| Abstract [eng] |
Summary The effect of exposure to news media on judge performance evaluations of young adults The media’s ability to influence the opinions of its audience is a pressing topic. It’s especially important in regards to topics that most people have no direct experiences with (such as the judicial system). The media’s methods for presenting biased information (such as highlighting or ignoring certain contexts of a given issue) can influence a distorted interpretation and evaluation of issues. The sample of this study is composed of 18-30 year old young adults. 160 respondents began the study, but due to people dropping out, the sample comprises 87 people who finished the study. The aim of the study was to determine if participants' opinions of judge performance evaluations can be influenced by presented news excerpts that feature different emotional tone and evaluations of a certain scenario. The study was conducted via internet platforms, where participants filled out a judge and court performance evaluation questionnaire. Participants would participate in weekly phases, where the first phase was meant to evaluate their base evaluation scores, the second phase introduced the excerpts before filling out the questionnaire and finally the third and fourth phases are meant to measure the persistence of the effect of the excerpts. The participants were randomly assigned into 3 groups, based on what different excerpt they received about a case hearing in the Lithuanian court of appeals, each with a different context and emotional tone. Results show that all excerpts in the study significantly reduce participants’ opinions of judges and that this effect is persistent over repeated measures. We were unable to determine a significant effect of different excerpts on participants in different groups. A significant link was determined between judge evaluations and trust in the judicial system. |
