NEWS MEDIA EXPOSURE AND POLITICAL ALIENATION IN SLOVENIA

V teoretičnem delu pričujoče magistrske naloge smo se osredotočili na politično alienacijo, ki je po eni izmed opredelitev kombinacija nizkega zaupanja v politiko in nizkega zanimanja za politiko. Nadaljevali smo z opredelitvijo dimenzij politične alienacije, in sicer s političnim nezaupanjem, z notranjo in zunanjo politično učinkovitostjo, z brezpomenskostjo ter s politično apatijo. Prikazali smo tudi rezultate raziskave o odnosu med politično alienacijo in politično participacijo. Posebno pozornost smo namenili prikazu raziskav o odnosu med spremljanjem (informativnih) medijev in politično alienacijo, kjer s strani različnih avtorjev obstajajo različna mnenja o politični alienaciji. Nekateri avtorji vidijo spremljanje (informativnih) medijev, predvsem televizije, kot tisto, ki prispeva k politični alienacijipo drugi strani pa nekateri avtorji trdijo, da spremljanje (informativnih) medijev ni tisto, ki prispeva k povečanju politične alienacije v državi. Prav tako smo opisali pojem politične kulture in njegovo povezanost z demokracijo ter pomembnost zaupanja v politiko za demokracijo. V empiričnem delu smo preučili odnos med spremljanjem medijev s političnimi/informativnimi vsebinami in zanimanjem za politiko, političnim cinizmom ter notranjo politično učinkovitostjo. Analizirali smo podatke raziskav Slovensko javno mnenje 2012 in Mladina 2010. Rezultati kažejo, da se tisti, ki pogosteje spremljajo medije s politično/aktualno tematiko, bolj zanimajo za politiko in izkazujejo nižjo stopnjo političnega cinizma. Ugotovili smo tudi, da je pogostejše spremljanje politične/aktualne tematike na radiu in internetu povezano z višjo stopnjo zunanje politične učinkovitosti. Naši rezultati dajejo v večji meri podporo teoriji medijske mobilizacije kot teoriji medijskega negativizma.In the theoretical part of this master\u27s thesis we focused on the political alienation, which is by one definition a combination of low political/institutional trust and low interest in politics. We continued with the definition of the dimensions of political alienation, namely political distrust, internal and external political efficacy, political meaninglessness and political apathy. We have also presented the results of previous studies on the relationship between political alienation and political participation. Special attention was devoted to presentation of research on the relationship between exposure to (informative/news) media and political alienation, for which scholars differ in their viewssome authors argue that the exposure to (informative/news) media, especially television contributes to political alienation, while other authors argue the opposite. We also described the concept of political culture and its association with democracy, and examined the importance trust in politics has for the democracy. In the empirical part we examined the relationship between exposure to political/informative media and interest in politics, political cynicism and external political efficacy. We analyzed the survey data of Slovenian Public Opinion 2012 and Slovenian Youth 2010. The results show that those youth who follow media with political/informative contents more often, are also more interested in politics and show lower level of political cynicism. We have also found that more frequent exposure to political/informative contents on the radio and on the internet is associated with higher level of external political efficacy. Our results provide greater support to the theory of media mobilization than to the theory of media malaise