influence of media in the political process

1. Influencing GovernmentInfluencing Government
Part One – the MediaPart One – the Media

2. Formation of public opinion – how
did we get here?
• Personal BackgroundPersonal Background
– Formative years, etc.Formative years, etc.
• Family politicsFamily politics
• Religious beliefsReligious beliefs
• Personal ethicsPersonal ethics
• Mass mediaMass media
• Public officials/elitesPublic officials/elites
• Interest groupsInterest groups

3. Five Major Influences on Youth in AmericaFive Major Influences on Youth in America
Of the 5 influence factors listed below, which had the greatest influence
on American youth’s beliefs, priorities, etc. in each of the decades
listed on the chart?
school
church
home
peers
TV
Rank by degree of influence by decades: 1 being the most influential; 5
being the least. Do this in your notes – copy the chart and rank the
items by decade.
50s 80s 90s 2000s
1 1 1 1
2 2 2 2
3 3 3 3
4 4 4 4
5 5 5 5

4. *church ranks #10
# includes: videos, video games, internet – including social media,
computer apps., movies; network TV near bottom
#other items no longer significant enough to be listed
note lack of adult influence and control; youth see all persons as
1950s
Home
School
Church
Peers
TV
1980s
Home
Peers
TV
School
Church
1990s
Peers
TV [cable]
Home
School
*
2000s
# Media
Actual ranking [from various polling sources]
Every reason to
believe the
influence of
media will only
increase as
others are
replaced with
new technologies

5. Mass Media includes…
• Newspapers
• News magazines, periodicals and
journals
• Radio
– Regular news programming
– Talk shows like Rush Limbaugh, etc.
• Television: both broadcast and
cable
• Online sources: [the line gets fuzzy here]
– Internet news sources – domestic and
international
– News and politics blogs
– Topic specific websites
– Organization websites
– Social media, YouTube, etc.

6. The next several slides containThe next several slides contain
graphs about different types ofgraphs about different types of
media and their use. Look at themmedia and their use. Look at them
and….and….
• What is the graph telling us?
• What does it imply about media trends?
• What social/political impact might such trends
have on:
– Elections and campaigns
– Formation of public opinion
– People’s level and types of political activity

7. Where do people get their information?

11. • What are the
implications of
this trend?

12. Approval Ratings of Past PresidentsApproval Ratings of Past Presidents
What’s the trend? How much is the media responsible, or is it just reporting?
How might that affect Congressional races? [we talked about this]
Or relations between Congress and the President? [we talked about this, too.]

13. • “Dirty Laundry” -
Don Henley
• lyrics

14. Fair and balanced?Fair and balanced?
In the USA, The Christian Science Monitor
and C-SPAN are considered the least
biased news sources. FOX News
(conservative) and MSNBC (liberal) are
thought to be the most biased news
sources.

15. The Media’s Impact
• Coverage
– The media makes it possible for people to
run for office that normally wouldn’t
– Issues brought up that would otherwise
escape notice
• Public Agenda
– Issues considered most significant to
government officials
• Watchdog – investigative
journalism
– Journalists are eager to expose
government waste or corruption
– Muckrakers, Watergate, etc.

16. • Editorial power - can’t cover everything, so media picks what’s
“important” E.g. war in Balkans v. genocide in Rwanda
• Framing issues - power to shape how events and issues are
interpreted
• E.g. - Episodic coverage of poverty – focusing on one family to tell the
whole story;
• Priming - affects public’s evaluation of leaders
• E.g. - Reporting on campaigns like a horse race rather than issues and
records; focus on scandal or other specific aspect of personality that
colors how their actions and words are perceived.
• Historically media covered what the executive branch fed to
them.
• E.g.. FDR
• Vietnam ended the somewhat friendly relationship between
the executive branch and the media.
• Impact of media diluted when people go only to those sources
with whose slant they agree, or go to multiple and varied
sources

17. Downsides of Mass MediaDownsides of Mass Media
• Mass media has long lasting
effect on public opinion
• It gives the impression that the
media knows what everyone is
thinking – the omniscient press
• Spiral of Silence – people often
uncomfortable with a minority opinion
• Media can create public
impressions, including false
impressions. [E.g. the Tet offensive
in Vietnam – coverage made things
out of control, to the untrained eye,
when in fact they weren’t so much]

18. Propaganda techniques
• The Bandwagon
– “We’re sure to
win”, “Polls show
our candidate
pulling ahead”
• Name-Calling
– Do not vote for
(Insert Name Here)
– “soft on crime”
• Endorsement
– Oprah backs
Obama.
– Bruce Willis
stumps for Bush
• Stacked Cards
– Listing accomplishments
– Listing failures
• Glittering Generality
– Using emotions “Change”
“Yes we can!” “Hope!”
– Big on impact – small on
content
• Just Plain Folks
– I am just like you
– “My parents were working
people”
• Transfer
– Associating a patriotic
symbol or key event with a
candidate

19. Advantages of Mass Media
• The media is the primary source of
information to the public.
• Offers different opinions and
viewpoints on issues and candidates.
• People become more knowledgeable
on the issues and they become more
educated voters .
• It makes it easy for the public to gain
access to information
• Necessary to the life of a democracy,
which requires an informed public. We
don’t have the time and resources –
the press does.

20. Freedom of the Press
• Under the first amendment the media are free
from prior restraint, or government censorship
of material before it is published.
– New York Times v. United States (1971)
• Limits
– No one is free to publish false information that will
harm someone’s reputation. (known as libel)
• Regulating the Media
– FCC (Federal Communications Commission)
– They cannot censor broadcasts but they can penalize stations
that violate their rules
» (anyone remember the 2004 Super Bowl?)