The Media and Politics
Political Science I
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What is the mass media?
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Mass Media
• Medium – a means of communication that
transmits information
• Media – the plural of medium
• Mass media – the means of communication
that can reach large, widely dispersed
audiences simultaneously
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Types of Mass Media: Television
• Is all-pervasive
• Replaced newspapers as the primary source of political
information for the majority of Americans in the early
1960s (McClenaghan, 2009)
• Dominated historically by three major national
networks
• Challenges to its power structure have been posed
recently by
• Several independent broadcasting groups
• Cable broadcasters
• Non-profit public broadcasting
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Types of Mass Media: The Internet
• Is quickly becoming the leading source of
political information for US citizens (second only
to television) (McClenaghan, 2009)
• Is used by other forms of media via websites
• Is used by almost all government agencies,
interest groups, political parties, elected officials,
and candidates’ campaign organizations
• Makes information available to the public in
many ways, including websites, blogs, and
podcasts
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Types of Mass Media: Magazines
• Have a long history in the US
• Most published today are trade or interest
specific
• Some are devoted to news and public affairs
and have a large circulation
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Types of Mass Media: Other
• Newspapers
• Have carried regularly political news since their
beginning
• Have a declining circulation due to newer media (e.g.
Internet and television) but remain an important source
of political information
• Radio
• Is a major source of information, but most stations
spend minimal time on public affairs
• Has talk radio shows devoted to political commentary
that have large national audiences
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What is the history of
journalism and US politics?
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History of Journalism and US Politics
• The nature of politics changes with the
organization of and the technology available to
the press
• Four major historical periods
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•
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The Party Press
The Popular Press
Magazines of Opinion
Electronic Journalism
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The Party Press
• Newspapers were the primary source of mass
media
• Newspaper subscriptions were expensive and
primarily owned by the elite
• Printing technology was labor intensive and slow
• Transportation available at the time was poor
• Newspapers were created by politicians to support
their own party-specific political agendas, two
politicians of whom were serving as President
• Thomas Jefferson, the National Intelligencer
• Andrew Jackson, the Washington Globe
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The Popular Press
• Technological changes made possible selfsupporting, daily, mass-readership papers
• Printing technology advanced, making the printing
process inexpensive and fast
• The invention of the telegraph (1840s) allowed news
from Washington to be transmitted almost immediately
to major cities
• Urbanization allowed citizens to support an
inexpensive daily paper due to
• Reduced costs (e.g. decreased need for transportation)
• Increased income (e.g. advertising from local merchants)
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The Popular Press (continued)
• The Associated Press was created to share
systematically information via telegraph to
newspaper editors across the country
• Was non-partisan
• Presented facts objectively
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The Popular Press (continued)
• Mass-readership papers
• Were subject to the biases of their publishers and
editors instead of party funds
• Used sensationalism to sell papers
• Were often used to push political agendas (e.g.
Spanish-American War)
• Created a common national culture
• Established the possibility of a “free” (nongovernment controlled) press
• Demonstrated the profitability of stories about public
policy and political scandal
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Magazines of Opinion
• In the mid-1800s, national magazines that discussed
political policy were created to satisfy the growing middle
class’s desire for political reform
• They provided the means for developing a national constituency
• Some writers who contributed to the magazines were the first
investigative reporters
• There was an increase in editors’ and writers’ power due to
changes in
•
•
•
•
Circulation needs
Audience interests
Managerial style
Emergence of nationally known writers
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Electronic Journalism: Radio and TV
• Two inventions changed the way news was gathered and
disseminated
• They allowed politicians to communicate directly to citizens
• Broadcasts were
• Easier to avoid than articles in newspapers
• Expensive compared to newspaper ads
• The expense of electronic media required politicians to
• Purchase expensive air time
• Make controversial statements
• Acquire a national reputation
• Today politicians
• Have many electronic media options
• Crave the media spotlight
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Electronic Journalism: The Internet
• Is the ultimate free market in political news
• Allows political activists and voters to
communicate directly
• Impacts politics profoundly by making it easier to
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•
•
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Raise money by small donations
Organize people to attend meetings
Take instant (questionably reliable) opinion polls
Disseminate instant opponent criticism
Mobilize local followers
Target campaigners with contact names
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How do mass media affect
politics?
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Affect of Mass Media on Politics
• Most citizens rely on the media for
information about public issues
• Two areas that significantly show the media’s
influence are
• The Public Agenda
• Electoral Politics
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The Public Agenda
• Public agenda – “the societal problems that the
nation’s political leaders and the general public
agree need government attention” (McClenaghan,
2009)
• The media determine what issues the public will
focus on and talk about by emphasizing some
topics while downplaying others
• Several news organizations have a direct impact
on the nation’s leaders who closely monitor these
sources
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Electoral Politics
• Now that television and the Internet allow
politicians to communicate directly with
voters, they are less dependent on party
organizations
• How voter’s perceive a politician’s image
greatly affects votes
• Campaign managers and candidates use
strategies to manipulate the voters’ perceptions
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Limits on the Media’s Influence
• Only a small part of the public watches political
events closely and understands them accurately
• Most people watch political news with selective
attention; they focus on sources that agree with
their beliefs and ignore sources that challenge
their beliefs
• Most of the media’s content is apolitical
• This limits the time for political news
• Requires news editor’s to abbreviate stories
• Being an informed political participant requires
effort
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What are the rules that govern
the media?
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Protecting the Media
• First Amendment
• States that “Congress shall make no law …
abridging the freedom of the press”
• Means that print media are free from prior restraint
(government censorship prior to publishing)
• Public officials may file a libel suit
• Libel – falsely written statements intended to damage a
person’s reputation (Remy, 2010)
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Protecting the Media (continued)
• The Right of Access
• Is supported more in the lower courts than in the
Supreme Court
• Means that reporters may be given special access,
but the law does not require it
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Protecting the Media (continued)
• Confidentiality of Sources
• Most reporters believe that they have the right to
maintain the confidentiality of their resources
• Some states have passed laws to support this right
• Most states and the federal government do not
support this belief
• The Supreme Court generally rules for the
government’s right to the information if it is an
important part of a criminal investigation
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Regulating Print and Broadcast Media
• Most media in the US are privately owned, forprofit businesses and are subject to some
government regulation
• Broadcasting shares public airwaves, which
gives the federal government grounds for more
regulation
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Regulating Print and Broadcast Media
(continued)
• The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
• Is a “government agency with the authority to regulate
interstate and international communications by radio,
television, telephone, telegraph, cable, and satellite”
(Remy, 2010)
• Has two major regulatory functions
• Content regulation
• Fining stations for rules violations
• Threatening not to renew a station’s license
• Ownership regulation
• Telecommunications Act of 1996
• Ended or reduced many of the FCC’s limits on media ownership
• Had a key objective to increase competition between owners, but
led to a greater concentration of ownership
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Constraints on Campaigning
• Broadcasters must
• Provide equal access to candidates
• Charge the cheapest commercial advertising rate
for comparable time
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Constraints on Campaigning (continued)
• Not all politicians campaign using television
• It depends upon whether the market aligns efficiently
with their voters
• Market – “an area easily reached by a television
channel” (Wilson, 2011)
• There are approximately 200 television markets in the
US
• The media depends upon “horse-race journalism,”
which is a concern for scholars
• Horse-race journalism – campaign coverage based on
guesses about who is ahead instead of the candidates’
opinions on the issues (Wilson, 2011)
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How does the US government
interact with the media?
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Government Constraints
• Reporters are dependent on the quality of their
sources
• The government employs a large number of
press officers
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Government Constraints (continued)
• President
• The Press Secretary
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Manages and informs the press for the president
Supervises a large staff
Briefs the president on potential questions
Attempts to control the news about cabinet departments
Coordinates briefings for non-White House reporters
• White House Press Corps
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•
•
•
•
Is a group of reporters who
Have a lounge in the White House
Wait for breaking stories and photo “ops”
Attend the daily press briefing
Provides coverage of the President that is highly personalized
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Government Constraints (continued)
• Congress
• House of Representatives
• Does not receive much individual attention
• Has gavel-to-gavel coverage provided by cable television
• Senate
• Works in Washington, D.C., which provides many
opportunities for publicity
• Receives live coverage of its sessions on cable television
• Has used the live coverage to incubate presidential
candidates
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Government Constraints (continued)
• The four ways that reporters and public officials
(or their press officers) communicate
• On the record – the reporter can give the official’s
name
• Off the record – the reporter cannot use what the
official says
• On background – the reporter can use what the official
says, but cannot give the official’s name (i.e. a reporter
may refer to the source as a high-ranking official)
• On deep background – the reporter can use the
information, but it cannot be attributed to anyone
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News Leaks
• The various aspects of the US government
regularly leak stories favorable to their interests
• The branches of the US government compete for
power and the press is one tool that they utilize to
support their individual political agendas
• The US has an adversarial press; it tends to view
official news at the national level with suspicion
and prefers to find an unofficial source who will
leak the “real story”
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News Releases and Briefings
• News release – “ready-made story prepared by
officials for members of the press” (Remy,
2010)
• News briefing – a meeting in which a
government official makes an announcement
or gives an explanation and gives reporters a
chance to ask questions about news releases
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Press Conferences and Media Events
• Press conference – are usually carefully
planned events that allow the press to ask a
high-level official questions
• The White House staff may limit and/or
request questions depending on the topic
• Media event – “a visually interesting event
designed to reinforce the president’s position
on some issue” (Remy, 2010)
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Sensationalism
• Historically, reporters would not report the
moral failings of political figures
• The competition for viewers between news
shows has increased greatly
• This competition is a strong incentive for
sensational news stories that grab viewers’
attention
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Resources
• McClenaghan, W. A. (2009). Magruder's
American Government, Pearson.
• Remy, Ph.D., R. C. (2010), United States
Government: Democracy in Action, Glencoe
McGraw-Hill.
• Wilson, J. Q., Dilulio Jr., J. J., and Bose,
M. (2011). American Government Institutions and
Policies, Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
• Conduct and Internet search for the following key
terms: Platform Breathe TV Commercial, 'Food
Deserts'
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