Information, News and Politics

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Information, News and Politics

• The Media

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Todays Lecture

• What is mass media and what role does it play in
  American politics?
• What characterizes news coverage today?
• What about bias?
• How do media affect politics and policy?

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Introduction

• Mass Media
• Television, radio, newspapers, magazines, the
  Internet, and other means of popular
  communication.
• Media are dominant linkage institution today
• Linkage Institution The channels through which
  peoples concerns become political issues on the
  governments policy agenda.
• Primary means (esp. TV) of informing public about
  government and politics
• Were not always as important

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The Mass Media Today

• Media focus on the negative, scandalous, and
  superficial
• Investigative Journalism detective-like
  reporting to unearth scandals, putting reporters
  politicians in conflict.
• Media Events Staged events that look
  spontaneous.
• Image making and news management is important,
  especially for presidents
• Television encourages individual candidates, not
  political parties
• 60 presidential campaign spending is TV ads
• Two-thirds is negative

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The Print Media

• Newspapers and magazines
• As it grew, the companies were consolidated into
  chains
• Now major corporations control most of the print
  media to compete with other news media
• If only a few companies, only a few perspectives?

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Decline in Newspaper Sales
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The Broadcast Media

• Television and radio
• Encouraged press conferences meetings of public
  officials with reporters
• Roosevelt used many of these on radio
• Brought government and politics into peoples
  homes
• Kennedy-Nixon debate
• Made politicians aware of appearances
• Style over substance
• Television is top source of news for most
  Americans, and most believable

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Where People Get Their News

• Television is top source of news

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Fragmented Media

• Greater diversity and number of news channels
• Weakens dominance of networks
• Potential of cable to report on news as it
  happens
• Yet, resources are limited, so stories are
  limited in scope and they are not substantive
• May undermine sense of community among Americans

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The Impact of the Internet

• Potential to inform Americans about politics
• Internet is purposivepeople choose what to learn
  about
• Since Americans are generally disinterested in
  politics, they will not necessarily use the
  Internet for political information.

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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 Intentional news leaks to assess
  the political reaction.
• Reporters and their sources depend on each other
  one for stories, the other to get them out.

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A Decline in Substance

• Superficial describes most news coverage today
• Sound Bites Short video clips of approximately
  10 seconds.
• Major TV networks devote less time to covering
  political candidates.

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Media Bias

• Many people believe the news favors one point of
  view over another.
• Generally not very biased toward a particular
  ideology
• Bias a reflection of our own beliefs.
• Bias toward profit, what will draw the largest
  audiencenegative, scandals, good pictures
• Ideological bias may be increasing as multiple
  news channels target more specific audiences

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Media Bias

• 2004 Presidential Election
• Kerry
• 57 percent positive network coverage
• 21 percent positive Fox News coverage
• Bush
• 37 percent positive network coverage
• 53 percent positive Fox News coverage

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Media Bias

• 2008 Election
• Obamas positive coverage
• 43 percent (MSNBC), 25 percent (Fox), 36 percent
  (CNN), 36 percent (media, overall)
• McCains positive coverage
• 10 percent (MSNBC), 22 percent (Fox), 13 percent
  (CNN), 14 percent (media, overall)
• Frame 55 percent (horserace) 25 percent (policy)

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Media Bias
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Media Bias
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The News and Public Opinion

• Television news can affect what people think is
  important.
• Agenda-setting effect
• The media influence the criteria by which the
  public evaluates political leaders.
• priming
• Some stories or events can be made more or less
  important, depending on their coverage.

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Media and Agenda-Setting

• Media affect the policy agenda
• Issues that attract the serious attention of
  public officials and others actively involved in
  politics.
• Helped by trigger events.
• Media can play watchdog to raise issues to
  public and governmental attention
• Can affect public policy

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Television and Agenda Setting

• Television coverage increases an issues public
  importance
• Lead story most pronounced impact
• Agenda setting impact of TV varies by
• Education
• Party identification
• Political Involvement

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Priming

• Definition relies on the notion that people use
  readily available information to evaluate
  government.
• People have information costs
• They satisfice
• Do not pay attention to everything
• Rely on information that is most accessible
• Priming is particularly pronounced with
  television news

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Media and Policy

• The media as watchdog restricts politicians, so
  that new policy proposals are met with
  skepticism, which restricts what the government
  can do.
• But, if the media identify a problem, then they
  may compel the government to fix it.

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An Example Media and the Environment

• Media report on oil spills, nuclear meltdowns,
  smog, etc.
• Silent Spring
• This spurs public and government interest, which
  places the issue on the agenda
• With enough support in the public and Congress,
  government acts to solve the problem, spurred
  initially by the news media

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Understanding the Mass Media

• Individualism and the Media
• Candidates run on their own by appealing to
  people on television
• Easier to focus on one person like the president,
  than groups, e.g., Congress or the courts
• Individualism decreases party influence
• Democracy and the Media
• Information is the fuel of democracy.
• But news provides more entertainment than
  information it is superficial.
• News is a business, giving people what they want.

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Summary Whats Important?

• News is crucial to American democracy
• Superficial over substantive coverage
• No liberal bias to media
• Media agenda-setting
• News affects what public thinks about
• Which may affect policy
• Media the dominant linkage institution in
  American politics