Chapter 12 Reading Guide - The Media
Make sure that you are familiar with the following terms:
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sound bite
blog
prior restraint
Telecommunications Act (1996)
fairness doctrine
equal time rule
market
horse-race journalism
routine stories
feature stories
insider stories
trial balloon
loaded language
selective attention
adversarial press
Questions:
1. Describe the limitations and the growth of the party press early in US political
history.
2. Describe how technology, urbanization, and publishers/editors affected the rise of
the popular press.
3. Describe the rise of magazines of opinion and investigative reporting during the
Progressive era.
4. Compare print media to early electronic media in terms of advantages and
disadvantages.
5. Describe TV coverage of politics during the era of the “big three”.
6. How has TV media changed since the movement beyond the big three networks?
7. Describe the rise of the Internet as a form of media and list its impacts.
8. Describe the trends in newspaper competition and readership.
9. Describe the localized and national orientation of the US media.
10. Describe the reasons for the standing of several key national media giants such as
the New York Times.
11. Define and provide examples for the three roles of the national media (gatekeeper,
scorekeeper, & watchdog).
12. List and describe the “rules” (or freedoms) that apply to newspapers and print
media.
13. Describe the controversy that exists in regard to confidentiality between reporters
and their sources.
14. Outline the licensing rules for the broadcast media.
15. Describe the efforts towards deregulation of the broadcast media since the 1980s.
16. Describe the difference in the use of television advertising between presidential and
congressional candidates.
17. Describe the trends in the ideology of the media in comparison to the public at
large.
18. Describe the rise of conservative media including talk radio.
19. Describe the trends found in studies reflecting political bias in reporting and the
media.
20. Describe the likelihood of the media’s influence on voters and the beliefs of the
public.
21.Describe the differences between the relationship of the media and the president and
the media and Congress.
22. Describe two reasons for the high number of leaks in government information
(separation of powers and adversarial press).
23. Describe how increased competition has led to increased sensationalism in news
coverage.
24. Describe the four ways in which public officials communicate information to
members of the press.