Cumulative project for AP United States Government and Politics.

1. (and its influence on politics)
Prepared by Matthew Gutierrez

2. Background: What is Media?
● High POWER: Decide what issues and events to report & how to present
● More important: What NOT to present
○ Controls info we get, how we get it, and thus what we think about
● STORYTELLING: “Stories” -- Not just reflections
● FRAMING: Objective media doesn’t exist (spin applied)
● BUSINESS: The goal of media is to make money
Specifically, what is political media?
Media is simply this:
communication of
news
3 I’s to Media:
1) Inform
2) Interpret
3) Influence
HEAR THIS -- “”The press (media) has become the
greatest power within Western countries, more powerful
than the legislative, the executive and the judiciary.”
● Media about government related people, events, and
policies.
● Has existed since birth of nation but relatively new.
● Intermediary

3. Main Idea - Media has been influencing American politics increasingly over time.
We will explore…
● Media playing the agenda-setting role.
○ When public concern about issues
tends to follow media coverage of those
issues
● Citizens don’t see government firsthand
○ Rather they form opinions based on
what they see & how they interpret the
news
● Media’s influence on:
○ Specific policies
○ Entire administrations
○ Candidates
○ Our government’s evolution
INTRODUCING THE MEDIA-O-
METER, 360-year overview
Warm - TV - 1950
Present Day - 2015
Boiling HOT - 2060
Freezing COLD - 1700
*Not scaled b/c technological
impacts

4. Warmup
CNN example: Bottom of the screen read, “Cop pulls out
gun at pool party”

5. The Beginning - Colonial Times
● The 1st newspapers: Reprints of British
newspapers (mostly New England due to
higher literacy rates)
○ New York
○ Boston
○ Philadelphia
○ Baltimore
● Can’t criticize parliament
○ Consisted of ads, local matters,
political/economic news
● Ratification of 1st Amendment 1791
Unlike most other nations, America’s government has
never controlled the media. Why? You guessed it — for
the fear of a too strong centralized government.
TAKEAWAY: The colonial period, specifically the 1st
Amendment, laid the foundation for media’s growth.

6. Turn of the Century - 1800
● 2 inventions
○ Steam-powered press invented
■ Makes printing’s efficient
increase drastically
○ Telegraph
● At this time, newspapers were
created almost solely to account for
a specific political party (brand new
nation)
● Many political ads, but nothing like
today
○ Still basic & generic
TAKEAWAY: First of a series of technological
advances leading to increased influence of
media in politics.

7. Age of the Newspaper (+Advertising)
TAKEAWAY: Newspapers become big business
thanks to better educated individuals and newer ways
to reach more readers. This, in turn, gives for the rise
of advertising, which allows newspapers to be less
dependent on accurate news & more opinionated.
● 3 huge milestones
○ Postal service emerges
○ Public education expands
○ Railroads spread
■ Revolutionized transportation
● Advertising funds papers, which means papers
become less dependent on accurate news
● New York Sun strategy: cheap paper so that all
can buy. Then get advertising who then reach out
to larger audiences. (Papers get commercial
successes)
● Age of the Newspaper lasts throughout the 1800s
and into the 1900s

8. The Political Rise (circa 1850)
● 1846: Baltimore & DC
become first cities to
assign special
correspondents to
report on Congress,
specifically
● 1850: Politics heat up
○ 50 American
newspapers hire
DC
correspondents
TAKEAWAY: Politics begin to heat up in America as issues
like slavery, states’ rights and western territories are
debated. This leads to political correspondents who report
on events in Washington, DC.

9. War Helps Media
● World War II got the economy out of the
Great Depression...the Civil War wasn’t
that heroic, (although the outcome did
save our nation -- that’s pretty heroic) but
it catapult media
○ Newspapers benefit from war
● Post war papers boom in profits
● 1896...New York Times and other
NATIONAL newspapers take off and set a
new standard for professionalism,
commercialism, and integrity in media
TAKEAWAY: During time of battle, nation
demands news on the government’s actions;
newspapers fulfill that demand and boom into
new century.

10. A Sense of Journalism
● Increasingly, politicians have to win the favor of
journalists who begin to seek to expose
corruption in leaders
○ Teddy Roosevelt, below, had an
unprecedented use of media while in
office, setting the tone for presidents to
come
■ Hired a White House staff to handle
press
■ Toured the nation promoting his
● Cities booming because of industrialization
● New York Times v Sullivan made it extremely
difficult to sue against papers (for libel).
○ What this means: Essentially, papers can
ruin the reputations of people and there’s
nothing that can be done about that
TAKEAWAY: Journalists swarm into politics with
new coverage tactics (interviews + opinions) and
really start to determine what messages voters
receive.

11. A Sense of Journalism Part II - The
Camera & Journalistic Photography
● Development of camera leads to photos in
newspapers
○ Story has a photo? Then it’s a very
important photo (space)
● Newspapers & graphics: USA Today
introduces graphics & then color graphics,
transforms newspapers from solely narrative
to visual
○ Today, 50% of front pages consist of
photography
● Photos of Congress
○ Congressmen speak more for more
photos...affects policies
● Tabloid journalism depicts politics through
headlines and photos almost entirely
TAKEAWAY: Photography strengthens media’s
influence on politics.

12. Golden Age of Radio
● Radio created for entertainment purposes, then
expands into politics
○ Presidents Coolidge, Hoover & Roosevelt
use radio to support policies
● This was the first of electronic journalism
○ The most influential type of journalism on
media
● 1920s...Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats used to calm
nation & inform of policy
○ Changes the role of the president
■ Must address to the people
● “More hands on”
TAKEAWAY: Advent of the radio becomes
the first advancement of technological
journalism. President’s role changes.

13. TV Part I(It’s starting to heat up)
● Became expected the president would broadcast
to the nation first on radio, then on TV.
○ Big 3 radio (CBS/ABC/NBC) hit the TV
● Eisenhower becomes first president to regularly
address the nation via the TV
● TV dominates politics in 60s & 70s...spending on
TV becomes largest item in campaign budgets
○
● TV is popular, cheap and 24/7
○ Narrowcasting
■ Depth added
● Voters place higher value on personality and
appearance
1950s tv emphasises an issue.
● Nixon - JFK 1960 debates televised, impacts
election and blazes a new trail for elections
○ ⅞ homes have TVs and watch
■ JFK wins...b/c of good looks?
● 1984 -- Reagan saw TV media on the rise & used
it to reach people -- gets name “The Great
Communicator”
● Polls show more Americans report that they rely
on TV rather than newspapers as primary source
TAKEAWAY: TV changes the way of American
politics, making a more visual political scene.

14. TV Part II
● C-SPAN covers House floor
sessions originally; since its
implementation members of
congress have offered more
speeches in congress
○ It’s changed the way
politicians operate
● TV on Congress not a positive
impact
TV displays looks. Notice the last 12 presidents or so are better
looking than the first 30 presidents. In fact, good-looking
candidates are almost twice as likely to win their district
elections, according to a New York Times study, “Why
Candidates Win”
TAKEAWAY: TV changes the way of American
politics, making a more visual political scene.

15. 1960s & 1970s - Turbulence
● Vietnam War
○ Coverage challenged the government
■ Credibility gap
● What the government was saying was not what
the media portrayed
● Nixon -- Watergate/Pentagon papers
○ Bring press a new prominence
○ TV expanding
■ Press love a good story & this is just what they got
● More correspondents emerge during this time
TAKEAWAY: During these two decades, newspapers,
radio and TV grew enormously because of a set of
national stories that people in which people were
interested (political news demanded). Role of media
AMPLIFIED.

16. Talk Radio & Opinion
● 1990s: Talk radio skyrockets; mostly conservative
hosts
● RUsh Limbaugh became popular among
conservatives for his assaults of the Clinton
Administration, leading to a wave of hosts, mostly
targeting affluent white male audience ● Reagan Administration abolished the Fairness
Doctrine, which required stations to air opposing
sides of controversial issues
TAKEAWAY: Talk
radio acts as a
conservative
platform & another
media outlet
Oswald, Kristine A. “Mass Media and the
Transformation of American Politics.” Marquette
University School of Law, n.d. Web. 22 May
2015.

17. Internet Brings Instant
● Internet allows media to provide instant coverage
○ In turn, causes instant political action (behavior influenced by how internet media portrays
politics)
● Originally favored (like all new technological advances) the older, white, wealth conservative male.
○ Now internet reaches all, making for a more even playing field
● Politics tabs on all major newspapers
○ The biggest news is often the political news
● What politicians do is based on their belief in how the media will portray them
○ Amplified because of internet’s prominence
TAKEAWAY: Internet means instant -- politics instantly influenced by media
Oswald, Kristine A. “Mass Media and the
Transformation of American Politics.” Marquette
University School of Law, n.d. Web. 22 May
2015.

18. A Close Look: George W. Bush Administration
● Pseudo News Reports: The
Administration distributed news segments
with an actor posing as a journalist to reflect
politics in a favorable light
● Pseudo Opinion: 3 journalists admitted to
being paid by the White House to write
articles in favor of the president’s programs
● Bush Administration is regarded (depends on
who you ask) as a good one, but not
successful in controlling the agenda
● Bush, a Republican, criticized the media for
its liberal bias and “unfavorable focus on the
Republican party”
TAKEAWAY: During the Bush Administration,
politicians’ “fakeness” exposed (to satisfy the media)
What this means: Politicians work not
so much on what they want, but rather
to “satisfy” the media

19. Today - Social Media Politics
TAKEAWAYS: Campaigns
run on social media today
& local governments use
social media accounts.
Social media is a powerful
tool for politics, as it is
certainly media but there
is no intermediary
journalist creating a
story...politicians can
reach citizens DIRECTLY.
Also: cheap, easy, timely.

20. Future Outlook for Media & Politics
We are constantly bombarded with
information & this trend will continue,
affecting politics for the years to come.
Politicians will have more ways to reach
citizens (cheaper too). The role of media
in politics will continue to increase at an
exponential rate with new advancements
in technology.
On the decline:
1. Radio
2. TV
3. Newspapers
On the rise:
1. Digital
2. 3D
TAKEAWAY: Say bye to newspapers, TV and radio (as we
know it) by 2060 and say hi to little bits of instant news.
Snapchat news (above) is just a tasting of what’s to come.
Thus, politics will be more so influenced by media.

21. Conclusion
1. It’s impossible to avoid media, but by
understanding it you can have a balanced view
2. Positive coverage can increase chances for a
policy’s acceptance, while negative coverage
forces the policy makers to reshape their opinions
3. Media is the 4th branch of government
4. Scandalous/high-interest topics often
emphasized over duller but more important
topics
5. Changed role of president
6. Politicians cannot ignore agenda-setting by the
media
a. Leaders recognize media affects opinion so
they approach issues differently Media creates politics in American society. Since
the Colonial Times and the founding of the
country, through the 1800 and 1900s into today
and in the future, media has, is, and will
influence politics and society in the
aforementioned ways.
The bottom line: Media creates politics. (Cycle:
Political action, media coverage, amended political
action)