BOOK REVIEW

Book Review: Rush to Judgment: Talk Radio, Persuasion, and

American Political Behavior

Book Review: Rush to Judgment

Introduction

In this paper we are going to write a book review of “rush to judgment” written by Mark Lane. This historical book is written on a very controversial assassination of American President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Mark Lane is an attorney who raised this issue in his book himself.

Review of the book

In the book of Rush to Judgment the author Mark Lane stated that the call-in political talk radio persuasion, and American political behavior shows o?er a unique setting for studying media e?ects on the formation and change of political attitudes. PTR in the U.S. is a highly partisan medium that is often characterized by intense and one-sided political information to which audiences are repeatedly exposed. Under this condition the e?ect of political messages on audiences' attitudes is expected to be maximal. Moreover, PTR continues to be a vital interactive medium for the dissemination of political and civic knowledge, and a vibrant forum for exchange of political attitudes and mo- bilization of political participation. Hence, the information and messages contained in PTR are highly conducive to political socialization.

Finally, PTR o?ers a fruitful ground for political communication research because its audience may be relatively easily distinguished by political predispositions and level of exposure. This diversity within and across PTR listeners (including non-listeners) can be e?ectively used to test hypotheses about the importance of political pre- dispositions and exposure dosages to the prospects of political persuasion.

The present study was designed to take advantage of these unique characteristics of PTR shows. The study focuses on the e?ect of PTR messages on their audiences' political attitudes with the particular objective of carefully examining the nature of the causal relationship between exposure to highly persuasive political messages in PTRs and political attitude change. We begin with a brief summary of the literature pertaining to the impact of PTR on their audiences and then present several hypotheses regarding the causal association between media exposure and political attitudes change.

Impact Of Political Talk Radio Shows On Their Audiences

Political talk radio may be de?ned as call-in shows that o?er discussion of politicians, elections, and issues pertaining to public policy. The most notable characteristics of this medium are its interactive and entertaining nature, high degree of partisanship, and emphasis on political mobilization in addition to the dissemination of alternative political information to audiences. According to recent estimates, between 18 and 20 percent of the adult population report listening to at least one PTR show at least twice a week, although there is evidence that PTR listening in the United States has declined throughout the 2000s.

The author states that the popularity of PTR has drawn much attention from journalists and researchers alike. Whereas elites and mainstream media tend to be critical of PTR and their content PTR shows and their hosts are increasingly seen as important ?gures in national and local politics. Recent studies found that PTR listenership was associated with ...