The media regularly use public opinion polls in their reporting of important news stories. But how exactly do they report them and to what end? In this insightful and accessible interview, Professor Justin Lewis demonstrates the way in which polling data are themselves used by the media to not just reflect what Americans think but instead to construct public opinion itself. Addressing vital issues (e.g., the role the media play in "manufacturing consent" for political elites, what polls really tell us about public opinion, what Americans actually think about politics), Constructing Public Opinion provides a new way to think about the relationship between politics, media and the public.

Exploding the myth that most Americans are moderate or conservative, Constructing Public Opinion demonstrates the way in which political elites help to promote the military industrial complex and how the media sustains belief in an electoral system with a built-in bias against the interests of ordinary people. Well illustrated with graphics and many examples of media coverage, it is the first film of its kind to present a critical analysis of media and public opinion.

SECTIONS: Political Perceptions / Economic Forces / Media Coverage / The Phantom Liberal / Military Omissions / Democratic Ideals

Directed and edited by Susan Ericsson
Executive Producer Sut Jhally
Copyright 2001

Professor Justin Lewis has written many books on media and culture, including The Ideological Octopus and Enlightened Racism (with Sut Jhally). He has appeared on the Today Show, National Public Radio and many other media outlets. His most recent book is Constructing Public Opinion: How Political Elites Do What They Like and Why We Appear to Go Along With It, published by Columbia University Press.

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Lewis, J. "What Counts in Cultural Studies", Media, Culture and Society, Winter, 1996, pp. 83-98.

Lewis, J. and Jhally, S. "The Struggle Over Media Literacy", Journal of Communication, Winter 1998, Vol 48, No.1 pp. 109-120

Lewis, J. "The Opinion Poll as a Cultural Form", International Journal of Cultural Studies, 1999, 2 (2) pp. 199-221.

Lewis, J. "Reproducing Political Hegemony in the United States", Critical Studies in Mass Communication, September 1999.

Ouellette, L. and Lewis, J. "Moving Beyond the "Vast Wasteland": Cultural Policy and Television in the U.S.", Television and New Media, February 2000.