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Communication Research
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"Dark Areas of Ignorance" Revisited

Comparing International Affairs Knowledge in Switzerland and the United States

Shanto Iyengar

Stanford University

Kyu S. Hahn

University of California, Los Angeles, kyuhahn{at}ucla.edu, Yonsei University

Heinz Bonfadelli

University of Zurich

Mirko Marr

University of Zurich

This study tests the hypothesis that cross-national differences in public awareness of international affairs are attributable to differences in the supply of international news and citizens' demand for information. Simultaneously, the authors compared the level of news coverage accorded specific "target" subjects in major Swiss and U.S. news organizations and the level of attentiveness to news among Swiss and U.S. citizens. The authors' results revealed that Swiss media provided more hard international news than U.S. media, that Swiss citizens reported higher levels of news exposure, and that the Swiss were also considerably more informed than the Americans on questions of hard news. Using a multilevel model, the authors further demonstrate that the effects of news on knowledge are stronger in Switzerland and that the greater availability of international news has the effect of reducing the knowledge gap between more and less attentive Swiss.

Key Words: political knowledge • media systems • hard and soft news • international and domestic news • comparative studies

This version was published on June 1, 2009

Communication Research, Vol. 36, No. 3, 341-358 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0093650209333024
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