Media, Politics, and Government
Freedom of the Press
“Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom…
of the press…”
Origins of freedom of
the press:
• Influence of the
printing press
• Ideals of the
Enlightenment
• Pamphlets and papers
during the American
Revolution
Colonial-era printing press
2
What Is the Press?
Traditional forms:
•
•
•
•
Newspapers
Magazines
Pamphlets
Posters
Non-traditional forms:
• Radio
• Television
• Internet
3
Free Press: Essential to Democracy
• The media as the “fourth branch” of
government
• Important benefits of a free press:
— Open expression of ideas
— Advances collective
knowledge and understanding
— Communication with
government representatives
— Allows for peaceful social
change
— Protects individual rights
4
Freedom of the Press: History
• Original intent of the First
Amendment was to protect political
discussion
• Limitations on freedom of the
press:
Original text of the
Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)
— Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)
— Courts defined the scope of
freedom of the press
• Identifying a “clear and
present danger” and
clarifying libel
• Protection against prior
restraint
5
Confidentiality of
Reporters’ Sources
• Reporters do not have the
same legal protections as
doctors or lawyers when it
comes to sources
• “Shield laws”
• Reporters sometimes face
contempt-of-court charges if
they refuse to reveal a source
6
Freedom of the Press:
Key Court Cases
• John Peter Zenger (1735)
• Near v. Minnesota (1931)
Minute sheet from the
trial of John Peter Zenger
7
Freedom of the Press:
Key Court Cases (continued)
• New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)
• New York Times v. U.S. (1971): “Pentagon Papers”
• Sheppard v. Maxwell (1966)
8
Freedom of the Press:
Confidentiality of Sources
• Reporters hold source confidentiality as essential to the
existence of a free press
• Sources more likely to come forward if kept anonymous
Supreme Court cases:
• Branzburg v. Hayes (1972)
• Recent cases involving reporter/source
confidentiality (2005)
9
Discussion Questions
1. Discuss how the printing press revolutionized the spread of
information. What kinds of changes did it make in how people
learned and what they could do with information?
2. Describe how the media serves as a “fourth branch” of
government and review the benefits of a free press.
10
Discussion Questions (cont.)
3. Identify the restraints placed on the press by the courts and
government. Do you feel these restraints are justified? Why or
why not?
4. Discuss the merits and drawbacks of reporter confidentiality.
Do you feel reporters have a constitutional right to keep their
sources secret?
11
Student Publications
• 1930s: Student publications
appear in high schools and
colleges
• Post-World War II: Student
newspapers become part of
school classes
• Most articles focus on school
events: activities, sports,
social life, and student
achievement
• Articles deemed controversial
raise questions for school
administrators
12
Student Publications (continued)
• State and federal courts have ruled that the First Amendment
forbids nearly all censorship of college student publications
• Tinker v. Des Moines School District (1969) established
criteria that allows censorship of student publications if:
— publication would result in substantial disruption of
normal school activities
— publication would violate the rights of others
• Schools may not censor material merely because it is
controversial or critical of the school or administration
13
Student Publications (continued)
Hazelwood School District v.
Kuhlmeier (1987) distinguishes
between publications by students and
adults:
• School-sponsored publications
are part of an academic program
• Schools can censor publication
of material inconsistent with its
basic educational mission
14
Student Access: The Internet
• Internet filters: control
access to information
• The Children’s Internet
Protection Act (2000)
applies to libraries and
public schools
• United States v. American
Library Association (2003)
15
New Media
Old way:
• Expensive printing presses
and materials were
available only to a few
information providers who
controlled the content and
delivery of information
New way:
• Computers and high-speed
Internet connections allow
anyone to be an information
provider
• Computers accelerate the
amount of information through
different delivery methods
• Two-way communication
allows for near-instantaneous
16
responses
New Media (continued)
• “Wikimedia” meet the need
for people to participate in the
news
• Instantaneous, on demand,
and tailored to their liking
• Sources are interactive so the
consumer can respond directly
to the provider
• Information consumers can
also be information producers
17
New Media: Student Access
• Blogs, chat rooms,
and Web sites offer
opportunities to
become an
information provider
• Student
documentaries and
news programs
• Effects on students’
role in a democratic
society
18
Discussion Questions
1. Summarize the Supreme Court’s guidelines for censoring
public-school publications as defined in Tinker v. Des Moines
School District.
2. What was the court’s general reasoning in the Tinker decision?
Do you agree or disagree with this opinion? Why or why not?
3. What was the court’s reasoning in the Hazelwood case? Do
you think school officials should have the right to censor
student publications they feel are inconsistent with the school’s
basic educational mission?
4. Describe the pros and cons of Internet filters as used in schools
and public libraries. Are you for or against the use of filters in
these places? Why?
5. How does new media differ from old media?
19
The Role of Media in Politics:
Colonial Era
• Early colonial newspapers
• John Peter Zenger
Publick Occurrences, published
September 25, 1690
James Franklin’s New-England
Courant (August 7, 1721)
20
The Role of Media in Politics:
Colonial Era (continued)
Between 1750 and 1775, newspapers expressed increasingly
strong points of view
Benjamin
Franklin’s “Join or
Die” woodcut
from The
Pennsylvania
Gazette (May 9,
1754)
21
The Role of Media in Politics:
Post-Independence
• Political factionalism:
Federalists vs. DemocraticRepublicans
• Alien and Sedition Acts
A Federalist paper’s cartoon
attacking Thomas Jefferson
22
The Role of Media in Politics:
Abolition and Women’s Rights
Masthead of The Liberator
(May 21, 1831)
• The birth of the alternative
press
• The Liberator
• The North Star
• The Lily
• The Revolution
Masthead of Frederick
Douglass’s The North Star
23
The Role of Media in Politics:
Goals
• Informing the public
• Setting a policy agenda
New York World headline from the
24
Spanish-American War
The Role of Media in Politics:
Goals (continued)
• Serving as watchdog
• Presenting a forum for the
exchange of ideas
Police drag
away a
civil rights
protester
President Nixon leaving the White
House after his resignation 25
Discussion Questions
1. What was the biggest obstacle early colonial newspapers faced
in printing stories about the government?
2. What role did newspapers play during the American Revolution?
Do you think they were responsible for the colonists’ victory?
Why or why not?
3. Describe the partisan politics many papers participated in
following independence. How did the Alien and Sedition Acts
work to stop people from attacking the government? Do you feel
these acts were constitutional? Why or why not?
26
Discussion Questions (cont.)
4. Explain the reasons an alternative press emerged to discuss and
promote the issues of abolitionism and women’s rights. What
were some of these publications, and how effective do you think
they were in promoting their viewpoints?
5. Review the four role overarching goals of the media in politics:
informing the public, setting the policy agenda, serving as
watchdog, and presenting a forum for an exchange of ideas.
How do these roles relate to one another? Which do you feel is
the most important?
27
Public Officials’ Use of the
Media: Newspapers
• The “penny press” brought the news to everyone
• Early political parties sponsored newspapers to promote their
messages
• “Yellow journalism” sensationalized and even staged events
Joseph
Pulitzer
William
Randolph
Hearst
28
Public Officials’ Use of the
Media: Radio
• Radio as a tool for political communication
• President Franklin Roosevelt’s “fireside chats”
FDR giving
a “fireside
chat”
29
Public Officials’ Use of the
Media: Television
• “Eisenhower Answers America”
Opening shot of Eisenhower’s commercial
30
Public Officials’ Use of the
Media: Television (continued)
• Nixon’s “Checkers speech”
Nixon
delivering the
“Checkers
speech”
31
Public Officials’ Use of the
Media: Live Television
• The Nixon–Kennedy debates
• President Kennedy and his use of television
— Facing his doubters
— Presidential press conferences
Scenes from the
1960 NixonKennedy debate
32
Public Officials’ Use of the Media:
Live Television (continued)
• Ronald Reagan: “The Great
Communicator”
33
Public Officials’ Use of the Media:
Advertising Techniques
Attack advertising
• “Daisy Girl”: Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 presidential campaign
A shot of the
“Daisy Girl” from
LBJ’s 1964 ad
34
Public Officials’ Use of the Media:
Advertising Techniques (continued)
Attack advertising
• Willie Horton:
George H.W.
Bush’s 1988
presidential
campaign
The “infomercial”
• Ross Perot’s 1992
presidential
campaign
Bush’s “Willie
Horton” ad
Perot
campaigning on
television
35
Public Officials’ Use of the Media:
Government-Sponsored News
• Stories sponsored by
government agencies to inform
the public
• News or propaganda?
• GAO report
• Columnists paid by
government agencies to
endorse programs
• Practice misleads American
public
36
Public Officials’ Use of the Media:
Leaks
• Thomas Paine: one of the
first leakers
• Leakers: heroes or traitors?
• Leaks by the government
itself
— Announce upcoming events
— Discredit political opponents
Thomas Paine
37
Discussion Questions
1. How did 19th-century political parties get their message to the
public when the established papers wouldn’t carry it? What
effect did this approach have on shaping public opinion in the
days of yellow journalism?
2. Describe how radio gave Franklin D. Roosevelt an advantage
over past presidents in promoting his policies.
3. In what way were the visual techniques used in the
“Eisenhower Answers America” political ads as effective in
promoting Dwight Eisenhower as the answers he gave?
4. Why did Richard Nixon give his “Checkers speech”? Why do
you think it appealed so much to the American public?
38
Discussion Questions (continued)
5. Describe how Presidents Kennedy and Reagan used television
as an effective tool in promoting their policies.
6. What are attack ads? Do you think they are effective in a
political campaign? Do you think such ads are fair?
7. What problems do citizens encounter when the government
creates its own news stories? Do you think some people would
rather hear news produced by the government than by the
news media? Why or why not?
8. Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of news leaks. Do you
support government news leaks? Why or why not?
39
New Media in Politics and
Government
• The potential of new media
• Government Web sites, email, and blogs
• A Jeffersonian democracy in cyberspace
The home page
of the U.S.
House of
Representatives
40
New Media in Politics and
Government (continued)
• Virtual political campaigns
• Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign
Howard Dean’s
Web site during
his 2004
presidential
campaign
41
New Media in Politics and
Government (continued)
What impact will new media have on government leaders,
citizens, and policy?
• Will government officials listen more to the people? Will they
respond to calls for change? Will they replace negative actions
with better behavior?
• Will citizens become more informed or more tolerant? Will they
feel that their voices are being heard? Will it be easier for them to
organize and take action?
• Will policy itself reflect a broader consensus of the citizens and
not just private interests? Will new policies contain new and
different ideas? Will such policies actually improve the situation
42
or conditions under which people live?