Transcript Mass Media & Politics - Verona Public Schools

Mass Media & Politics
Why do news outlets seek to
entertain rather than educate?
7.3
a. They do try to educate, but they aren’t
successful at it.
b. They are motivated by profit.
c. They believe education is the job of schools.
d. They understand that it is the best way to
present complex issues.
Why do news outlets seek to
entertain rather than educate?
7.3
a. They do try to educate, but they aren’t
successful at it.
b. They are motivated by profit.
c. They believe education is the job of schools.
d. They understand that it is the best way to
present complex issues.
The Media’s Functions
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6.
Entertainment
Reporting the news
Identifying public problems
Socializing new generations
Providing a political forum
Making profits
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
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
 Megan’s Law
▫ Presents policy alternatives
• Watchdog = uncovers public wrongdoing,
corruption, etc.
What is an example of the media as
watchdog?
a. Televising a campaign speech
b. Reporting about an abuse of power
c. Criticizing a politician’s wife
d. Polling citizens on an issue
7.6
What is an example of the media as
watchdog?
a. Televising a campaign speech
b. Reporting about an abuse of power
c. Criticizing a politician’s wife
d. Polling citizens on an issue
7.6
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
How do politicians control their
public image?
a. Penning articles for Op-Ed pages
b. Informal Q&A sessions with journalists
c. Tightly-scripted media events
d. Frequent visits to talk shows
7.1
How do politicians control their
public image?
a. Penning articles for Op-Ed pages
b. Informal Q&A sessions with journalists
c. Tightly-scripted media events
d. Frequent visits to talk shows
7.1
Making Profits
• Usually from advertising
• Ad revenue usually related to circulation /
ratings
• Reporters may feel pressure from advertisers
▫ Dillard’s pulled ads from CBS after 60 Minutes
reported on security guards using racial profiling
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
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
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
Primacy of Television
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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
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
From Broadcasting to
Narrowcasting: Rise of Cable and
Cable News
 A general audience no more
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Breaking news
“Talk radio on television”
“Outrage discourse”
Selective exposure
7.2
How the audiences of cable news channels have 7.2
polarized into rival partisan camps
Watching only news programs that
reflect the viewer’s politics is called
a. Selective exposure
b. Narrowcasting
c. Infotainment
d. High-tech politics
7.2
Watching only news programs that
reflect the viewer’s politics is called
a. Selective exposure
b. Narrowcasting
c. Infotainment
d. High-tech politics
7.2
FRQ Practice
You may use your notes.
Government Regulation of Media
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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
 Can’t operate without one
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?
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 Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction”
• Government control of media during Iraq War
▫ “Embedded” journalists
▫ Ban on coverage of flag-draped coffins
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