Self-Efficacy, Media Use as Predictors of Current-Events Knowledge

The news quiz has doubtless been used as a tool in journalism classrooms since introductory skills courses were first taught. And just as certainly, journalism instructors have gathered together in hand-wringing sessions to disdain their students' poor performance on those quizzes. However, trends showing dramatic decreases in newspaper reading among the young (see Baskette, Sissors, & Brooks, 1992) have given a special imperative to concern about young people's current-affairs awareness, especially among journalism students.News quizzes seem to play two roles in the journalism skills classroom: First, they act as a pedagogical catalyst to promote habitual news media use; second, the quizzes serve as an evaluative device, to measure current-events knowledge. Implicit in both goals is the assumption that increased news-media use will cause the student to be better informed about current events. However obvious that assumption may seem, it does not consider the possibility that background variables other than media use may be driving current-affairs knowledge.Rosenberg's (1968) classic discussion of surveys warned of contingent associations driven by extraneous variables that go unmeasured. Such variables can be collinear with the dimensions of central interest to the processes under investigation. He points out that "strictly speaking there are no spurious relationships, there are only spurious interpretations" (p. 28).In that regard, this study looks at the effects of two other background variables--political self-efficacy and grade point average--on current-affairs knowledge.Media use as a predictor of knowledge. The paradox of mass media effects research is the expectation of a strong relationship, where empirical evidence supports only a weak one. Beniger (1990) documents nine theoretical attempts to unravel the paradox, including agenda setting (see McCombs & Shaw, 1972), uses and gratifications (see Blumler & Katz, 1974), the spiral of silence (see Katz, 1984), and more.Despite this problem, journalism skills instructors still seem to adhere to a strong effects model when they routinely administer news quizzes. That is, the assumption underlying the use of the quizzes is that mere exposure to news media will result in increased knowledge. However, results of current-affairs knowledge quizzes given in the general population do not tend to support that notion (see Newhagen & Reeves, 1992). Results from those studies group people into one of two categories described by Converse (1964). One group is very small and makes up an active, well-informed, political elite. Members are older, belong to the middle class, read newspapers every day, and do very well on current-affairs quizzes. The other group, however, is large and poorly in formed, essentially existing outside the political system. This group is younger and relies more on television as a source of news (see Robinson, 1975, 1976); its members do badly on current-affairs quizzes.The canons of professional journalism proscribe membership in the political elite. This makes sense, because many of the characteristics regarded as positive in professional journalism also are to be found among members of the political elite described by Converse. The socialization of journalism students to those norms can be seen, really, as part of the rites of passage into this political elite. Prominent among the traits common to both is active attention to political and civic affairs. This attention is a reflection, in a sense, of political efficacy.Political self-efficacy. Political efficacy was first defined as "the feeling that individual political action does have, or can have, an impact upon the political process, i.e., that it is worthwhile to perform one's civic duties" (Campbell, Gurin, & Miller, 1954, p. 187). This definition embodies the question "does my vote count?" and focuses on an assessment of the political system more than the individual's ability to cope with it. …