This document provides an overview of the functions and history of media in American politics. It discusses how the media gathers and disseminates information to the public through various sources like newspapers, radio, television, and the internet. While the main goal of informing the public has remained the same, the ways information is delivered has changed over time. The document also examines the development of media from the labor-intensive printing presses to today's digital landscape and analyzes the media's role in politics as gatekeepers, disseminators, investigators, and public mobilizers.

1. POL 140-10
Spring 2015

5.  What functions do the media play?
 How has the media developed throughout
American political history?
 Is political news a “mirror reflection” of what’s
happening inWashington—or a deliberate
product of the political process?

7.  Sources help to gather, package, and disseminate
information to the public
 Newspapers
 Radio
 Television
 Internet
 Main goal of media has stayed the same
 How information is delivered has changed

9.  Informing
 Press informs public of political events
 Investigating
 Researching and revealing information about events
 Interpreting
 Media interpret a given day’s news

12.  Labor-intensive
and expensive
 Newsprint comprised
of individual letters of
metal type

14. Common Sense was mass-produced.
The Federalist Papers were published in NewYork newspapers.

16.  Newspapers and partisan politics
 Influence of the “penny press”
 Beginnings of “Yellow Journalism”

17. JOSEPH PULITZER WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST

19. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
on Radio

21. THE “BIGTHREE” KENNEDYVS. NIXON, 1960

23.  Decline inTraditional Newspaper Readership
 Popularity ofTalk Radio
 Rise of Soft News or “Infotainment”
 Prevalence of Blogs
 Rise and Continuation of Social Networking
 Cell Phones andText Messaging

25.  Gatekeeper
 Decide what will be covered
 Managers of wire services, editors, reporters
 Disseminator
 “Just the Facts,” avoid unverifiable stories
 Does this help the public?
 Investigator
 Investigate problems, critically analyze and report them
 “Muckrakers,”Woodward and Bernstein (Watergate)
 Public Mobilizer
 Emphasis on civic journalism
 Grassroots movement due to Internet, etc.

27. Focuses on 1940 Election
Results: People already made up
minds prior to voting; campaign
did not add information
Study gave rise to minimal
effects thesis

28.  Selective Exposure
 Individuals exposed to information with beliefs
 Selective Perception
 Individuals interpret information with beliefs
 Selective Retention
 Individuals recall information with beliefs

29.  Agenda Setting
 Must choose which events to cover— signal to public
 Priming
 Media emphasizes characteristics of people, events,
or issues—and this influences public’s view
 Framing
 Media alters public view on issue by presentation

30. George W. Bush, New Orleans, post-Hurricane Katrina

31. IRAQ: SPIDER HOLE IRAQ: MILITARY CASKETS