile public expects from tllese broadcasts with what they are getting. Accordingly, we shall examine the 1992 election broadcasts by asking voters about the utility of the election broadcasts. The discussion will be divided into two sections. The discussion in the first section will look at the altitudes and behavior of tile general public. It is important to look at such issues as the size of the audience for such ads, reasons for watching and not watching the ads, and the general level ofsatisfaction with what is being broadcast. The second part of the study will focus on a more specific group of consumers: the undecided voters. Many voters in this group should be actively searching for political information in order to make their decision about their final "purchase." It will be useful to find out about the size and nature of this group and who among them find the broadcasts helpful as a voting guide. We shall also present some results lhat indicate the amount of help voters say they received from the one political debate that was televised as compared to the other political ads that were broadcast. All of these factors will allow us to better evaluate the overall utility of the broadcasts for the electorate. In this paper we shall attempt to answer these questions based on a national survey that was carried out a few days after the election in 1992. The survey was carried out by the Guttmann Institute of Applied Social Science Research in Jerusalem.· The survey was conducted...