Mass Media

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Mass Media Politics
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7.3
Why do news outlets seek to entertain rather than
educate?

1. They do try to educate, but they arent
   successful at it.
2. They are motivated by profit.
3. They believe education is the job of schools.
4. They understand that it is the best way to
   present complex issues.

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7.3
Why do news outlets seek to entertain rather than
educate?

1. They do try to educate, but they arent
   successful at it.
2. They are motivated by profit.
3. They believe education is the job of schools.
4. They understand that it is the best way to
   present complex issues.

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The Medias Functions

1. Entertainment
2. Reporting the news
3. Identifying public problems
4. Socializing new generations
5. Providing a political forum
6. Making profits

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Reporting the News

• Provides words and pictures about events, facts,
  personalities, ideas
• Protected by First Amendment
• Meant to keep flow of news as free as possible
• Essential part of democratic process
• Necessary for informed voting decisions

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Identifying Public Problems

• Not only reveals what government is doing
• Also determines what government ought to do
• Gatekeeper influences policy agenda
• Identifies public issues
• Convicted sex offenders in residential
  neighborhoods
• Influences passage of legislation
• Megans Law
• Presents policy alternatives
• Watchdog uncovers public wrongdoing,
  corruption, etc.

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7.6
What is an example of the media as watchdog?

1. Televising a campaign speech
2. Reporting about an abuse of power
3. Criticizing a politicians wife
4. Polling citizens on an issue

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7.6
What is an example of the media as watchdog?

1. Televising a campaign speech
2. Reporting about an abuse of power
3. Criticizing a politicians wife
4. Polling citizens on an issue

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Providing a Political Forum

• Candidates to gain support for campaign
• Officeholders to gain support for policies /
  present image of leadership
• Presidential trips abroad
• Scorekeeper influences reputations
• How can politicians influence this?
• Press officers release info and try to shape
  the news so that it gets the most favorable
  attention
• Spin control attempt to shape the way an event
  is interpreted
• Way for citizens to participate in public debate

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7.1
How do politicians control their public image?

1. Penning articles for Op-Ed pages
2. Informal QA sessions with journalists
3. Tightly-scripted media events
4. Frequent visits to talk shows

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7.1
How do politicians control their public image?

1. Penning articles for Op-Ed pages
2. Informal QA sessions with journalists
3. Tightly-scripted media events
4. Frequent visits to talk shows

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Making Profits

• Usually from advertising
• Ad revenue usually related to circulation /
  ratings
• Reporters may feel pressure from advertisers
• Dillards pulled ads from CBS after 60 Minutes
  reported on security guards using racial profiling

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History of Media Politics

• In early U.S. media not as influential as now
• Politics controlled by small elite who
  communicated personally
• News travelled slowly
• New York ? Philadelphia 5 days
• New York ? Virginia 10 days
• New York ? Boston 15 days
• Growth of print media in 1800s helped unify the
  country

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Popular Press Yellow Journalism

• Post-Civil War mass-based newspapers expressed
  the political views of their owners
• Editors engaged in sensationalism and yellow
  journalism
• Maximized readership
• Tabloids

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Broadcast Media

• National radio 1920s
• Television late 1940s
• Pay TV, cable TV, subscription TV, satellite TV,
  the internet
• Narrowcasting
• vs. broadcasting
• targeted to one small sector of the population

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Primacy of Television

• News-type programming has increased
• Images more important than words
• Stories can be constructed for maximum drama
• Reliance on sound bite
• Brief, memorable comment that can easily be fit
  into news broadcasts
• Focus on horse race aspect of campaigns
• Political advertising
• Presidential debates

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Talk-Show Politics Internet Broadcasting

• Talk radio
• 300 in 1989 ? over 1200 in 2005
• Criticized for focusing on personal attacks vs.
  policy issues
• ? increases intolerance and irrationality in
  politics
• Internet
• Increased narrowcasting
• Used more by younger people

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From Broadcasting to Narrowcasting Rise of Cable
and Cable News
7.2

• A general audience no more
• Breaking news
• Talk radio on television
• Outrage discourse
• Selective exposure

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7.2
How the audiences of cable news channels have
polarized into rival partisan camps
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7.2
Watching only news programs that reflect the
viewers politics is called

1. Selective exposure
2. Narrowcasting
3. Infotainment
4. High-tech politics

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7.2
Watching only news programs that reflect the
viewers politics is called

1. Selective exposure
2. Narrowcasting
3. Infotainment
4. High-tech politics

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FRQ Practice

• You may use your notes.

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Government Regulation of Media

• U.S. has one of the freest presses in the world
• Regulation of the media does exist
• First Amendment does not mention electronic media
• Government has more control over it
• Equal-time rule - stations must provide
  equivalent opportunity to opposing political
  candidates who request it (with some exceptions)
• Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
• Issues licenses for radio TV stations
• Cant operate without one

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Controlling Ownership of Media

• Telecommunications Act of 1996
• Ended rule that kept telephone companies out of
  the cable business
• One corporation can offer telephone service,
  cable TV, satellite TV, Internet, and libraries
  of films and entertainment
• Media conglomerates
• AOL/Time-Warner
• Rupert Murdoch
• Fox Television, Wall St. Journal, etc.
• Who owns what?

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Government Control of Content

• First Amendment protections extended to media
• Government can restrict indecent programming
• 2004 FCC levied fines exceeding those imposed in
  the previous nine years combined
• Howard Stern
• Janet Jacksons wardrobe malfunction
• Government control of media during Iraq War
• Embedded journalists
• Ban on coverage of flag-draped coffins

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Media Bias

• Study in 1980s found that the media elite
  exhibited a liberal bias in news coverage
• Journalists are more likely to identify as
  liberal and vote Democrat
• Contention has been repeated time and again
• However, difficult to prove