THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MASS
MEDIA IN THE UNITED STATES
 Communication
 Transmitting information from one individual or
group to another
 Mass Communication
 Process by which information is transmitted to a
large, widely-dispersed audience
 Mass Media
 The means for communicating to these audiences
Print
Broadcast
Internet
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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MASS
MEDIA IN THE UNITED STATES
 Prominent mass media for political
content . . .
 Newspapers
 Magazines
 Radio
 Television
 The Internet
 Other media for political content . . .
 Music
 Movies
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THE GROWTH OF BROADCAST
MEDIA SINCE 1920
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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MASS
MEDIA IN THE UNITED STATES
 Newspapers
 First newspapers: financed by political parties
 1830s: Independent ownership
 1880s: Most large cities had many newspapers
 1960s: Radio and television competition
 Today: Circulation down but readership up (online)
Institute paywalls
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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MASS
MEDIA IN THE UNITED STATES
 Magazines
 Can wield political power
Attentive policy elites
Two-step flow of communication
 Circulation has declined
Time magazine biggest in U.S.
 Political magazines
The National Review
The Weekly Standard
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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MASS
MEDIA IN THE UNITED STATES
 Radio
 1920s: Continuous broadcasting began
NBC first radio network
Edward R. Murrow
 Today: Nearly 15,000 licensed stations
Nine out of ten Americans listen to radio every week
Audience of talk radio more Republican
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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MASS
MEDIA IN THE UNITED STATES
 Television
 1940s: 23 stations in U.S.
 1951: first coast-to-coast broadcast
Harry Truman’s address at Japanese peace treaty conference
Kefauver’s coverage of organized crime investigation
 2012: 1,300 commercial stations in U.S.
97% of households have television
Three large networks with large audiences
Millions of viewers moving to cable networks
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WATCHING THE PRESIDENT
ON TELEVISION
This close-up of
John Kennedy
during a debate
with Richard Nixon
in the 1960
campaign showed
Kennedy to good
advantage. In
contrast, close-ups
of Nixon made him
look as though he
needed a shave.
MPI/Stringer/Archive Photos/Getty Images
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Many people learn about
politics by watching
comedians like Jon Stewart,
the host of The Daily Show.
Almost 30 percent of adults
surveyed said that they
learned about the 2008
political campaign from
comedy shows like The
Daily Show, The Colbert
Report, or Saturday Night
Live.
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AP Images/Jason DeCrow
LAUGH AND LEARN
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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MASS
MEDIA IN THE UNITED STATES
 Internet
 1969: Began with ARPANET
 Initially used for e-mail
 1991: World Wide Web
Created by European physicists
Fifty websites in 1993
860 million websites today
 Development of wireless technology
Smartphones and tablets
 Blogs
?
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Critical
Thinking
Question
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PRIVATE OWNERSHIP
OF THE MEDIA
 U.S. takes private ownership for granted
 Chinese government employs Internet police
 Some Western democracies’ print media privately
owned, broadcast media not
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PRIVATE OWNERSHIP
OF THE MEDIA
 The Consequences of Private Ownership
 Private ownership results in . . .
More political freedom
Dependence on advertising revenues
Must appeal to audience
 Newsworthiness
 Market-driven journalism
Hook-and-hold approach of local television news
Major broadcasters part of huge conglomerates
 Infotainment
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DUCKING THE CENSORS
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GETTING THE NEWS:
CONSIDER THE SOURCE
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PRIVATE OWNERSHIP
OF THE MEDIA
 The Concentration of Private Ownership
 Trend toward concentrated ownership
NBC-Comcast merger
 Increases risk of a few owners controlling news flow
Gannett chain owns over 80 daily newspapers
 Suggested that newspapers operate as nonprofits
No major paper has done
 Concentration of ownership not a problem in
television industry
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GOVERNMENT REGULATION
OF THE MEDIA
 Technical and Ownership Regulations
 Federal Radio Act of 1927
 Federal Communications Act of 1934
Created Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
FCC regulates interstate and international communications
FCC sets social, economic, and technical goals for industry
?
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Critical
Thinking
Question
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GOVERNMENT REGULATION
OF THE MEDIA
 Technical and Ownership Regulations
 Telecommunications Act of 1996
Relaxed ownership rules
Allowed phone companies to compete and sell TV services
 FCC regulates Internet
No jurisdiction to regulate content
Emerging technologies, ownership issues, cross -platform content
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GOVERNMENT REGULATION
OF THE MEDIA
 Regulation of Content
 First Amendment protects freedom of speech
 U.S. has freest news media in world
 FCC regulates content
Fairness Doctrine (repealed in 1987)
Equal Opportunities Rule
Reasonable Access Rule
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FUNCTIONS OF THE MASS MEDIA
FOR THE POLITICAL SYSTEM
 Four functions
 Reporting the news
 Interpreting the news
 Setting the agenda for government action
 Socializing citizens about politics
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As press
conferences have
become more
formal and scripted,
they have also
become less
frequent. When
journalists and the
president had more
of a collegial
relationship, press
conferences were
common. With the
exception of Bill
Clinton, modern
presidents are
clustered at the
bottom of the
graph.
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FUNCTIONS OF THE MASS MEDIA
FOR THE POLITICAL SYSTEM
 Reporting the News
 5,000 journalists in congressional press corps
 Special access to president began in 1902
Theodore Roosevelt
Mediated through Office of Press Secretary
 White House and Congressional news
News releases
Congressional reports
Social networking
C-SPAN coverage
News leaks
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FUNCTIONS OF THE MASS MEDIA
FOR THE POLITICAL SYSTEM
 Interpreting and Presenting the News
 Gatekeepers
 Horse race journalism
 Media events
 Where the Public Gets Its News
 Until early 1960s: newspapers
 Television dominant since 1960s
 Radio
 Internet
 Social networks
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FUNCTIONS OF THE MASS MEDIA
FOR THE POLITICAL SYSTEM
 Media Influence on Knowledge and
Opinions
 Television hypothesis
 Soft news
Can improve levels of political knowledge
Can lead people to be more cynical about politics
 Nine out of ten Americans believe media strongly
influence public opinion
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FUNCTIONS OF THE MASS MEDIA
FOR THE POLITICAL SYSTEM
 Setting the Political Agenda
 Media’s greatest influence is on political agenda
Issues not on agenda will not get political attention
Media can force government to address issues
Some issues receive too much coverage
Crime
Politicians eager to influence media coverage
Media influences public opinion by defining “the news”
Going public
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FUNCTIONS OF THE MASS MEDIA
FOR THE POLITICAL SYSTEM
 Socializing the Citizenry
 Young people acquire political values through
entertainment media
Criminal justice system portrayed differently on TV today
TV reinforces the hegemony of existing culture and order
 Media plays contradictory roles
Promote popular support of government
Erode public confidence
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Jason Reed/Reuters
OBAMA GOES ALL IN
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EVALUATING THE MEDIA
IN GOVERNMENT
 Is Reporting Biased?
 News filtered through ideological bias of owners,
editors, and reporters
 Citizens skeptical of news
 News reports criticized for liberal bias
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EVALUATING THE MEDIA
IN GOVERNMENT
 Is Reporting Biased?
 Newspapers tend to favor Republican candidates
 Congressional incumbents receive more coverage
 Bias depends on political party in power
 Citizens act as editors to judge information
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This graph
shows that
the public
increasingly
sees the
news media
as
inaccurate
and biased,
especially in
the past few
years.
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29
EVALUATING THE MEDIA
IN GOVERNMENT
 Contributions to Democracy
 U.S. political communication goes from government
to citizens by going through media
 Watchdog journalism
 Media reports citizens’ reactions to political events
 Media suggests courses of government action
 Majoritarian model of democracy
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EVALUATING THE MEDIA
IN GOVERNMENT
 Effects on Freedom, Order and Equality
 Media plays role in advancing equality
Civil Rights movement
Offers disadvantaged groups opportunity to state their case
 Journalists resist government infringement on
freedom of press to promote order
 Sensational journalism
Weakens public trust
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SOCIAL MEDIA AND CONGRESS
Click picture to view video
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32
VIDEO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What is your major source of political
information? Do you follow any political
figures on social networking sites?
2. Why do members of Congress use social
media to communicate with voters instead of
relying on traditional media?
3. Is the traditional press conference still
effective? What are its advantages and
disadvantages?
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