Media Influence on Public Opinion About Dutch Road Pricing Policy Proposal

This study investigates the effect of exposure to news reported by newspapers about the Dutch road pricing proposal (Kilometerheffing) on public opinion. The authors combine data from a public opinion survey (N = 705) with a content analysis of 280 news articles about the pricing proposal published in five leading Dutch newspapers. Findings indicate that exposure to news content about Kilometerheffing affects public opinion. They found that the more negative the news content people are exposed to, the more negative their opinions about Kilometerheffing, and in the same way, the more positive the news content is, the more positive their opinions are. The effect, however, differs for obtrusive and unobtrusive issues. The authors' hypothesis was that people’s opinions about the financial impact of Kilometerheffing on households would not be affected by exposure to news content about this issue as this is an obtrusive issue for readers, on the other hand, opinions about the impact of Kilometerheffing on congestion or the environment would be affected by news exposure as these issues are unobtrusive. The results confirm these hypotheses. The authors, therefore, recommend that policy makers particularly focus on unobtrusive issues such as the impact of their proposals on congestion when organizing information campaigns and providing information to the media.

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• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABE25 Congestion Pricing.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Ardiç, Özgül
  • Annema, Jan Anne
  • Molin, Eric
  • van Wee, Bert
  • Bolderdijk, Jan Willem
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC
  • Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
• Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 12p
• Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Attitudes; Information dissemination; Mass media; News; Public opinion; Road pricing; Transportation policy
• Geographic Terms: Netherlands
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Policy; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01506573
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 14-1647
• Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 5 2014 9:48AM