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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.
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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
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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:
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
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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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