The Media
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The Media
 Media:
newspapers,
television,
radio, World
Wide Web
 Most
people’s
knowledge of
politics comes
from the media
somalilandtimes.net
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The Media
 Laws
and
understandings in
the U.S. give the
media substantial
freedom (1st
Amendment)
 There
is a long
tradition of
private media
ownership in U.S.
standupforamerica.wordpress.com
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 Initially,
politicians
and political parties
controlled the
newspapers
The Media
in History
 Changes
in society
and technology made
possible selfsupporting, mass
readership daily
newspapers
common-place.org
courses.ulisesmejias.com
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The Media in History
 The
middle class
favored new,
progressive
periodicals (in depth
articles)
amazon.com
 Radio
arrives in
1920s, television in
the late 1940s
(immediacy of events
googling.phpmagazine.net
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The Media in History

It was only when
TV came along in
the 50s and 60s and
viewers saw in TV
news footage what
was really
happening, that the
country amassed
political pressure to
take action to
change things.
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
Today 77% of
American
households
access the
Internet

Access to:
Websites
Blogs (a new one
is created every
second!!!!)
Twitter
Facebook




The Media in
History
innosight.com
What has
happened to our
attention span?
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News and the Internet
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Media Effects on Politicians
Politicians now have more sources—
cable, early-morning news, news
magazine shows
Shorter sound bites on
the nightly news make
it more difficult for
candidates and
officeholders to
convey their message
“I can see Russia from
my backyard,”
“They're our next door
neighbors. And you can
actually see Russia
from land here in
Alaska.”
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Decline in Viewership of the Television
Evening News
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 Number
Newspapers
of daily
newspapers has
declined significantly
 Number of cities with
multiple papers has
declined
 Subscription rates have
fallen as most people
get their news from
television or the
Internet
discountednewspapers.com
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Role of the National Press
 Gatekeeper:
influences
what subjects
become
national
political issues
and for how
long
lehighvalleyramblings.blogspot.com
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Role of the National Press
 Scorekeeper:
tracks
political,
legislation,
reputations,
and
candidacies
good-times.webshots.com
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Role of the National Press
 Watchdog:
investigates
personalities
and exposes
scandals
eesdiary.wordpress.com
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Rules Governing the Media
 After
publication,
newspapers may be sued
for libel, obscenity, and
incitement to illegal act
onthefringeblog.wordpress.com
 The
Supreme Court allows
the government to compel
reporters to divulge
information in court if it
bears on a crime
cfnews13.com
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Rules Governing the Media
 Radio
and television
are licensed and
regulated by the
FCC
 Equal
access
(advertisements)
for all candidates
multichannel.com
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The Media and Campaigns
 Rates
no higher than
the cheapest
commercial rate
 Stations
and networks
can sponsor debates
limited to major
candidates
indybay.org
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Media Bias
 Journalistic
philosophy is that the
news should be
neutral and objective
 Members
of the
national media are
generally more
liberal than the
average citizen
uncoverage.net
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Media Bias
 Conservative
media outlets
have become
more visible in
recent years
 Talk
radio is
predominantly
conservative
reason.com
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Journalist
Opinion
Versus
Public
Opinion
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Reading a Newspaper
Anonymous Source
– governmental
official who does
not wish
to be identified
operationkleinwatch.blogspot.com
Trial Balloon –
information leaked
to the media to test
public reaction to a
possible policy.
According to a reliable
Source, the President
is thinking about
raising the social
security tax to 6.5%
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Reading a Newspaper
Loaded Language – words
that imply a value
judgment, used to
persuade a reader without
providing a serious
argument.
blogs.miaminewtimes.co
Barack Obama is a
socialist. Scott Walker is
a dictator.
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News Stories
Routine Stories – events that are
regularly covered by reporters – crime,
city hall
Feature Stories – events that are public,
but are not regularly covered by the
news – President visiting Wisconsin
Insider Stories – events that are not
usually made public – reasons for
political appointments
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Influence on the Public
 Selective
attention:
people remember
or believe only
what they want to
believe
 Press
coverage can
reflect the policy
issues that people
think are important
piratenews-tv.blogspot.com
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Influence on the Public
 Newspapers
that endorsed
incumbents
gave them more
positive
coverage, and
voters had more
positive feelings
about them
newser.com
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Public Perception of Accuracy in the
Media
Pew Research Center, "The People and the Press" (February 1999), 13.
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 The
president
receives the
most coverage
Coverage of
Government
 One
voice versus
535 voices
nola.com
White House Press Secretary – daily
press briefings – try to control the
stories – stay on message
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Coverage of
coverage of House Government
 Gavel-to-gavel
proceedings since
1979 (C-SPAN)
 Senatorial
use of
televised committee
hearings has turned
the Senate into a
presidential
candidate incubator
mediabistro.com
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The Adversarial Press
 Adversarial
press
since Vietnam,
Watergate, Irancontra
 Cynicism
created
era of attack
journalism
honeyiforgottoduck.com
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The Adversarial Press
 Adversarial
media has
made
negative
campaign
advertising
more
socially
acceptable
jeffreyhill.typepad.com
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Sensationalism
 Intense
competition
among many media
outlets means that
each has a small
share of the audience
 Sensationalism
draws an audience
and is cheaper than
investigative
reporting
houndrock.com
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Sensationalism
 Reporters
may
not be
checking
sources
carefully
because there
is such
competition
for stories
madamenoire.com
The Department Agriculture
fired a Georgia official,
Shirley Sherrod, after a video
surfaced of her talking about
seemingly-racist actions 24
years ago.
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Media Sources
 Reporters
must strike a balance
between expressing critical
views and maintaining sources
 On
the Record – the reporter can
quote the official by name
 Off
the Record – officials
statements cannot be used
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Media Sources
 On
Background – the official
says the information can be used
but it cannot be attributed to
them by name
 On
Deep Background – the
information can be used, but it
cannot be attributed to anyone
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Government Constraints on the
Media
 Governmental
tools to fight back:
 numerous press officers
 press releases
 leaks
 bypass the national press in
favor of local media
 presidential rewards and
punishments – individual
interviews
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