The Media and Government
Warm up
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Read both of today’s articles covering the Iowa
Caucus last night and answer the following questions
pointing to specific evidence in the articles
themselves:
What is the overall tone of each article (positive,
negative, hopeful, critical, etc.)?
How does each article portray the main candidates
(Romney, Santorum, Paul) and the reasons each
won?
What does each article say about the other
candidates?
How does the coverage of the event differ in these
two newspapers?
Is there any obvious bias you can tell from each?
The American Media
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Media in the U.S. freer than any other country ( FH
Press Freedom survey)
England, for example, has very strict libel laws and an
Official Secrets Act
In contrast, we have FOIA (Freedom of Information
Act)
Almost all American radio and t.v. stations are
privately owned- but do require licenses from the
gov. to operate
There is, of course, some criticism that the nature of
television/radio is to distort the news to appeal to
certain audience
Overall trend in U.S. is toward more press freedom
rather than less
Early History: The Party Press
5 phases of journalism history: party press,
popular press, opinion magazines, electronic
journalism, internet
Phase 1: The Party Press
◦ early years politicians sponsored and controlled
newspapers b/c circulation was small and few
large advertisers to pay the bills
◦ there were tons of publications and lots of
journalists on government payroll
◦ this led to extremely partisan publications that
rarely had two sides
The Popular Press
◦ Inventions- high speed rotary press- led to quick and
cheap printing; telegraph in 1840s meant news could travel
quickly
◦ nation becoming more urban- more people could buy
news
◦ newspapers didn’t need gov. anymore
◦ 1860 Government Printing Office established
◦ To attract readers the newspapers were more balanced
(but still partisan) and had more sensational aspects
◦ The partisanship, however, had to do with editorial boards
rather than gov. sponsors
◦ Strong publishers mobilized public opinion to push their
interest and change policy
◦ mass readership meant dev. of common culture
Opinion Magazines
◦ growing middle class had taste for pol. reform
and wanted more out of the media (around turn
of the century)
◦ national magazines appeared that discussed public
policy (Nation, Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s)
◦ provided opportunity for ind. writers to gain
national significance
◦ these magazines meant that newspapers didn’t
have to be so sensational
◦ while most early magazines were devoted to
politics, only a fraction today are
Electronic Journalism and the
Internet
Electronic Journalism
◦ Radio 1920s, television 1940s- broadcasts allow politicians
to speak directly to the public without a filter
◦ disadvantages- people could switch stations, some
politicians received a lot less coverage, space in electronic
journalism much more expensive- this means that
politicians have to have money to have access to the
American public through the media
◦ Until 1990s “big three” dominated all viewers but changes
have made it harder for candidates to get air time
◦ politicians crave the media and sometimes do whatever it
takes to get covered
Internet
◦ ultimate free market in political news
Competition in the Media
◦ Most cities today don’t have competing
newspapers (only the large ones do)
◦ most people- esp. young- don’t even read
political news anymore
◦ instead, radio, television internet have
replaced those
◦ many newspapers locally owned and therefore
focus more on local issues
National Media
◦ there are, however, some things that have
national readership/ audience- i.e Time,
Newsweek, Associated Press, United Press
International, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN
◦ Only 3 truly national newspapers- Christian
Science Monitor, USA Today, Wall Street
Journal- but The Washington Post and NY
Times are read by all Washington politicians
Why Does It Matter to Have a
National Media?
◦ gov. officials pay more attention to them,
reporters and editors tend to be different (more
educated, more liberal), focus on investigative
reporting
 Gatekeeper- national media as a gatekeeper can
influence what issues get attention from politicians and
for how long (think crime, anti- Vietnam war)
 Scorekeeper- keep track of politics/politicians, note who
is being “mentioned” for president- help decide who is
winning/losing (Iowa caucus and NH primary- media
attention) tendancy of the press to cover presidential
elections like horse races
 Watchdog- revealers of the truth, exposing the truth,
scandals, etc.
Rules Governing Media
least competitive media- big city papers- have almost
no gov. regulation, while more competitive ones do
 NY Times published Pentagon Papers - Supreme
Court ruled that this was protected under the first
amendment NY Times v. U.S. (1971)
 once something is published they can get in trouble if
it is libelous, obscene, or incites someone to commit
an illegal act but these are very narrowly defined that
historically when the media has been challenged on
these grounds it has gone nowhere
 NY Time v. Sullivan (1964)- supports Freedom of the
Press- requires that the plaintiff had malicious intent
to publish libelous material
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Confidentiality of Sources
◦ states and fed. gov. have different rules
◦ Supreme Court has in general upheld the
right of the government to compel reporters
to divulge sources if it is part of a properly
investigated criminal case
◦ Farber case- Supreme Court ruled that
Farber had to show his notes from the source
in order to protect another right- the right to
a fair trial by the accused
Regulating Broadcasting
◦ FCC gives licenses to broadcast and you can’t
operate without one
◦ in general the licenses get renewed but often the
broadcasters have to submit a detailed report about
the broadcast
◦ FCC could then use its power of renewal to demand
things like less violence
◦ Overall, however, there are moves to block this on
the basis of competition
◦ radio broadcasting largely deregulated
◦ rules: equal time rule, right of reply rule, political
editorializing rule
◦ fairness doctrine- show both sides of controversial
issues- not a law but generally abided by
Campaigning
◦ equal time rule applies to campaigning
◦ candidates don’t always use television b/c of
its broadcast nature- spread to a mass
audience they might not necessarily be
targeting
◦ more senators than house reps. buy ads
Effect of the Media on Politics
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no doubt the media play a role in influencing how citizens
think, what problems they perceive, policy preferences they
have- but difficult to tell how large an influence since there
are other factors that shape political beliefs
television and radio suffer from selective attention- citizens
see and hear only what they want
newspaper endorsements help candidates
effects of media have less to do with how people vote and
more on general policy making, how politics is conducted,
and how candidates are perceived
developing a name and national constituency
media set agenda on issues that are not personal to citizens
(i.e. environment)
media affect how we perceive candidates- differences b/w
newspaper readers and television viewers
Government and the News
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Prominence of the President
◦ Teddy Roosevelt- systematic cultivation of the press
◦ Press room in the White House- 1902 as part of the
west wing
◦ FDR press secretary (current is Jay Carney)
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Coverage of Congress
◦ can’t compete with pres.
◦ many restrictions on coverage until 1974 when public
could watch live impeachment hearings for Nixon
◦ since 1979 C-span has covered much of the goings on
◦ senate uses media more than house
Are News Stories Slanted?
◦ many factors influence stories- deadlines,
editors, desire for audience
◦ routine stories- public events regularly
covered
◦ feature stories- public event which a reporter
mike take an interest
◦ insider stories- someone with inside
knowledge tells media
Why do We Have so Many Leaks?
◦ people leak stories to further their interests
◦ we have a lot of leaks b/c of our constitution
decentralizes power among institutions and
we have no Official Secrets Act (like England)
◦ we have an adversarial press- one that is
suspicious of officals and likes to report gaffes
and mistakes
◦ this corresponds with campaign attack adssince they are socially acceptable
Sensationalism in the Media
◦ the increased competition in the media (b/c
rise in media outlets instead of big three) has
meant that they rely on sensational news to
attract an audience and therefore advertisers
◦ reporters are more easily manipulated now
Government Constraints on
Journalists
◦ reporters have to have good relationships to
get access to good information, so they have
to have some balance
◦ staffers are a good source for reporters
◦ gov. uses president rewarding or punishing
reporters
◦ gov. officials (like Reagan) will attempt to
control the flow of information, stay on the
offensive
◦ the public is also increasingly mistrustful of
the media