Through which channel, with what effect :

Abstract

Researchers have long studied the effects of media messages on individuals. The emergence of a new medium, the Internet, demands that we make closer study of the effects from exposure to messages through this channel. This study examines voter exposure to three distinct political messages via television and Internet to determine differences in voter learning, candidate evaluation and likelihood for future information seeking that might arise from the medium, the message, or the interaction of both. Using an experimental design, a sample of 608 subjects viewed campaign advertisements, a broadcast news story, and a debate segment from the 2000 Virginia US Senate campaign on television or streamed over the Internet, and then completed a post-exposure survey instrument. The results of the study offer support for the argument by Marshall McLuhan that the channel of communication does have an impact on what viewers take away from the encounter. The channel of communication does affect voter learning, and there is an interaction of message format and channel that produces varying effects on candidate evaluation.