This document discusses the historical development of journalism and politics in the United States from the nation's founding to today. It covers the evolution of media from the early partisan press through the rise of radio, television, and the internet. Key topics analyzed include the objective journalism era, the Communications Act of 1934 and Fairness Doctrine, the end of the Fairness Doctrine and rise of cable news networks with partisan formats, and the emergence of partisan radio and internet news sites. The roles of journalism are also examined, including its signaling, common carrier, watchdog, and partisan functions. Finally, the document addresses the partisan and information divides among modern news audiences.

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Chapter 10

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Historical Development: From the
Nation’s Founding to Today
The early partisan press
Subsidized by political parties
The objective-journalism era
Helped by telegraph and rotary printing press
Yellow journalism
Radio, the new mass communication system
The FCC and regulation
 The Communications Act
 Fairness Doctrine

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Historical Development: From the
Nation’s Founding to Today
The rise of the “new” news
The end of the Fairness Doctrine
Cable news
 CNN
Founded by Ted Turner in 1980
Chose to pursue a path of partisan neutrality
 Fox News
Chose a partisan (conservative) format
 MSNBC
Liberal format

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Historical Development: From the
Nation’s Founding to Today
The rise of the “new” news
Partisan radio talk shows
 Without the Fairness Doctrine, radio programmers were
free to move to a politically partisan format
Emergence of the Internet
 Low-cost entry compared with other mass media
 Some “new” news outlets a stunning success
 The Drudge Report, Daily Kos, Huffington Post

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Journalism and Politics
The signaling function
Alert the public to important developments
U.S. media well-equipped to play this role
Performed by the traditional media
 Wire services (AP, UPI, Reuters)
 Daily newspapers
 Television networks

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Journalism and Politics
The signaling function
Agenda-setting of U.S. media results in similarity in
national news everywhere
News media meant to inform the public, but also need to
attract an audience
Media focus on politics instead of policy

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Journalism and Politics
The common-carrier function
Conduit for political communication
TV news has become more journalist-centered
Topics often distilled to the “sound bite”
Framing: the way events are cast

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Journalism and Politics
The watchdog function
Objective journalism fosters watchdog reporting
 Watergate
 Edward Snowden NSA leaks in 2013
Internet has expanded watchdog capacity of media
 Almost any event today will be filmed or taped

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Journalism and Politics
The partisan function
Traditional media: mostly neutral
Talk shows: mostly conservative
The Internet: mostly liberal

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The News Audience
The partisan divide
Until the 1980s Americans had three TV networks
 Huge daily audiences—newscasts varied only slightly
 Viewers exposed to the views of both political parties
Patterns disrupted
 Fairness Doctrine rescinded
 The emergence of cable TV and the Internet

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The News Audience
The information divide
More news outlets, yet viewers less informed
Fragmented news sources have led to partisan polarization
among audience
More news available, but alternate programming aids
avoidance of news
Younger people are less informed than older people about
political affairs

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