Do the mass media determine political outcomes?
Copenhagen Business School
BSc in International Business and Politics
Political Science
Midterm Exam
23rd October 2020
Name: Shu-Han Yu
Student Number: 145458
Referencing system: APA 6th edition
Number of characters including space:
Number of pages
The term Mass media is defined as, the means and technologies of mass communication, including
TV, radio, the press and the internet (Garner, 2018). The media plays an integral role in shaping the
social context in which policies are developed. Through the media, citizens learn how government
policies will affect them, and governments gain feedback on their policies and programs (Karroum,
2017). The media have admittedly turned into central components in politics and as a large body of
literature suggests (ECPR) , the mass media are taking an active part in the public representation of
politics by shaping the agenda of the political discourse(Bennett & Entman, 2001; Iyengar &
Reeves, 1997). Some authors even argue that the growing dominance of the media on the course of
politics (Meyer 2002). This assignment will argue that mass media does determine political
outcomes as it structures popular political opinions and preferences. Political outcomes is a broad
term in nature and therefore this essay will focus on the political outcomes in the realm of policymaking which includes policy-agenda setting, formulation and transformation as well as the policymaker him/herself. The essay will first discuss the essential role of the mass media in performing
some functions, namely framing and structuring of public opinion. The essay will then analyse how
this impact transcends into the above-mentioned three different areas of policy making as well as
the policy-makers’ course in the political arena. To counter the line of argument, the essay will
address the impact of an alternative source- entertainment media and the possible zero impact of the
mass media in other political systems.
The Mass Media have “context shaping power” (Hay, 1997), meaning that they structure
popular opinion and attitudes towards political issues which frames the range of legitimate
responses and determines the policy agenda of the elite decision makers (Hay, 1997). This is
achieved by the mass media presenting information that citizens would otherwise be ignorant of as
well as allocating and directing popular attention to particular issues. For example, a study
conducted by Funkhouser (1973, 1973), who analysed eight issues that emerged in the public
agenda in the US during 1960s and the ranking of these in terms of public attention corresponded to
their degree of mass-media coverage. It then structures the public opinion by emphasizing certain
characteristics of. some issues over others, influencing how issues are understood by the public
(Wolfe,178). In other words, the mass media provide the context within which people view issues
and events which is fundamental to policy-making (Wolfie, 179) and has a direct influence upon
policy agenda i.e. the prioritization of certain issues over another. An example of this is when U.S.
mass media began to feature the Ethopian drought of 1984 causing the public to consider it to be a
major issue. Relief activities by the U.S. government soon followed (Graber, 1990).
The mass media does not only determine what issues to prioritise but its event-driven nature
leads to the ability to create agenda space (Wolfe 180). In other words, through linking current
events and with larger-scale issues the mass media provides issue-advocates an opportunity to take
advantage of the situation by redefining the event in terms of the larger-scale issue. In this way they
are able to introduce, redefine and amplify new frames or definitions to the current policy and issue
agenda (Wolfe, 180). Mass-media coverage of events can thus provide a “window of opportunity”
of strategic utilization for the issue advocates (Wolfe, 180). This can be seen in the recent example
of Nth room case in South Korea, which is a criminal case involving blackmailing, cybersex
trafficking of women and the spread of sexually exploitative videos via the Telegram app. The
crime case was brought to light by South Korean newspapers through undercover journalism, and
provided an opportunity for shifting public attention to the issue of gaps in the law for women’s
rights and digital sex crimes. Following the public outcry, the supreme court of South Korea
announced its “plan to make sentences harsher for digital sex crimes” (Kim, 2020).
Aside from determining which issues get placed on the political agenda, mass media and its
attitude also has the ability to determine whether policies get adopted (Oswald, 2009). Positive
coverage can increase the chances for attaining policy acceptance
by other officials and the general public. Negative media reporting on a policy, however, often
forces the policymakers to reassess and reshape their options.( Linsky, 1991). David Whiteman
(1984) in his study of postal reforms in the U.S further confirms media ability to determine policy
adoption by stating that the policy adopted in that case would not have been possible without a
favorable press. One example is nursing stakeholders in Saskatchewan, Canada who, in response to
a new government policy that would have impacted the nursing work unfavorably, decided to
express their displeasure with the proposed policy through the media. The views of these nursing
stakeholders received a great media attention over the next few weeks (Leurer, 2013). Media
coverage featuring criticisms of the new nursing policy appeared on several print news sources in
Saskatchewan as a result and ultimately, the policy was reversed (Leurer, 2013). This case of
nursing stakeholders succeeding in reversing the government position highlights the mass media
and its ability to not only direct public attention but also determine policy adoption.
Issues, along with their corresponding images and ideas do evolve and change over time.
and Mass-media plays a crucial role in these changes over time and can thereby affect policy
changes (Wolfe, 183). The case of nuclear-energy policy in the U.S. serves as a classic example. In
the 1950s, nuclear power was generally imbued with positive images of economic growth and
prosperity among the american public and the majority supported nuclear power development
(Rothman,1990). But in the 1990s, a substantial majority opposed building of nuclear energy and
several partially-completed nuclear facilities in the U.S were abandoned (Rothman,1990). This
decline in public and reverse government policy support for nuclear power is attributed to the
negative image in the U.S mass media, resulting in the withering of the nuclear industry in the U.S
while it still remains vital in Europe and other foreign sites by the 1990s (Rothman,1990). This
demonstrates the capability of the mass media to transform the policy image and transcend it into
policy transformation.
According to Langs (1990), the mass media has a major role in the course of political events in
terms of defining public opinion for policy makers. By directing attention, making events politically
relevant and supplying a context it provides a reason for the public to take sides. In this way, the
mass media is able to determine the outcome of the competition among policy makers for public
support and shape their path in the political race. This is evident in the Nixon and Watergate case,
which “obviously was a political contest” (Lang, 1990) where the media including TV, radio, print
were essential to the formation of public opinion. The media coverage had, through their reporting,
comments, framing the events within a certain context, use of language and selection of people as
spokesmen, persuaded the public of the seriousness of Nixon’s misdeeds (Lang, 1990). It is should
be noted, this is not to claim mass media directly lead to a political leader’s impeachment and
resignation.ather, through being able to directly shape the public opinion in the above-mentioned
ways they were able to determine the outcome of policy makers’ competition for public support.
That is to say, the mass media, through affecting public opinion, led to the outcome of Nixon’s
inability to win public support and his resignation is, in turn, the consequence of that defeat.
Skeptics would argue that citizens generally form opinions of politically related matters
from a wider range of sources than just the mass media in the form of political reporting. (Carpini,
2014). Entertainment media in form of e.g. novels, drama and movies plays a significant role in
their attitudes on political issues including but not limited to crime and terrorism (Gierzynski,
2020). Similar effects could be found on the case of the broadcast of ABC’s drama, The Day After,
about the aftermath of a disastrous nuclear war. After the broadcast, it was found that the american
public was generally less critical of President Reagan for increasing the chance of starting a nuclear
war, suggesting that entertainment media also plays a role in influencing public opinion and perhaps
political outcomes (Adams, 1990). Evidence suggests otherwise, when it comes to issues
revolving around the nuclear war itself, the public opinion remained unchanged (Adams,1990). The
issues included policy of nuclear weapons freeze and likelihood of a nuclear war between the U.S
and Soviet Union (Adams, 1990). This shows the lack of ability of entertainment media to
transcend its impact in the realm of policy making and the mass media still dominating in
structuring public opinion of political matters and determination of policy-making.
Another counter argument is that mass media’s ability in determining political outcomes is
only valid under democratic systems where freedom of press is guaranteed. The mass media under,
authoritarian regimes are strictly controlled by the government. For example, is the adoption of
extradition bill in HK by the Chinese government. Despite facing mass protests, public outcry,
heavy criticisms from the mass media in HK, the bill was adopted. It could,be argued that the mass
media under an authoritarian regime has no influence in determining political outcomes. On the
other hand, arguably the ability of the mass media in determining political outcome is not bounded
by the nature of its regime. The heavy criticisms from the mass media in HK still has a prominent
role in that it raised world-wide focus on the issue and arguably determined the policy adoption at
an international level. Its focus and call for attention to the issue led to the U.S sanctions imposed
on Carrie Lam for suppression of freedom in HK (Wong, 2020).
Through the analysis conducted, it is clear that the mass media has context-shaping power
and is able to structure popular opinion through presenting information and allocating attention in
certain ways. It was evident that it determines policy-agenda setting, adoption, transformation and
the outcome of the competition for public support of political actors. There has also been some
debate as to the contribution from an alternative source, entertainment media which was not close to
as powerful as the mass media in determining political outcomes. It has demonstrated that, even
operating under suthrorain states where freedom of press is not available, it is able to determine
political outcomes at international level. It is therefore fair to conclude that mass media does
determine political outcomes as it structures popular political opinions and preferences.
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