The Mass Media and the Political Agenda

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The Mass Media and the Political Agenda
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Learning Objectives

• Trace the development of the mass media and the
  way in which presidents have used the media in
  different periods of our history.
• Analyze the impact that investigative journalism
  has had on public cynicism and negativism about
  politics.
• Ascertain the major sources that people rely on
  for their information about politics.
• Determine how journalists define what is
  newsworthy, where they get their information, and
  how they present it.
• Explain the role that the profit motive plays in
  decisions by the mass media on how to report the
  news.
• Examine and analyze the charge that the media
  have a liberal bias.
• Identify factors that would explain why the news
  is sometimes characterized by political
  neutrality.

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Learning Objectives - 2

• Determine methods used by political activists to
  get their ideas placed high on the governmental
  agenda.
• Clarify how the media act as key linkage
  institutions between the people and the policy
  makers.
• Indicate how functions of the media may help to
  keep government small.
• Identify functions of the media that may
  encourage the growth of government.
• Explain why the rise of the information society
  has not brought about a corresponding rise of an
  informed society.

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Introduction

• Mass Media
• Television, radio, newspapers, magazines, the
  Internet and other means of popular
  communication.
• High-tech politics
• A politics in which the behavior of citizens and
  policymakers and the political agenda itself are
  increasingly shaped by technology.

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The Mass Media Today

• Media Events
• Events purposely staged for the media that
  nonetheless look spontaneous. Media events can be
  staged by almost anybody.
• Other items to consider
• 60 presidential campaign spending is TV ads
• Image making / news management is important,
  especially for presidents

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The Development of Media Politics

• Introduction
• The news media wasnt always so important.
• Press Conferences meetings of public officials
  with reporters- Roosevelt used many of these.
• Investigative Journalism the use of
  detective-like reporting to unearth scandals,
  scams schemes putting reporters politicians
  opposite each other.

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The Development of Media Politics

• The Print Media
• Newspapers and magazines
• Rapid printing cheap paper, along with
  telegraph technology grew the industry
• As it grew, the companies were consolidated into
  chains
• Now major corporations control most of the print
  media to compete with other news media

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The Development of Media Politics
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The Development of Media Politics

• The Broadcast Media
• Television (not cable or satellite) and radio
• Brought government and politics into peoples
  homes
• Made the politicians more aware of their
  appearance and mannerisms
• Generally the top source of news for most
  Americans, and most believable

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The Development of Media Politics

• Narrowcasting Cable TV and the Internet
• Media programming on cable TV or the Internet
  that is focused on one topic and aimed at a
  particular audience.

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Reporting the News

• Finding the News
• Beats Specific locations from which news
  frequently emanates, such as Congress or the
  White House.
• Trial Balloons An intentional news leak for the
  purpose of assessing the political reaction.
• Reporters and their sources depend on each other-
  one for stories, the other to get them out

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Reporting the News

• Presenting the News
• Superficial describes most news coverage today
• Sound Bites Short video clips of approximately
  15 seconds.

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Reporting the News

• Bias in the News
• Many people believe the news favors one point of
  view over another.
• Generally not very biased along liberal /
  conservative lines.
• But, generally are biased towards what will draw
  the largest audience.

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The News and Public Opinion

• Television news can affect what people think is
  important.
• Some policies can be made more important, others
  will be less important, depending on their
  coverage.
• News commentators have the strongest effect.

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The Medias Agenda-Setting Function

• Policy Agenda
• The issues that attract the serious attention of
  public officials and other people actively
  involved in politics at the time.
• Policy Entrepreneurs
• People who invest their political capital in an
  issue.
• All depend on good images and good will.

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Understanding the Mass Media

• The Media and the Scope of Government
• The media as watchdog restricts politicians.
• New proposals are met with skepticism- so that
  restricts what the government can do.
• But, if the media identify a problem, they ask
  what the government is going to do to fix it.

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Understanding the Mass Media

• Individualism and the Media
• Candidates can now run on their own.
• Easier to focus on one person like the President,
  than Congress or the courts.
• Democracy and the Media
• Information is the fuel of democracy.
• But, is the news more entertainment than
  information? Is this what the people want?

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Internet Resources

• Pew Center for the People and the Press
• Annenberg Public Policy Center
• Newspaper listing
• Center for Media and Public Affairs
• Political Commercials