The Media
A Reliable Source?
Politicians & the Media
A Love-Hate Relationship
U.S. & the World
• 16/94 countries have a high degree of freedom of the
press (U.S. is one)
• France media is controlled by the government
• Most U.S. radio & television stations are private
– Must have government licenses (Radio – 7 year, TV – 5 year)
– Does necessity to turn a profit influence publishers & stations to
distort news coverage?
• Yes: To satisfy advertisers, stockholders, managerial ideologies
• No: Growing power & autonomy of editors/reporters
• Most U.S. press is geared toward local news
• Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Sweden and
elsewhere have media that are produced for a national
audience rather than local
History of the Media
Gazette of the United States
•Federalist publication
•Alexander Hamilton
National Gazette
•Republican publication
•Thomas Jefferson
Party Press
• Controlled by politicians/political parties
• Circulated to political elites who could
afford subscription prices
• Very partisan
History of the Media (cont…)
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Popular Press
Self-supporting, mass-readership
High-speed rotary press – increased supply, decreased
price
Telegraph (1840s) – provided “immediate” news
Associated Press (AP)
– Created in 1848
– Provided news related information to member editors regularly
– Objectivity important because of many political ideologies among
papers
• Urbanization – led to the “Penny Press”
• Sensationalism – to attract more readers
– “yellow journalism”: Journalism that exploits, distorts, or
exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers
Sensationalism
Joseph Pulitzer
•New York World
•Entered a journalism war with
Hearst’s Journal over the issue of
Spain/Cuba
“You furnish the pictures, I’ll
furnish the war.”
William Randolph Hearst
•New York Journal
•Original Artist: Richard Outcault
•Mickey Dugan (aka Yellow Kid)
•Hung around in an alley filled with
equally odd characters
•Modeled the character on a
photograph of a New York "tenement
child“
•Inspired the name of yellow journalism
•Deliberate falsification of
whole incidents, claiming a
humanitarian crisis among
Cubans at the hands of
Spanish troops
•Contributed to rallying public
support for the cause for war
with Spain (Cuba)
Pulitzer v Hearst
Yellow Journalism Activity
• Research the Dan Rather story on President
Bush’s national guard service
• Visit www.wikipedia.org to learn about George
Bush’s military service controversy and Dan
Rather’s role (sometimes dubbed “Memogate”)
• Do you think this is an example of present-day
“yellow journalism”? Why or why not?
• What role did “bloggers” play in the controversy?
• Create a power point presentation or a poster
revealing your findings
History of the Media (cont…)
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Magazines
Growth of the middle class,
distaste of yellow journalism &
progressivism led to rise of
magazines
1850s/60s: the Nation, Atlantic
Monthly, Harper’s Weekly
Commanded a more educated
group of readers
McClure’s, Cosmopolitan
Popular press reporters
contributed to national
magazine articles
Muckraking
"There is one kind of prison where the man is
behind bars, and everything that he desires is
outside; and there is another kind where the things
are behind the bars, and the man is outside."
Chapter 27
Upton Sinclair
•Describes a family of immigrants working in the meat
packing industry in Chicago
•Described poverty, working conditions, unsanitary
conditions
•“Haves v Have-Nots”
•Promoted socialism to solve the problem of the poor
History of the Media (cont…)
Muckrakers led to the rise of
Investigative Reporting
Geraldo Rivera
Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein
History of the Media (cont…)
Electronic Journalism
• Radio – 1920s
• Television – 1940s
• Advantage: Candidates could directly reach people of
the nation without the involvement of reporters/editors
• Disadvantages:
– Space (advertisements) in newspapers was cheap compared to
radio/TV
– Newspapers can “cover” more candidates than can radio/TV
– All candidates besides the president must vie for access to
radio/TV (controversial statements, gaining national reputation,
purchasing expensive “air time”)
History of the Media (cont…)
Alan Colmes
Rush Limbaugh
Al Frankin
Sean Hannity
History of the Media (cont…)
• 1940s-1990s: The “Big Three” (ABC, CBS, NBC)
controlled 80% of viewers
• 1980s-1990s: Emergence of cable television,
entertainment programs, talk shows, “news magazines”
– Candidates’ access has increased
• Sound bite: video clip of a politician
– 1968: 42 seconds
– 2000: 7.3 seconds
History of the Media (cont…)
Internet (www…)
• Emerged in the 1990s
• Provides ability to
research ANYTHING!
– Truths, lies, facts, fiction,
gossip
• Absolutely uncontrolled –
no one can keep facts or
nonsense off of it!
Matt Drudge
History of the Media (cont…)
Party Press – Few informed people
Popular Press – Mass politics, more
people informed
Magazines – Interest groups developed
Radio/Television – Candidates gained
better access to voters
Internet – Candidates/political activists
have uncontrolled dialouge
Competition in the Media
• Newspapers
– Significant decline in the number of cities with multiple papers
• 60% of cities had daily competing papers in 1972, only 4% by 1990
– Many newspapers overlap areas (Atlanta Journal & Constitution,
The Times, Lakeside on Lanier, www.accessnorthga.com,
www.topix.net) that decrease circulation
• Magazines
– Exist for every conceivable interest
• Radio/Television
– Intensely competitive with all the stations (network and cable)
What is the National Press?
• Wire Services (AP, Reuters & UPI) supply most of the
national news published by local papers
• News Magazines (Time, Newsweek, U.S. News &
World Report) provide national readership
• Network News Evening Broadcasts (ABC, CBS, NBC)
are carried by most stations with network affiliation
• Cable News Broadcasts (CNN, MSNBC, FOX) provide
around-the-clock news as well as CSPAN
• Newspapers (Wall Street Journal, Christian Science
Monitor, USA Today are the only true national papers)
– New York Times & Washington Post have gained national
readership and influence other media publications/broadcasts
Why is the National Press
Important?
• Government officials pay close attention to these
media outlets and what they say about them and
their programs
• Reporters/editors for the national press are
different from the local press
–
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Better paid
Better educated
More liberal ideologies
Write stories that are “background”, investigative, or
interpretive
Roles of the National Press
• Gatekeeper: Influences what subjects become
national political issues and for how long
• Scorekeeper: Tracks political reputations and
candidacies (“Horse race”)
• Watchdog: Investigates personalities and
exposes scandals
Media Rules
Newspapers: almost entirely free
from government regulation
• Protected by the 1st Amendment
• Prior restraint? (Pentagon Papers)
• Libel: maliciously reporting a lie
• Obscenity – difficult to define, no
clear definition
• Incitement: causes someone to
commit a crime
• Confidentiality of Sources
– Supreme Court has upheld the
right of the government to
compel reporters to divulge
information as part of a
properly conducted criminal
investigation (as long as it
“bears” on the commission of
the crime
Pentagon Papers
•7,000 page top-secret document
discussing U.S. involvement in Vietnam
•Leaked in 1971
•Revealed the government had planned
to expand its role in Vietnam even when
president Lyndon Johnson was
promising not to, that the Gulf of Tonkin
incident had been largely fabricated,
and that there was no plan to end the
war
•Increased the credibility gap, hurting
the war effort
•Ended in the Supreme Court Case New
York Times Co v U.S. (1971)
•6-3 decision: Injunctions were
unconstitutional prior restraints
and that the government had not
met its burden of proof
“Off the record”?
• July 14, 2003 – Valerie Plame's identity was first revealed in print by
commentator Robert Novak to notify the public of Plame’s suggestion to
send her husband (Joe Wilson) on a trip to Niger to investigate claims of
uranium sales to Iraq
– Novak cited "two senior administration officials" as his source for the information
• August 29, 2003 – Joe Wilson (former U.S. ambassador) claimed Karl Rove
leaked the identity of his CIA operative wife (Valerie Plame)
– Such a leak would be against federal law (Intelligence Identities Protection Act of
1982)
– Supposedly was leaked because of an editorial written by Wilson that was critical
of the Bush administration’s justification of the War with Iraq (WMDs)
•
October, 2003 – Justice Department began an inquiry (grand jury) into the allegations
– Rove has been called before Fitzgerald's grand jury four times
•
July, 2005 – Rove admitted speaking to Time reporter Matt Cooper "three or four
days" before Plame's identity was first revealed on unrelated issues
– Cooper's article in Time, citing unnamed and anonymous "government officials," confirmed
Plame to be a "CIA official who monitors the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,"
and appeared three days after Novak's column was published
– Cooper recounted a two-minute conversation with Karl Rove in which Rove said that
Wilson's wife was a CIA employee (although under the shroud of anonymity
•
Judith Miller (New York Times writer) was held in contempt of court – disrupt the
normal process of a court hearing – for refusing to appear before a grand jury
investigating the leak
– Jailed for 2.5 months
– Agreed to disclose to the grand jury the identity of her source, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice
President Dick Cheney's chief of staff
•
•
Libby supposedly learned of Plame from Vice President Dick Cheney but withheld it
from the investigators. He will be indicted for obstruction of justice Oct. 28, 2005.
And it continues day by day…
Regulations for Broadcasting
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All radio/television stations must have a license from
the government (FCC) and must prove “community
need”
Deregulation: reducing license renewal regulations
(renewal by postcard, no hearing unless opposed)
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Television: So many stations allow viewers much more choice
Radio: Before 1992, only one company could own 1 AM and 1
FM station
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1992: FCC doubled station load
Telecommunications Act of 1996: allowed up to 8 of each in local
markets and unlimited in national market
Two results:
1. A few large companies own most big market stations
2. Increase in the amount of variety on the radio
•
Equal Time Rule – Stations must allow (sell) opposing
candidates time to “bloviate”
Regulations for Broadcasting
(cont…)
• Right of Reply Rule – If a person is attacked on
a broadcast (other than a regular newscast) they
have the right to reply over the same station
• Political-editorializing Rule – Opposing
candidate(s) may publicly reply to an
endorsement
• Fairness Doctrine – required broadcasters to
air opposing viewpoints
– Abolished in 1987 by the FCC b/c of it inhibition to
encourage free debate of issues
– Should “partisans” be allowed to be on the air?
Campaigning Rules
• Equal-time rule applies
– Equal access for all candidates
– Rates no higher than cheapest commercial rate
– Debates formerly had to include all candidates
• Reagan-Carter debate sponsored by LWV as news event
• Now stations and networks can sponsor debates limited to
major candidates
• Efficiency in reaching voters varies
– Works well only when market and district overlap
– More Senate than House candidates buy television
time
Does the Media Affect Politics?
• Generally inconclusive, because of citizens' …
– Selective attention
According to Doris Graber, newspaper readers are highly
selective. The average person reads only about 20 percent of
newspaper stories in full.
– Mental tune-out
• Products can be sold more easily than candidates
• Newspaper endorsements of presidential
candidates
– Local newspapers often for Republicans
– This endorsement cut successful Democrats' winning
margins by five percentage points
Does the Media Affect Politics?
• Doesn’t really affect the VOTE but does affect…
• How political campaigns are conducted
– Conventions scheduled to accommodate television
– Candidates win party nomination via media exposure
• How candidates are perceived
– Unknowns
– News personalities affect viewer preferences
• How policies are formed
– Issues established by media attention (Environment, Consumer issues)
• Issues that are important to citizens similar to those in media
– TV influences political agenda
– But people less likely to take media cues on matters that affect them
personally
• Newspaper readers see bigger contrasts between candidate than do
TV viewers
• TV news affects popularity of presidents; commentaries have shortrun impact
The Government and the News
The president
• Be nice = Nice story, Be ugly = Bad story
– Theodore Roosevelt: systematic cultivation of the
press
– Franklin Roosevelt: press secretary cultivated,
managed, informed the press
• Role of the Press Secretary
• White House Press Corps
• Actions personalize the office (riding a horse,
gets sick, takes a trip)
The Government and the News
•
Coverage of Congress
Never equal to that of president
– Numerous members – hard to get attention
•
House quite restrictive
– No cameras on floor until 1978
– Gavel-to-gavel coverage of proceedings since 1979
(C-SPAN)
•
Senate more open
– No TV/radio until 1978
– C-SPAN -- 1986
– “Incubator” for presidential contenders through
committee hearings
Interpreting Political News
• Since 1985, public view of the media
being reliable has decreased
• Most media will cover major, unusual
events but choose their own themes to
emphasize and questions to raise
• Types of Stories:
Most likely to be
influenced by
ideology of
reporter/editor
– Routine – AP/Reuters,
Headlines/placement by local subscribers
can affect how it’s perceived
– Feature – More like magazines; on the
rise
– Insider – Investigative, leaks (Watergate,
Vietnam weakened credibility)
Journalist Opinion v Public Opinion
Journalists
The Public
55%
17%
23%
29%
Favor government regulation of business
49
22
Allow women to have abortions
82
49
Allow prayer in school
25
74
Favor “affirmative action”
81
56
Favor death penalty
47
75
Stricter controls on handguns
78
50
Favor hiring homosexuals
89
55
Self-Described Ideology
•Liberal
•Conservative
Source : Los Angeles Times poll of about 3,000 citizens and 2,700 journalists nationwide, as reported in William
Schneider and I.A. Lewis, "Views on the News," Public Opinion (August-September 1985), page 7.
Why are there leaks?
• What information should be secret?
Public?
• Provides checks and balances between
the branches of government
• Distrust of Government (Watergate,
Vietnam, Iran-Contra Affair)
• Adversarial Press – suspicious of
officialdom and eager to break an
embarrassing story
Sensationalism Today
• Economics of Journalism
– Public confidence in big business down, and
now media are big business
– Drive for market share forces media to use
theme of corruption or scandal
Government Constraints
on Journalists
• Reporters must strike a balance between
expression of views and retaining sources
• An abundance of congressional staffers makes it
easier for Congress to gain information.
• Governmental tools to fight back
– Numerous press officers in legislative and executive
branches
– Press releases--canned news
– Leaks and background stories to favorites
– Bypass national press to local
– Presidential rewards and punishments for reporters
based on their stories