The Reciprocal Effects Between Political Interest and TV News Revisited: Evidence From Four Panel Surveys

Although research shows that there is a correlation between political interest and news media use, whether there are reciprocal effects between political interest and news media use remain unsettled. To remedy this and go beyond previous research, this study seeks to investigate the reciprocal relationship between political interest and TV news use (a) across elections, (b) across election periods and a nonelection period, and (c) comparing public service and commercial TV news. Using four representative panel surveys, findings show that there is a reciprocal relationship between political interest and watching public service but not commercial TV news.