Does the media influence the National Congress? A study of the perceptions of federal deputies in Brazil (2011-2014)

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to investigate the determinants of the perceptions of federal deputies in Brazil about the influence of the media on their opinions and votes. The research is based on four rounds of face-to-face surveys applied to representative samples of the members of the Chamber of Deputies between 2011 and 2014. In all, 954 interviews were carried out with federal deputies in office during the 54th Legislature. The results show that media habits, political-ideological factors and sociodemographic characteristics have significant influence on the opinions and votes of federal deputies. More specifically, those who most frequently read political columnists from the nationally-renowned media, who are affiliated with center-right parties and who are new to the Chamber more often affirm that they are influenced by the media. On the other hand, we identified less influence of the media on the deputies who belong to the evangelical caucus of the Chamber and among the older members. Our findings are consistent with theoretical expectations that the media exert influence on legislators through an instrumental effect, compatible with the theory of uses and gratifications.

Keywords:
Media influence; federal deputies; theory of uses and gratifications; journalists; evangelical caucus