Lance Bennet's Indexing Theory

JRN2223: THEORIES OF MASS COMMUNICATION
DR K IRERI

THEORY REPORT: INDEXING THEORY

NELISILE PATRICIA MZOLO
639351

MARCH 28 2015
SPRING SEMESTER

UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY – AFRICA
The indexing theory was developed by Lance Bennet in 1990 (Oxford Bibliography). Bennet, who at the time was building on previous works on press- state relations, hypothesized that news content on political and public policy issues generally follows the opinions of elites (government officials and other policy influencers) (Oxford Bibliography). Therefore, the indexing theory suggests that issues with a high-level of political debate among the elites (issues such as war, foreign policy and national security) are likely to receive more

Firstly, Bennet used American press-state relations to formulate his theory as a result; the theory may not be so easily applied to places with not only different media systems/environments but also different political environments (Oxford Bibliography). For example, indexing and US politics is issue-based (i.e. Candidates are evaluated based on the opinion they hold on a certain issue) commonly revolving around the discussion of three major issues; foreign policy, national security and war (Oxford Bibliography). As a result, journalists can rely on the information given by the government because they have superior knowledge on the issue. On the other hand, in countries, like Kenya for example, where politics is based on ethnicity more so than policy issues, Bennet’s theory is harder to conceptualize in this case because the debate among the elite would be based on ethnicity rather than opinions on public policy. Therefore, this leaves the question of the ability to apply the theory beyond the

Along with the assistance of other scholars, he acknowledges the fact that unexpected events can lead reporters to seek information from unusual sources if the officials do not have adequate information or are not prepared to give information at the time of the conflict (Oxford Bibliography). For example, if a member of the elite is involved in a sex scandal and his/her campaign is not ready to give a comment, reporters may seek to get information from the other party involved or less official sources such as junior staff – this counteracts Bennet’s earlier hypothesis. They also suggest that the time-dominating nature of the practice of journalism counters the indexing theory (Oxford Bibliography). For example, a journalist reporting from an area of conflict may have better insight on the issue than the government as a result, the media becomes more critical of the government’s response and as a result, the media will direct the debate (usually in the form of frames) hence, media coverage will not be aligned with the elite debate (Oxford Bibliography). Lastly, they also point out that in certain cases, unofficial advocates can at times create conflict which may allow them media coverage which is usually demarcated to the elite (Oxford Bibliography). For example, a public demonstration over government officials’ salary