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Chapter 7
- 1. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
- 2. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
- 3. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Chapter 7: The Mass Media and The Political Agenda • The Mass Media Today • The Development of Media Politics • Reporting the News • The News and Public Opinion • Policy Entrepreneurs and Agenda Setting • Understanding the Mass Media • Summary
- 4. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Chapter Outline and Learning Objectives • The Mass Media Today • LO 7.1: Describe how American politicians choreograph their messages through the mass media. • The Development of Media Politics • LO 7.2: Outline the key developments in the history of mass media and American politics.
- 5. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Chapter Outline and Learning Objectives • Reporting the News • LO 7.3: List the major criteria that determine which news stories receive the most media attention. • The News and Public Opinion • LO 7.4: Analyze the impact the media has on what policy issues Americans think about.
- 6. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Chapter Outline and Learning Objectives • Policy Entrepreneurs and Agenda Setting • LO 7.5: Explain how policy entrepreneurs employ media strategies to influence the public agenda. • Understanding the Mass Media • LO 7.6: Assess the impact of the mass media on the scope of government and democracy in America.
- 7. The Mass Media Today LO 7.1: Describe how American politicians choreograph their messages through the mass media. • High-Tech Politics • Politics in which the behavior of citizens, policymakers, and the political agenda are shaped by technology. • Mass Media • Television, radio, newspapers, magazines, Internet, and other means of popular communication. To Learning Objectives Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
- 8. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman The Mass Media Today • Media Events • Events that are purposely staged for the media and that are significant just because the media are there. • Politicians often stage activities primarily for the benefit of TV cameras. To Learning Objectives LO 7.1
- 9. To Learning Objectives LO 7.1 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
- 10. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman The Mass Media Today • News Management by Reagan • Plan ahead; stay on the offensive; control the flow of information; and limit the reporters’ access to president. • Talk about the issues you want to talk about; speak in one voice; and repeat the same message many times. To Learning Objectives LO 7.1
- 11. The Development of Media Politics LO 7.2: Outline the key developments in the history of mass media and American politics. • Press Conferences • Public officials and reporters. • Investigative Journalism • Reporting to unearth scandals, scams, and schemes. • Print Media • Newspapers and magazines. • Electronic Media • Radio, television, and Internet. To Learning Objectives Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
- 12. To Learning Objectives LO 7.2 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
- 13. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman The Development of Media Politics • The Print Media • The Emergence of Radio and Television • Government Regulation of Electronic Media • From Broadcasting to Narrowcasting: The Rise of Cable and Cable News • The Impact of the Internet • Private Control of the Media To Learning Objectives LO 7.2
- 14. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman The Development of Media Politics • The Print Media • Yellow Journalism – Sensational style of reporting characterized newspapers at the turn of the century. • Chains – Groups of newspapers published by media conglomerates and today accounting for over four-fifths of the nation’s daily newspaper circulation. To Learning Objectives LO 7.2
- 15. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman The Development of Media Politics • The Emergence of Radio and Television • Brought government and politics into peoples’ homes with events like the Vietnam War. • Politicians’ appearances and mannerisms are more important like events such as the Kennedy-Nixon presidential debates. To Learning Objectives LO 7.2
- 16. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman The Development of Media Politics • Government Regulation of Electronic Media • The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates the use of airwaves to (1) prevent near monopoly control of market, (2) review the performance of stations, and (3) issue fair treatment rules for politicians. To Learning Objectives LO 7.2
- 17. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman The Development of Media Politics • From Broadcasting to Narrowcasting: The Rise of Cable and Cable News • Narrowcasting – Media program on cable TV or Internet that is focused on one topic and aimed at a particular audience. • Cable TV news channels can bring the news to people and political leaders as it happens. To Learning Objectives LO 7.2
- 18. To Learning Objectives LO 7.2 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
- 19. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman The Development of Media Politics • The Impact of the Internet • Internet facilitates communication about politics in every conceivable direction. • Potential to inform Americans about politics. • Internet is purposive – People choose what to learn about. • Blogs provide additional information about news stories. To Learning Objectives LO 7.2
- 20. To Learning Objectives LO 7.2 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
- 21. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman The Development of Media Politics • Private Control of the Media • Media is independent in what they can report and totally depend on advertising revenues. • Primary objective is getting the biggest possible audience. • Chains – Massive media conglomerates that account for over 80% of the nation’s daily newspaper circulation. To Learning Objectives LO 7.2
- 22. Reporting the News LO 7.3: List the major criteria that determine which news stories receive the most media attention. • Finding the News • Presenting the News • Bias in the News To Learning Objectives Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
- 23. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Reporting the News • Finding the News • Beats – Specific locations from which news frequently emanates, like Congress or White House. • Trial Balloons – An intentional news leak for the purpose of assessing political reaction. • Reporters and their sources depend on each other for stories and to get them out. To Learning Objectives LO 7.3
- 24. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Reporting the News • Presenting the News • Superficial describes most news coverage today. • Sound Bites – Short video clips of approximately 10 seconds. • Major TV networks devote less time to covering political candidates. To Learning Objectives LO 7.3
- 25. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Reporting the News • Bias in the News • Many people believe the news is biased in favor of one point of view. • Generally is not very biased toward a particular ideology. • News reporting is biased towards what will draw the largest audience such as good pictures and negative reporting. To Learning Objectives LO 7.3
- 26. To Learning Objectives LO 7.3 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
- 27. The News and Public Opinion LO 7.4: Analyze the impact the media has on what policy issues Americans think about. • Media Can Affect What Americans Think About • By increasing public attention to specific problems, the media influence how the public evaluates political leaders. • By emphasizing one event over others, the media can have an effect on how the public evaluates specific events. To Learning Objectives Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
- 28. Policy Entrepreneurs and Agenda Setting LO 7.5: Explain how policy entrepreneurs employ media strategies to influence the public agenda. • Policy Agenda • Issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people involved in politics at the time. • Policy Entrepreneurs • People in or out of government who invest their political “capital” in an issue they want on the policy agenda. To Learning Objectives Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
- 29. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Policy Entrepreneurs and Agenda Setting • Policy Entrepreneurs’ Weapons • Press releases and conferences; letter writing; convincing reporters and columnists to tell their side of the story; and trading personal contacts. • People in power can also use a news leak, a carefully placed bit of inside information that is given to a friendly reporter. To Learning Objectives LO 7.5
- 30. Understanding the Mass Media LO 7.6: Assess the impact of the mass media on the scope of government and democracy in America. • The Media and the Scope of Government • Democracy and the Media To Learning Objectives Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
- 31. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Understanding the Mass Media • The Media and the Scope of Government • Media as watchdog restricts politicians. • New proposals are met with skepticism which restricts scope of government, what it can do. • Media reports problem and force government to address it which expands the scope of government. To Learning Objectives LO 7.6
- 32. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Understanding the Mass Media • Democracy and the Media • Information is the fuel of democracy. • But news provides more entertainment than information; it is superficial. • News is a business, giving people what they want. To Learning Objectives LO 7.6
- 33. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman LO 7.1 Summary • The Mass Media Today • Politicians stage media events for the primary purpose of getting attention from the media. • These events are artfully stage-managed to present the intended message. • Campaign commercials are also carefully crafted to convey specific images and information. To Learning Objectives
- 34. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Media events are purposely staged and are significant just because the media are A. high-tech. B. there. C. technology. D. politics. To Learning Objectives LO 7.1
- 35. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Media events are purposely staged and are significant just because the media are A. high-tech. B. there. C. technology. D. politics. To Learning Objectives LO 7.1
- 36. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman LO 7.2 Summary • The Development of Media Politics • Newspapers were long the dominant media for news. • Since the emergence of television they have been on the decline. • Internet accelerated the decline of newspaper reading and newspapers failed to establish profitability for their online editions. To Learning Objectives
- 37. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman LO 7.2 Summary • The Development of Media Politics (cont.) • Nightly network news broadcasts on CBS, NBC, and ABC were the #1 means by which Americans got their news from the 1960s through the 1980s. • Since cable and cable news they have seen their audiences shrink as TV has moved from broadcasting to the narrowcasting era. To Learning Objectives
- 38. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman LO 7.2 Summary • The Development of Media Politics (cont.) • The Internet provides more access to political information than ever possible before. • Campaigns and political activists have been able to use the Internet to organize for political action and to get specially targeted messages out. To Learning Objectives
- 39. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman The trend toward more negative and cynical news coverage began during the A. Great Depression. B. Korean War. C. Vietnam War. D. Persian Gulf War. To Learning Objectives LO 7.2
- 40. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman The trend toward more negative and cynical news coverage began during the A. Great Depression. B. Korean War. C. Vietnam War. D. Persian Gulf War. To Learning Objectives LO 7.2
- 41. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman LO 7.3 Summary • Reporting the News • The media define “news” largely as events that are unusual and out of the ordinary. • Because of economic pressures, the media are biased in favor of stories with high drama that will attract people’s interest instead of extended analyses of complex issues. To Learning Objectives
- 42. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Which of the following factors best account(s) for what is considered newsworthy? A. A story’s high entertainment value. B. A story’s high informational value. C. A story’s high political value. D. All of the above. To Learning Objectives LO 7.3
- 43. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Which of the following factors best account(s) for what is considered newsworthy? A. A story’s high entertainment value. B. A story’s high informational value. C. A story’s high political value. D. All of the above. To Learning Objectives LO 7.3
- 44. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman LO 7.4 Summary • The News and Public Opinion • Media shapes the political agenda. • What issues Americans think about is very influenced by which issues the media choose to cover. • The media are like a searchlight, bringing one episode and then another out of darkness and into the public eye. To Learning Objectives
- 45. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Which of the following characterizes how media affect public opinion? A. Media affect which issues the public finds to be important. B. Media affect the public’s evaluation of elected officials. C. Media affect knowledgeable citizens’ policy agendas. D. All of the above. To Learning Objectives LO 7.4
- 46. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Which of the following characterizes how media affect public opinion? A. Media affect which issues the public finds to be important. B. Media affect the public’s evaluation of elected officials. C. Media affect knowledgeable citizens’ policy agendas. D. All of the above. To Learning Objectives LO 7.4
- 47. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman LO 7.5 Summary • Policy Entrepreneurs and Agenda Setting • Policy entrepreneurs seek to influence the policy agenda by getting the media to pay attention to the issues that concern them. • They use strategies to obtain media coverage, including press releases, press conferences, letter writing, and staging dramatic events. To Learning Objectives
- 48. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Policy entrepreneurs’ arsenal of weapons includes A. press releases. B. press conferences. C. letter writing. D. all of the above. To Learning Objectives LO 7.5
- 49. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Policy entrepreneurs’ arsenal of weapons includes A. press releases. B. press conferences. C. letter writing. D. all of the above. To Learning Objectives LO 7.5
- 50. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman LO 7.6 Summary • Understanding the Mass Media • The media’s role as a watchdog over government sometimes constrains expansions of the scope of government by being skeptical about what government can accomplish. • On the other hand, media crusades against injustice sometimes serve to encourage government to take on increased responsibilities. To Learning Objectives
- 51. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman LO 7.6 Summary • Understanding the Mass Media (cont.) • The media’s superficial coverage of policy issues is criticized by many democratic theorists. • Yet, members of the media argue in their own defense that they are only providing the sort of coverage of politics that draws the biggest audiences. To Learning Objectives
- 52. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Television’s emphasis on the individual has the effect of encouraging A. greater news coverage of the Supreme Court. B. greater news coverage of Congress. C. greater news coverage of ordinary voters. D. greater news coverage of the presidency. To Learning Objectives LO 7.6
- 53. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Television’s emphasis on the individual has the effect of encouraging A. greater news coverage of the Supreme Court. B. greater news coverage of Congress. C. greater news coverage of ordinary voters. D. greater news coverage of the presidency. To Learning Objectives LO 7.6
- 54. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Text Credits • 221: The American Journalist in the 21st Century by David H.Weaver et al. Copyright 2007 by TAYLOR & FRANCIS GROUP LLC-BOOKS. Reproduced with permission of TAYLOR & FRANCIS GROUP LLC-BOOKS in the format Textbook via Copyright Clearance Center.
- 55. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Photo Credits • 216L: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images • 216R: Diana Walker/Time and Life Pictures/Getty • 219: AP Photos • 225: AP Photos; 230: Used with permission of Matt Wuerker and The Cartoonist Group. All Rights Reserved • 232: Robyn Beck/Getty Images
Editor's Notes
- Chapter 7: The Mass Media and The Political Agenda
- Brief Contents of Chapter 7: The Mass Media and The Political Agenda
- Lecture Tips and Suggestions for In-Class Activities We frequently complain about bias by the media in reporting the policies and activities of the president and Congress, but officeholders also manipulate the media. In fact, modern political success depends upon control of the mass media. Have your class try to determine how each manipulates the other. Divide your class into five groups: network television, daily local newspapers, daily national newspapers, cable news, and radio. Ask that they watch, read, or listen to the news only from their arranged source for one or two weeks, and then quiz them in terms of their knowledge of current events. Do students relying on one source know more than those relying on other sources?
- Lecture Tips and Suggestions for In-Class Activities Ask your students to discuss the role that the profit motive plays in how journalists report the news. What would be their reactions to proposals to have a publicly funded information service? For class discussion, ask students to evaluate whether American mass media has become too powerful. In particular, ask students to debate whether mass media’s impact on public opinion and political outcomes is consistent with the concepts of limited government and balanced power. Is there any democratic way to hold mass media organizations accountable for their behavior?
- Lecture Tips and Suggestions for In-Class Activities For class discussion, ask students to discuss the ways in which policy entrepreneurs can use their arsenal of weapons to influence the public agenda. In particular, have students provide examples from the textbook of how policy entrepreneurs can use press releases, press conferences, and letter writing; how they can try to convince reporters and columnists to tell their side; how they can trade on personal contacts; and in cases of desperation, how they can resort to staging dramatic events. For class discussion, ask students to discuss the ways in which mass media influences the political thought and behavior of citizens. In particular, have students evaluate the media’s role in creating an informed citizenry, which is vital to the successful functioning of democratic government.
- Lecture Outline The Mass Media Today The American political system has entered a new period of high-tech politics in which the behavior of citizens and policymakers, as well as the political agenda itself, is increasingly shaped by technology. The mass media are a key part of that technology. Television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and other means of popular communication are called mass media because they reach out and profoundly influence not only the elites but the masses.
- Lecture Outline The Mass Media Today Modern political success depends upon control of the mass media. Candidates have learned that one way to guide the media’s focus is to limit what they report on to carefully scripted events. These events are known as media events, that is, events that are staged primarily for the purpose of being covered.
- LO 7.1 Image: Politicians often stage activities primarily for the benefit of TV cameras.
- Lecture Outline The Mass Media Today According to journalist Mark Hertsgaard, news management in the Reagan White House operated on the following seven principles: (1) plan ahead, (2) stay on the offensive, (3) control the flow of information, (4) limit reporters’ access to the president, (5) talk about the issues you want to talk about, (6) speak in one voice, and (7) repeat the same message many times.
- Lecture Outline The Development of Media Politics Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945), practically invented media politics. To Roosevelt, the media were a potential ally. Roosevelt promised reporters two presidential press conferences—meetings with reporters—a week, resulting in about 1,000 press conferences during his 12 years in the White House. Investigative journalism is the use of in-depth reporting to unearth scandals, scams, and schemes, at times putting reporters in adversarial relationships with political leaders. To explore the development of media politics, we need to distinguish between two kinds of media: the print media, which include newspapers and magazines, and the electronic media, which include radio, television, and the Internet. Newspapers, radio, and television have each reshaped political communication at some point in American history.
- Figure 7.1 The Importance Journalists Assign to Various Roles of the Mass Media
- Lecture Outline It is so very important to outline the key developments in the history of mass media and American politics.
- Lecture Outline The Print Media The first American daily newspaper was printed in Philadelphia in 1783, but daily newspapers did not become common until the technological advances of the mid-nineteenth century. Rapid printing and cheap paper made the “penny press” possible—a paper that could be bought for a penny and read at home. By the 1840s, the telegraph permitted a primitive “wire service,” which relayed news stories from city to city faster than ever before. The Associated Press, founded in 1849, depended heavily on this new technology. Two newspaper magnates, Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, enlivened journalism around the turn of the century. This was the era of yellow journalism, where the main topics were sensationalized accounts of violence, corruption, wars, and gossip. Newspapers consolidated into chains during the early part of the twentieth century. Today’s massive media conglomerates control newspapers with 78 percent of the nation’s daily circulation; these chains often control television and radio stations as well. (cont.)
- Lecture Outline Among the most influential newspapers today are the New York Times (a cut above most newspapers in its influence and impact almost from the beginning), the Washington Post (perhaps the best coverage inside Washington), and papers from a few major cities (the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and others). For most newspapers in medium-sized and small towns, the main source of national and world news is the Associated Press wire service. Magazines The political content of leading magazines is pretty slim. Newsweeklies such as Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report rank well behind popular favorites such as Reader’s Digest, TV Guide, and National Geographic. Serious magazines of political news and opinion (such as the New Republic, the National Review, and Commentary) are primarily read by the educated elite. --- The Emergence of Radio and Television The broadcast media have gradually displaced the print media as Americans’ principal source of news and information. Radio was invented in 1903; the first modern commercial radio station was Pittsburgh’s KDKA, whose first broadcast was of the 1920 Harding-Cox presidential election returns. (cont.)
- Lecture Outline As a form of technology, television is almost as old as radio; the first television station appeared in 1931. The 1950s and 1960s were the adolescent years for American television. The first televised presidential debate was the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debate. The poll results from this debate illustrate the visual power of television in American politics: whereas people listening to the radio gave the edge to Nixon, those who saw it on television thought Kennedy won. Television took the nation to the war in Vietnam during the 1960s, and TV exposed governmental naïveté (some said it was outright lying) about the progress of the war. President Johnson soon had two wars on his hands, one in Vietnam and the other at home with antiwar protesters—both covered in detail by the media. --- Government Regulation of Electronic Media The FCC’s regulation takes several important forms. (cont.)
- Lecture Outline First, to prevent near monopolies of control over a broadcast market, the FCC has instituted rules to limit the number of stations owned or controlled by one company. Since a simplification in 1996, the rule has been just that no single owner can control more than 35 percent of the broadcast market. Second, the FCC conducts periodic examinations of the goals and performance of stations as part of its licensing authority. Congress long ago stipulated that in order to receive a broadcasting license, a station must serve the public interest. (cont.) --- From Broadcasting to Narrowcasting: The Rise of Cable and Cable News With the growth of cable TV, and a variety of cable news networks such as the Cable News Network (CNN), television has entered a new era of bringing news to people (and to political leaders) as it happens. However, scholars criticize cable news for its lack of deep news value and in-depth reporting. Broadcast news viewer ship continues to decline due to competition with cable news, the Internet, and other new technologies. Increasingly, narrowcasting has replaced broadcasting, meaning stations target particularly narrow audiences.
- The FCC has on only rare occasion withdrawn licenses for failing to do so, as when a Chicago station lost its license for neglecting informational programs and for presenting obscene movies. Third, the FCC has issued a number of fair treatment rules concerning access to the airwaves for political candidates and officeholders. The equal time rule stipulates that if a station sells advertising time to one candidate, it must be willing to sell equal time to other candidates for the same office. And the right-of-reply rule states if a person is attacked on a broadcast other than the news, then that person has a right to reply via the same station. --- LO 7.2 Image: Here, John McCain can be seen making his 13th appearance on “The Daily Show” in May 2008.
- Lecture Outline The Impact of the Internet The greater availability for those who are politically interested to access limitless amounts of information through the Internet and specialized narrowcasts, combined with the ability of those who are uninterested to avoid news of any kind while using the media, is increasing the division between the knowledgeable and the apathetic.
- LO 7.2 Image: In 2005, 23-year old Garrett Graff, became the first person to receive a White House press pass for writing a blog.
- Lecture Outline Private Control of the Media Because of private ownership of the media and the First Amendment right to free speech, American journalists have long had an unfettered capacity to criticize government leaders and policies. Although the American media are independent when it comes to journalistic content, they are totally dependent on advertising revenues to keep their businesses going. Private ownership means that getting the biggest possible audience is the primary—indeed, sometimes the only—objective. Media in America today tend to be part of large conglomerates. In the newspaper business, chains, such as Gannett, Knight-Ridder, and Newhouse, control newspapers that together represent over 80 percent of the nation’s daily circulation.
- Lecture Outline News reporting is a business in America in which profits shape how journalists define what is newsworthy, where they get their information, and how they present it. Edward J. Epstein found that to a large extent, TV networks define news as what is entertaining to the average viewer.
- Lecture Outline Finding the News A surprising amount of news comes from well-established sources. Most news organizations assign their best reporters to particular beats—specific locations where news frequently emanates from, such as Congress. Numerous studies of both the electronic and print media have found that journalists rely almost exclusively on such established sources to get their information. Those who make the news depend on the media to spread certain information and ideas to the general public (sometimes via stories fed to reporters in the form of trial balloons—information leaked to see what the political reaction will be). In turn, reporters rely on public officials to keep them informed. Official sources who have the information (such as knowledge about movements during the Gulf War) usually have the upper hand over those who merely report it. Very little of the news is generated by spontaneous events or a reporter’s own analysis. Most stories are drawn from situations over which newsmakers have substantial control. (cont.)
- Lecture Outline Despite this dependence on familiar sources, reporters occasionally have an opportunity to live up to the image of the “crusading truth-seeker.” Local reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward of the Washington Post uncovered important evidence in the Watergate case. Columnists like Jack Anderson regularly expose government corruption and inefficiency. The Watergate scandal signaled a new era in the relationship between journalists and politicians. Journalists began to assume that politicians had something to hide, and politicians assumed that reporters were out to embarrass them. --- Presenting the News Once the news has been “found,” it has to be compressed into a 30-second news segment or fit in among the advertisements in a newspaper. TV news is little more than a headline service. With exceptions like the Newshour (PBS) and Nightline (ABC), analysis of news events rarely lasts more than a minute. At the same time, complex issues—like nuclear power, the nation’s money supply, and pollution—are difficult to treat in a short news clip. Paradoxically, as technology has enabled the media to pass along information with greater speed, news coverage has become less complete. Americans now hear sound bites of ten seconds or less on TV.
- Lecture Outline The charge that the media have a liberal bias has become a familiar one in American politics, and there is some limited evidence to support it. National reporters are more likely to call themselves liberal than the general public, and a 2002 survey of 1,149 journalists found that 37 percent identified themselves as Democrats, compared to 19 percent who said they were Republicans. However, there is little reason to believe that journalists’ personal attitudes sway their reporting of the news. Most stories are presented in a “point/counterpoint” format in which two opposing points of view are presented. The news is typically characterized by political neutrality. Most reporters strongly believe in journalistic objectivity. Those who are best at objective reporting are usually rewarded by their editors. Media outlets have a direct financial stake in attracting viewers and subscribers. A conclusion that news reporting contains little explicit partisan or ideological bias is not to argue that it does not distort reality in its coverage. Ideally, the news should mirror reality. In practice, there are too many potential stories for this to be the case. Journalists must select which stories to cover and to what degree. (cont.)
- Due to economic pressures, the media are biased in favor of stories with high drama that will attract people’s interest (rather than extended analyses of complex issues). Television is particularly biased toward stories that generate good pictures; seeing a talking head (a shot of a person’s face talking directly to the camera) is boring, and viewers will switch channels in search of more interesting visual stimulation. --- Table 7.1 Stories Citizens Have Tuned In and Tuned Out
- Lecture Outline The News and Public Opinion It is difficult to study the effects of the news media on people’s opinions and behavior. One reason is that it is hard to separate the media from other influences. In addition, the effect of one news story on public opinion may be negligible, while the cumulative effect of dozens of news stories may be quite important. There is evidence that the news and its presentation are important in shaping public opinion about political issues. The decision to cover or to ignore certain issues can affect public opinion. By focusing public attention on specific problems, the media influence the criteria by which the public evaluates political leaders. There is also some evidence that people’s opinions shift with the tone of the news coverage. Popular presidents prompt the public to support policies, but the most powerful influence is that of news commentators on public opinion change. Much remains unknown about the effects of the media and the news on American political behavior. Enough is known, however, to conclude that the media are a key political institution.
- Lecture Outline Policy Entrepreneurs and Agenda Setting As was explained in Chapter 1, people are trying to influence the government’s policy agenda when they confront government officials with problems they expect them to solve. Interest groups, political parties, politicians (including the president and Congress), public relations firms, and bureaucratic agencies are all pushing for their priorities to take precedence over others. Political activists (often called policy entrepreneurs—people who invest their political “capital” in an issue) depend heavily upon the media to get their ideas placed high on the governmental agenda.
- Lecture Outline Policy Entrepreneurs and Agenda Setting Policy entrepreneurs’ weapons include press releases, press conferences, letter writing, buttonholing reporters and columnists, and trading personal contacts. People in power can also use a leak, a carefully placed bit of inside information that is given to a friendly reporter. The staging of political events to attract media attention is a political art form. Important political events (such as Nixon’s famous trip to China) are orchestrated minute by minute with an eye on American TV audiences. It is not only the elites who have successfully used the media. Civil rights groups in the 1960s relied heavily on the media to tell their stories of unjust treatment. Many believe that the introduction of television helped to accelerate the movement by graphically showing Americans (in both the North and South) what the situation was. Conveying a long-term, positive image via the media is more important than a few dramatic events. Policy entrepreneurs depend on goodwill and good images. Public relations firms may be hired to improve a group’s (or individual’s) image and its ability to sell its policy positions.
- Lecture Outline The media act as key linkage institutions between the people and the policymakers and have a profound impact on the political policy agenda.
- Lecture Outline The Media and the Scope of Government The watchdog function of the media helps to keep government small. Many observers feel that the press is biased against whomever holds office and that reporters want to expose them in the media. With every new proposal being met with skepticism, regular constraints are placed on the growth of government. The watchdog orientation of the press can be characterized as neither liberal nor conservative, but reformist. When they focus on injustice in society, the media inevitably encourage the growth of government. Once the media identify a problem in society, reporters usually begin to ask what the government is doing about the problem. The media portray government as responsible for handling almost every major problem.
- Lecture Outline Democracy and the Media The rise of the “information society” has not brought about the rise of the “informed society.” The media do a much better job of covering the “horse race” aspects of politics than of covering substantive issues. With the media’s superficial treatment of important policy issues, it is not surprising that the incredible amount of information available to Americans today has not visibly increased their political awareness or participation. The media’s defense is to say that this is what the people want. Network executives claim that they are in business to make a profit, and to do so they have to appeal to the maximum number of people.
- LO 7.1: Describe how American politicians choreograph their messages through the mass media.
- Media events are purposely staged for the media and are significant just because the media are B. there. (LO 7.1)
- Media events are purposely staged for the media and are significant just because the media are B. there. (LO 7.1)
- LO 7.2: Outline the key developments in the history of mass media and American politics.
- LO 7.2: Outline the key developments in the history of mass media and American politics.
- LO 7.2: Outline the key developments in the history of mass media and American politics.
- The trend toward more negative and cynical news coverage began during the C. Vietnam War. (LO 7.2)
- The trend toward more negative and cynical news coverage began during the C. Vietnam War. (LO 7.2)
- LO 7.3: List the major criteria that determine which news stories receive the most media attention.
- Which of the following factors best account(s) for what is considered newsworthy? D. All of the above. (LO 7.3)
- Which of the following factors best account(s) for what is considered newsworthy? D. All of the above. (LO 7.3)
- LO 7.4: Analyze the impact the media has on what policy issues Americans think about.
- Which of the following characterizes how media affect public opinion? D. All of the above. (LO 7.4)
- Which of the following characterizes how media affect public opinion? D. All of the above. (LO 7.4)
- LO 7.5: Explain how policy entrepreneurs employ media strategies to influence the public agenda.
- Policy entrepreneurs’ arsenal of weapons includes D. all of the above. (LO 7.5)
- Policy entrepreneurs’ arsenal of weapons includes D. all of the above. (LO 7.5)
- LO 7.6: Assess the impact of the mass media on the scope of government and democracy in America.
- LO 7.6: Assess the impact of the mass media on the scope of government and democracy in America.
- Television’s emphasis on the individual has the effect of encouraging D. greater news coverage of the presidency. (LO 7.6)
- Television’s emphasis on the individual has the effect of encouraging D. greater news coverage of the presidency. (LO 7.6)