The game frame and political efficacy: Beyond the spiral of cynicism

Several observational and experimental studies have confirmed the 'spiral of cynicism' hypothesis: the tendency of the news media to cover politics through a game frame, which focuses on political strategy instead of political issues, leads to cynicism about election campaigns and politicians among the electorate. However, such cynicism may in itself be somewhat inconsequential, and so this article suggests that we move beyond cynicism regarding specific electoral campaigns or politicians, and that we turn our attention towards political efficacy. This is done in an empirical study, which is based on a survey among the electorate and a content analysis of political coverage in newspapers. The study shows that exposure to the game frame is indeed associated with lower levels of internal efficacy, even when controlling for potentially confounding variables.