Aim: What is the impact of the media on public opinion?

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Aim What is the impact of the media on public
opinion?

• Do Now why do they call the media the fourth
  branch of government?

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Chapter Objectives

• Describe the evolution of journalism in United
  States political history and indicate the
  differences between the party press and the mass
  media of today.
• Demonstrate how the characteristics of the
  electronic media have affected the actions of
  public officials and candidates for national
  office.
• Describe the impact of the pattern of ownership
  and control of the media on the dissemination of
  news. Show how wire services and TV networks have
  affected national news coverage. Discuss the
  impact of the national press.
• Discuss the issue of media bias and how this
  bias might manifest itself. Assess the impact of
  such bias, if it exists, on the electorate.
• Assess the impact of the media on politics and
  indicate why it is so difficult to find evidence
  that can be used to make a meaningful and
  accurate assessment. Explain why the executive
  branch probably benefits at the expense of
  Congress.
• Describe the adversarial press and how reporters
  use their sources. Describe how an
  administration may develop tactics to use against
  the adversarial press.
• Discuss how the proliferation of cable news
  networks and political pundits has impacted
  public opinion. What is your opinion of these
  pundits?

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Functions of the Media

• Entertainment
• News
• Agenda setting ability of the media to draw
  public attention to certain issues and to ignore
  other issues
• Political forum place to make announcements or
  advertise government

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Agenda Setting we must do something!
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How much power does the National Press have?

• Gatekeeper the media choose which stories to
  cover, how extensively, and for how long
• Scorekeeper the media keep track of and help
  make political reputations, note who is being
  mentioned, and analyze who is winning or losing
• Focus on Presidential elections like a horse race
  (Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary)

3. Watchdog Investigate politicians and expose
scandals
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How has the media evolved?

• Changes in society and technology made possible
  self-supporting, mass readership daily newspapers
• The middle class favored new, progressive
  periodicals
• Radio arrives in 1920s, television in the late
  1940s
• Today mass media includes Electronic media (TV,
  radio, the internet), and Print media
  (newspapers, magazines)
• Most people get their news from television, but
  the internet is becoming an increasingly popular
  source, especially among young people

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How have the media changed?

1. In the early years, newspapers were controlled by
   parties, and were expensive to buy
2. Over the years, the publics access to news
   became greater as newspapers became cheap, and
   televisions, radios, and computers became widely
   available
3. Most newspapers and TV and radio stations focus
   on local interests

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http//www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/10/16/12
-trends-shaping-digital-news/
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http//www.people-press.org/2012/09/27/section-4-d
emographics-and-political-views-of-news-audiences/
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Newspapers

• Number of daily newspapers has declined
  significantly
• Number of cities with multiple papers has
  declined
• Subscription rates have fallen as most people get
  their news from television

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Media Conglomerates

• WHO OWNS THE NEWS???
• WHO OWNS INFORMATION?

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Media Conglomerates

• Gannet owns USA Today and controls the biggest
  circulation in the nation owns 100 additional
  papers
• Rupert Murdoch owns 124 radio stations, New York
  Post, Weekly Standard, and FOX News

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Disney

• ABC
• A E
• History Channel
• Lifetime
• ESPN
• Marvel Entertainment
• Star Wars

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How do Politicians Adapt to Modern Mass Media?

• Shorter sound bites on the nightly news make it
  more difficult for candidates and officeholders
  to convey their message
• Politicians now have more sourcescable,
  early-morning news, news magazine shows
• 40 of American households access the Internet

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• https//www.youtube.com/watch?vz2jie_B1n2E
• https//www.youtube.com/watch?vNDrbztCiRP8

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How are the media regulated?

• Prior Restraint The First Amendment stipulates
  that the government (Federal, state, local)
  cannot place prior restraint (censorship) on the
  press except under narrowly defined circumstances
• The Pentagon Papers
• Confidentiality of Sources (except in certain
  criminal investigations)
• FCC Rules
• In the past, the Fairness Doctrine was followed
  broadcasters had to give time for opposing points
  of view
• - This was abandoned because competition among
  news outlets provides opposing views
• Equal Time Rule Stations must sell equal amounts
  of time to candidates

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FCC

• Federal Communications Commission
• Controls the media, no one may operate radio or
  TV stations without their license
• Who are they? 5 members nominated by President
  for 5 years.

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Government Constraints on the Media

• Reporters must strike a balance between
  expressing critical views and maintaining sources
• Governmental tools to fight back numerous press
  officers, press releases, leaks, bypass the
  national press in favor of local media,
  presidential rewards and punishments

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Aim Are the news media biased?

• Most members of the national media are liberal
  and secular
• Conservative talk shows have become more
  prominent on TV and radio in recent years
• Outright bias is unlikely, but news outlets can
  choose which stories to cover, how in depth the
  coverage will be, and what type of spin to put on
  the story.
• Pundit an expert, often featured on television,
  who offers analysis and opinion on a particular
  subject, usually politics.

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Table 12.2 Journalist Opinion Versus Public
Opinion
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Types of Stories

• Routine cover major political events
• Most news outlets cover these stories the same
  way
• Feature Stories events that are public, but a
  reporter has to persuade an editor to publish
  them
• Insider Stories things that are secret and
  uncovered through investigative journalism
• Feature and insider stories can more easily
  reflect political bias.
• 4. Loaded Language words that imply a value
  judgment to persuade a reader without having made
  a serious argument

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Obama takes top billing on U.S. television
McCain Slams LA Times for Double Standard in
Withholding Obama-Khalidi Tape
MSNBC FOX NEWS CNN
On TV, it seems like its all Obama, all the time
Obama's Aunt Found Living in Rundown Boston
Neighborhood
John McCain Obama lied about public financing
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How much do the media influence how people think?

• Selective Attention paying attention only to
  those stories with which one already agrees.
• Remembering and believing what one wants.
• Studies show that media attention or bias can
  affect how a person votes, but the influence is
  often limited
• Media attention can make a candidate more well
  known, and thus more likely to win.

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Influence on the Public

• Newspapers that endorsed incumbents gave them
  more positive coverage, and voters had more
  positive feelings about them
• Press coverage affects policy issues that people
  think are important

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Public Perception of Accuracy in the Media
Source Pew Research Center, http//www.people-pre
ss.org/2011/09/22/press-widely-criticized-but-trus
ted-more-than-other-institutions/
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Coverage of Government

• The president receives the most coverage
• Gavel-to-gavel coverage of House proceedings
  since 1979 (C-SPAN)
• Senatorial use of televised committee hearings
  has turned the Senate into a presidential
  candidate incubator

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The Adversarial Press

• Adversarial press since Vietnam, Watergate,
  Iran-contra
• Cynicism created era of attack journalism
• Adversarial media has made negative campaign
  advertising more socially acceptable

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The Media and Campaigns

• Equal access for all candidates
• Rates no higher than the cheapest commercial rate
• Now stations and networks can sponsor debates
  limited to major candidates

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Sensationalism

• Intense competition among many media outlets
  means that each has a small share of the audience
• Sensationalism draws an audience and is cheaper
  than investigative reporting
• Reporters may not be checking sources carefully
  because there is such competition for stories

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• Discussion Questions
• If most reporters hold liberal views, why hasnt
  the American public become more liberal over the
  years? Could reporters alter public opinion if
  they tried?
• What are some recent examples of the medias role
  as watchdog? Is the watchdog function ever
  exercised in a biased way? How?
• Studies show that the issues the public considers
  important are substantially the same issues
  featured by the media. Does this prove that the
  media set the agenda? What other interpretation
  of this piece of information is possible?
• On what sorts of issues would we expect the media
  to have the most impactwhether in setting the
  agenda, shaping attitudes, or determining how
  politics is conducted? Would we expect the media
  to have greater influence on
• . Domestic issues or foreign-policy issues?
• . Issues where the parties have traditional
  positions, or issues that cut across party lines?
• . New issues or old issues?
• . National issues or local issues?
• . Socially divisive issues, where deeply
  committed segments of the population are lined up
  against each other, or majoritarian issues (such
  as corruption or the economy), where almost all
  Americans share similar notions of what is right
  but are not sure which policy or candidate can
  achieve it?
• . Young people or old people?
• . People much exposed to the media or people
  little exposed to the media?

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• Discussion Questions
• The media have much freedom in the selection and
  publication of material in the United States. In
  1979, for example, the Progressive magazine
  announced its intention to publish the blueprint
  to a hydrogen bomb in its next issue. Should the
  government have intervened to prevent
  publication? What standards should be used in
  determining when information can be kept from
  publication? It should be noted that the
  blueprint was eventually published. Should a
  government agency like the FCC be established to
  regulate the press?
• Freedom of press has greater First Amendment
  protection than freedom of broadcasting. To
  illustrate, cigarette advertisements are
  forbidden on radio and television but not in
  newspapers and magazines. Are the two forms of
  media so different to justify this disparity in
  treatment? How so? Doesnt the decentralization
  of the broadcast media make enforcement more
  difficult?