Longman PoliticalScience Interactive

1. LongmanPoliticalScienceInteractive Magleby & Light Government by the People Chapter 10 The Media and American Politics

2. Role of the Internet in the 2008 Presidential Election • The Internet was extremely beneficial to Barack Obama’s campaign • By March 2008, Obama had about 1 million “friends” on MySpace and Facebook • “Friends” received invitations to campaign events, links to speeches, and requests for campaign contributions • Music videos supportive of Obama on YouTube • Obama also advertised on Web sites

3. MASS MEDIA • Means of communication that reach the public • Newspapers • Magazines • Radio • TV (broadcast, cable, satellite) • Internet • Film • Recordings • Books • Electronic Communication

4. NEWS MEDIA • Media that emphasizes the news • Have entertainment value • 60 Minutes • Dateline • Colbert Report • Talk shows with Larry King, Oprah Winfrey

5. Daily newspaper circulation has been declining in the past 30 years, especially among younger persons USA Today is the nation’s top-circulation newspaper News organizations are driven by ‘profit motive’ Newspapers

6. Radio • Continues to reach U.S. households & cars (1 in 100 homes do not have a radio) • More than 9 out of 10 listen to the radio every week • Candidates use radio ads to “microtarget” particular audiences • National Public Radio (NPR) is an important source of news on the radio • Radio personality examples: Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern • Americans have access to the news even in the car • Listeners can interact (call-in) on radio show to express their opinion

7. The Influence of the Media on Politics: Television • Until the late 1980s, 90% of the audiences got their news from the television • Recent growth of around-the-clock cable news and information shows (C-SPAN)

8. Television • Most people in the U.S. watch some kind of TV news every day • Most voters rely more on TV commercials for information about candidates and issues and less on news coverage

9. The Impact of Broadcasting Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president to recognize the effectiveness of radio to reach the public

10. The Impact of Broadcasting TV added a dramatic visual dimension Many local stations provide 90 minutes of local news every evening 20/20 and other newsmagazine shows are popular in the primetime evening hours In 2004, an investigative team at CBS News uncovered and aired this and other photos of prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib. Although the military had been privately investigating the situation for several months, the actions of the CBS reporters brought the tragedy into the national spotlight.

11. The Internet • Has grown to have over 8 billion documents • 23% of Americans use the Internet is their primary source of news • 76% of teens get news online • 51% of teens use Internet everyday • Candidates now use the Web for fundraising • The Internet provides an inexpensive way to communicate with volunteers, contributors, and voters

12. The Changing Role of the American News Media • First newspaper: Boston News-Letter, April 1704 • Avoided controversial issues • Revolutionary War: Press abandoned impartiality and worked to build resistance to British policies • Early 1800s: Press was used a a mouthpiece for political leaders • 1833: Advent of the penny press • Price went from an annual subscription fee of $8-$10 to 1 cent a paper, making it affordable for working class • Expanded circulation, increased advertising, enabled newspapers to become financially independent • 1848, creation of the Associated Press (a group of NY newspapers joined together) • Rather than competing, they would coordinate a concentrated effort to provide readers with wider coverage of important events • Yellow journalism • Attempt to use catchy headlines & biased articles to convince people to buy newspapers & create sensation • Centralization of ownership of newspapers in early twentieth century has continued to this day

13. Media Consolidation Emergence of large conglomerates owning multiple media outlets Rupert Murdoch, founder of the FOX network, owns 35 TV stations in the U.S., DirecTV, 20th Century Fox, HarperCollins Publishers, MySpace.com, and TV Guide, which has the largest magazine circulation in the U.S.

14. As a result of media conglomerates: • News is homogenized (uniform consistency) • The same news is found in many different sources • There is a danger that alternative viewpoints will be excluded

15. Investigatory Journalism • Seymour Hersh and the Pentagon Papers – revealed how US became involved in the Vietnam War • Robert Woodward and Carl Bernstein and Watergate – Spotlight on Nixon & his attempted burglary of Watergate building • Nina Totenberg (NPR) and Clarence Thomas – Supreme Court Justice scandal

16. Regulation of the Media The Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) is an independent regulatory commission that oversees TV and radio licensing, financing, and even content FCC continues to regulate licensing issues and occasionally fines or penalizes broadcasters who violate decency standards

17. Question: Is the media simply a reflection of society?

18. Mediated Politics • The pervasiveness of the media confers enormous influence on the individuals who determine what we read, hear, and see because they can reach so many people so quickly • Media has actually taken over the roles of the political parties and interest groups

19. The Media and Public Opinion • The ability of TV to present images and communicate events has influenced U.S. public opinion • Examples: • Civil Rights movement • Vietnam War • Watergate hearings • September 11 • Hurricane Katrina

20. Civil Rights Movement (1950s & 1960s) • Television footage of violence done to black and white protesters during 1950s and 1960s made the issue more real and immediate

21. Vietnam War • News coverage galvanized the antiwar movement in the US because of the horrible images news shows brought into people’s homes

22. Watergate Hearings • The testimony of White House staff before the Senate Watergate and later House Judiciary committees further weakened confidence in the Nixon administration

23. Hurricane Katrina • Hurricane Katrina = coverage of the storm left indelible impressions on all who watched

24. Factors That Limit Media Influence on Public Opinion Political Socialization Selective Exposure Audience Fragmentation Selective Perception Needs

25. Are the Media Biased? • What conclusions can be made from this bar graph?

26. Are the Media Biased? What conclusions can be made from this pie chart?

27. Are the Media Biased?

28. TV News Bias • Ideological Agenda Examples: Chris Matthew’s Hardball (MSNBC - liberal); The O’Reilly Factor (Fox News - conservative) • Late Night TV Examples: Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, NBC’s Tonight Show a) superficial coverage, in-depth coverage rare b) War can look like a video game on TV c) ‘Fake news’ news becomes the ‘real’ news d) Americans have more choices in news coverage

29. Internet Bias a) accessibility of the news dramatically increased b) not all internet information is credible c) increasing digital divide between young-old, rich-poor, educated-uneducated

30. Intense Competition a) Profit motive - strong incentive to investigate personalities and expose scandal (ex: Election night 2000 prime example of profit motive behind major networks) -strong competition, have to stay one step ahead and can not be behind b) Sensationalism - “feeding frenzy” i.e. “we like dirty laundry” (death and dirt sell papers and increases TV ratings) c) Rush to get a story out without properly checking sources or researching it thoroughly

31. How Media Affects Public Opinion • Agenda Setting • Deciding what will be decided, defining the problems and issues to be addressed by decision makers Issue Framing The power to set the context, to frame the issue, to interpret the facts, and potentially to provide legitimacy for people, issues, or groups are powerful and controversial functions of the media

32. Presidential candidates welcome invitations to appear with Oprah, Leno, or Letterman, and try to reformulate their messages in a light, comedic style that fits the program Consistent with the media’s focus on personality is its highlighting of mistakes and gaffes by candidates The Media and Elections:Choice of Candidates

33. Campaign Events Officials want to control information about themselves and their policies, including the way such information is framed and presented by the media

34. Technology With the Web, citizens now have the opportunity to interact with each other on a wide range of political topics

35. Image Making and Media Consultants Role of media consultants: Campaign professionals who provide candidates with advice and services on media relations, advertising strategy, and opinion polling - Give advice on what colors to wear, how to behave and act on TV - Use focus groups and public opinion polls to determine what the candidate says and does - Media consultants have taken over the role party politicians formerly played A portrait of Abraham Lincoln as “Abe the Rail Splitter”

36. The Media and Voter Choice • Personality over substance • The horse race • Negative advertising • Information about issues • Making a decision • Election night reporting