1 Name: Tim Powell - Graduate Thesis Draft Email: tlp@uchicago.edu Phone number: 773-710-4893 Projected graduating quarter: Winter 2023 Potential thesis advisor(s): Date: November 3, 2022 The Effect of Mass Media on Democratic Processes in the United States Introduction The mass media has a significant place in any budding democracy. Media enterprises supply political information that those making voting decisions use in their decision-making process; they identify problems in society and act as a medium for deliberating the needs of society. Further, the media acts as a watchdog that people within a democratic setup rely on to reveal the errors and wrongdoings of those who hold democratic power. The assumption within democratic societies is that mass media enterprises will respect and uphold their functions within democratic setups. The trust in media enterprises to be at the center of national discourses around the state of politics in a country has led to concerns that mass media outlets are not fulfilling their mandate properly. According to Kaiser et al. (2022), the focus of the first wave of research has been on the enhancement of deliberation among citizens through digital and social media outlets; the current crop of scholars and policymakers see digital media as something that poses problems for liberal democracy. Broader systemic changes and an increase in the media choices of individuals with their levels of selective exposure is a significant area of concern when one considers the extent to which online behavior is a factor in the political polarization of individuals in the United States. With increased level of polarization, the space for mutual understanding is significantly reduced among citizens who have different views and interests, which in turn undermines the democratic governance of a country. Mass media has created a platform for vices such as online hate speech based on the freedom of speech, an opportunity for some to troll others, deception, and sharing of misinformation based on a skewed hyper-partisan agenda. 2 The belief in mass media outlets as sources of reliable information in democracies exposes masses to information bias from those media outlets, which in turn threatens democratic processes because biased information stifles democracy. Omission and presentation bias of the media – through newspapers, television news, or radio stations – reduce how much information can be accessed by the electorate. Democracy is placed in a situation where it faces a political crisis since information has an important role in holding politicians accountable within the political process. The problem becomes especially acute when the level of polarization is high and politicians become misaligned with the voters. The use of content and framing analyses by mass media outlets are two ways through which media houses can identify the sources of potential bias and labeling to address the same in their reporting; content and framing analyses would be effective in identifying the words that present bias with suggestions for amendment. Relevant Scholarship: According to Kleinnijenhuis et al. (2019) changes in one’s political perceptions and preferences can be due to the effects of news from a number of sources. The combined effects of mass media on perceptions and preferences emerges because many people use mass media and social media platforms. Social media goes beyond reinforcing predispositions. However, authors such as Baum and Potter (2008) operate on the assumption that media has an independent influence on the formation of public opinion and policy. Such assumptions reduce the role of the media to that of a conveyor belt where media outlets passively transport the views of the elite – particular views of powerful elite – to the public. The views that Baum and Potter (2008) hold are that the media is engaged in a process that constantly processes and frames news in response to the requirements of leaders and the public. As such, the political elite have a clear influence on news content, though mass media outlets are a discrete strategic actor in the formation of news. Heiberger et al. (2021) notes that there are concerns over the fragmentation in society that occurs with the rise of social and digital media. In the fragmentation, political debates have led to antagonism and division, which are part of the political debate where mass media enterprises have a role. Work on the role that mass media plays in driving the political process that leads to fragmentation remains relevant. Such literature highlights the role and ability of mass media to transfer the salience of small issues that control the public agenda and debate. Media outlets function by setting the public agenda and influencing policy formation on issues 3 that are of importance to the citizens. Media enterprises shape their priorities and give the space needed for public debate. However, the role of mass media outlets as gatekeepers has been questioned, including on platforms such as the social media (Singer, 2013). Numerous media sources have come up in recent times to increase the level of political fragmentation. Kaiser et al. (2022) argues that partisan blocking of uses who engage in misinformation can have significant implications for the polarization of networks. There are media users who may block or unfollow misinformers, but they are less likely to do the same when the situation involves individuals who are doing the same and are politically similar. The result of doing so is that there is network polarization within social media platforms based on party politics. With time, partisan blocking reduces the level of user exposure to politically dissimilar people. According to Pennycook and Rand (2019), there are individuals who are likely to believe in misinformation more than others. Misinformation goes further to influence the biases of citizens, their political attitudes and behaviors. They begin to distrust institutions and become politically polarized. In the state of polarization, Jasko et al. (2022) reveals that those who are associated with the left are less likely to engage in violent acts than their counterparts. The study revealed that those who receive misinformation as part of the radical right are likely to engage in violence, but to a less degree compared to Islamist extremists, who are even more violent than the other groups. Methodology and Critical Lens: a) Methodology The data to support the claims made in this proposal will be gathered through a narrative review. The narrative review will be employed as a general approach. The purpose of the review will be to identify the studies that are appropriate for the topic to enable a description of the problem of interest. As such, the questions raised in the proposal will be addressed without following a specified search strategy, but through the topic of interest. There is no specified protocol to follow, but the intention is to use a random approach to cherry pick the studies that will be used in the research. Further, the goal is to make those interested in the subject matter to learn about the problem, even though it will be difficult to arrive at a scientific response to the problem. There are three major steps that will be taken in the narrative review. They are: 4 Conducting a search: The published material on the subject matter is in several databases. A search in the databases for studies will help in finding appropriate peer reviewed studies to look at and make the findings. The search will be conducted in several databases to ensure that the relevant studies required for completing the task have been identified. As such, no viable database will be neglected in the search. Identification of the keywords: Those who publish their research often call out a number of keywords so that their research can be identified by others when conducting database searches. Upon finding the relevant articles, the keywords will also be used in trying to find more articles. When the quest is to find specific studies, there will be a need to use indexed keywords. One may have to conduct searchers using numerous keywords so that they can find the papers that apply to the review studies or study. Reviewing the abstracts and articles: The third step will be to review the articles and abstracts to complete the research. This will help to filter out duplicated articles and other unwanted articles. The remaining articles have to be ones that adequately address the research issues. It will not be necessary to include all articles but the necessary articles. After the three steps have been concluded, it will be appropriate to document the results in a summary and synthesis of the findings. The articles will be synthesized and their findings presented. The articles will be referenced as information from them gets used in the research. b) Theories There are two theories about the media that will be useful to consider in the research. The two theories are agenda-setting theory and the uses and gratification theory. The agendasetting theory presents the view that mass media dictates the issues that are of concern to the public rather than the views held by the public. Under the theory, the issues that are considered by the media are what the public engages in discourse on, debate and demand action on. This means that media determines what the public thinks about and considers important (Lule, 2018). As such, Hanson (2009) observes that when media outlets fail to address an issue, it becomes marginalized in the eyes of the public. The second theory is the uses and gratification theory. The practitioners of this theory study how the public consumes media. According to the theory, the public uses the media to satisfy various societal needs and desires. Media is useful 5 to individuals for entertainment and for sharing with others on public platforms for the sake of communicating with each other. As such, each use is intended to satisfy a particular desire or need. As such, media users are motivated differently in their individual use of media. Preliminary Outline INTRODUCTION The Media as the Fourth Branch of Government PART 1: THE HISTORY OF THE PRESS Foundations of the American Press 1700-1760s Publishers Take Sides: Hearst v. Pulitzer Putting News in Newspapers 1830-1875 Crusaders and Conservatives: Muckrakers and Yellow Journalists 1875-1912 Professionalizing the News in Peace and War, 1900-1920 Magazines and Radio Challenge the Newspaper PART 2: NEWS AND JOURNALISM What is news? The problem of journalism A century of radical media criticism in the United States Telling the Truth at a Moment of Truth: U.S. News Media and the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq The ethical role of the journalist PART 3: POLITICS AND MEDIA REFORM 6 The Lack of Debate Over the Ownership, Structure and Control of the Media in U.S. Political Life The Internet and U.S. Communications Policymaking in Historical Perspective The New Economy: Myth and Reality The Political Economy of International Communications PART 4: COMMUNICATION POLITICS IN U.S. DEMOCRACY Economics, Politics and White Nationalism Where Trump Found His Base White Nationalism v. The Press The Foundering Guardrails of Democracy The Unwritten Rules of American Politics The Rise of Fake News PART 5: CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PEOPLE The role the public plays in media consumption and interpretation Using responsible and respectable sources to make informed decisions Saving Democracy The U.S. Media Reform Movement Going Forward PART 6: CONCLUSIONS Conclusions and Implications Best Practices for the Media and the Public 7 References Baum, M. A., & Potter, P. B. K. (2008). The relationships between mass media, public opinion, and foreign policy: Toward a theoretical synthesis. Annual Review of Political Science, 11(1), 39–65. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.11.060406.214132 Hanson, R. E. (2022). Mass communication: Living in a Media World. SAGE. Heiberger, R., Majó-Vázquez, S., Castro Herrero, L., Nielsen, R. K., & Esser, F. (2021). Do not blame the media! the role of politicians and parties in fragmenting online political debate. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 27(4), 910–941. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612211015122 Jasko, K., LaFree, G., Piazza, J., & Becker, M. H. (2022). A comparison of political violence by left-wing, right-wing, and Islamist extremists in the United States and the world. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(30). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2122593119 Kaiser, J., Vaccari, C., & Chadwick, A. (2022). Partisan blocking: Biased responses to shared misinformation contribute to network polarization on social media. Journal of Communication, 72(2), 214–240. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqac002 Kleinnijenhuis, J., van Hoof, A. M., & van Atteveldt, W. (2019). The combined effects of mass media and social media on political perceptions and preferences. Journal of Communication, 69(6), 650–673. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqz038 Lule, J. (2018). Understanding media and culture: An introduction to mass communication. FlatWorld. Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2019). Lazy, not biased: Susceptibility to partisan fake news is better explained by lack of reasoning than by motivated reasoning. Cognition, 188, 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.06.011 8 Singer, J. B. (2013). User-generated visibility: Secondary gatekeeping in a shared media space. New Media & Society, 16(1), 55–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444813477833 Spinde, T., Jeggle, C., Haupt, M., Gaissmaier, W., & Giese, H. (2022). How do we raise media bias awareness effectively? effects of visualizations to communicate bias. PLOS ONE, 17(4), e0266204. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266204