Joseph N. Capella and Kathleen Hall Jamieson's 1997 book Spiral of Cynicism: The Press and the Public Good (Oxford University Press) was selected to receive the 2009 ICA Fellows Book Award. The award recognizes those books that have made a substantial contribution to the scholarship of the communication field, as well as the broader rubric of the social sciences, and have stood some test of time. Any book nominated must have been available for at least the immediate past five years prior to the conference at which the award is presented.
"Spiral of Cynicism approaches political life from a distinctly communicative point of view," said Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, chair of the ICA Fellows Book Award Committee, in announcing the selection. "All too often, political scientists ignore the details of message behavior in their rush to document receiver effects. Spiral of Cynicism, in contrast, looks carefully at discursive realities instead of placing all of its faith in survey data.
"The result," Fitzpatrick added, "is a nicely blended book that says important things, and does so in an engaging and provocative manner. [It] tries to drive us from fixations on the motivation of political actors toward a focus on larger questions about the common good."
Spiral of Cynicism is a critical examination, and ultimately indictment, of the media and political spheres in the United States. Cappella and Jamieson argue that the contemporary trend of hype and flash, of style over substance, has encouraged a new level of apathy and cynicism from the voters and the public at large. This cynicism, they discover through a series of three experimental studies, extends to both political candidates and the media itself. The book then makes a case for reform of the news media from within. At the time of its publication, Spiral of Cynicism was immediately hailed as a landmark study and a model of research for students of politics and media. "It merits a broad audience among politicians, journalists, and engaged citizens, and it promises to be an invaluable text in undergraduate and graduate courses," said the review in the Harvard International Journal of Press and Politics.
Cappella is the Gerald R. Miller Chair at the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Fellow and Past President of ICA. Jamieson is the Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor of Communication and Walter and Leonore Annenberg Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. She appeared regularly on Bill Moyers Journal throughout the 2008 presidential election campaign. They were presented with the Award on May 23, 2009 during ICA's 59th Annual International Conference in Chicago, Illinois.
