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Political Communication

Political Communication. GOVT311 Lecture 12. Types of Political Media. Personal Contact Primary and Secondary Groups Phoning, Door to Door Direct Mail Newspapers and Magazines Television Internet. Campaign Contact (Besides TV). Voter Lists (voter registration files)

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Political Communication

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  1. Political Communication GOVT311 Lecture 12

  2. Types of Political Media • Personal Contact • Primary and Secondary Groups • Phoning, Door to Door • Direct Mail • Newspapers and Magazines • Television • Internet

  3. Campaign Contact (Besides TV) • Voter Lists (voter registration files) • Target message based on demographic information on voter lists • ID supporters • GOTV (Get Out the Vote) • Recently, absentee balloting requires additional organization to get out mail ballots.

  4. Five? Eras of Media • Partisan Press Era (1787-1832): people subscribed to papers without ads. Newspapers printed by the parties. • Commercial Press Era (1833-1900): advertising begins and prices for newspapers drop, rise of “penny press.” “yellow press” evolves. • Era of Objective Media (1900-1984): Emergence of a trained, professional media. • Interpretive Journalism (1985-1995): Consolidation of newspapers and other old media. Rise of national daily newspapers and interpretive journalism. • Fragmentation (1995-Current) Fragmentation of news choices driven by more choices available through cable television, talk radio, and internet.

  5. Radio • 1920s – development of radio networks • 1930s – FDR fireside chats, rise of presidential press conference • 1988 – rise of talk radio

  6. Video Killed the Radio Star • 1950s – television ownership rises from 0% to 90% of US households in a decade • 1952 – Eisenhower hires a media consultant to make television ads, Stevenson did not • 1960s – first televised presidential debate, images from television credited with Northern support for Civil Rights • 1980 – emergence of cable television • From 1968-present, amount of time dedicated to a single story has shrunk, giving rise to the “sound bite.”

  7. Internet Killed the Video Star • By 2008, 27% of people report obtaining their news from the internet. • Cable TV plus Internet means president can no longer command a national audience.

  8. Is the Media Biased? • Newspaper editors and owners are more conservative than general public. • More newspapers endorsed Bush than Gore • Newspapers rely on business advertising • Reporters are more liberal (on some issues) than general public • Liberals may gravitate towards media careers • Reporting is a low-paying job attracting young people • Media concerned with “balanced” viewpoints (conflict makes good television). • People perceive bias through their partisan filter.

  9. More Subtle Media Biases • Media is biased towards negative “Man bites dog” stories. • Media cover personalities over process • Election coverage is about the “Horse Race” not the issues • Redistricting never made it as a story • Media may be less critical of presidents for fear of losing access to White House

  10. Agenda Setting and Gatekeeping • Choice of stories affects how people view the world (Priming: which stories are most important to evaluate candidates?) • Iyengar and Kinder – found that placing a story in the news increased persons perceptions that the story was the “most important” issue and people began evaluating the president on that issue • Limits to agenda setting • People learn from their daily lives, too. Can’t make an issue out of nothing, can’t reduce an important issue to nothing (e.g., inflation). • However, perception of crime rate is tied to media coverage of events. • Media report on stories of interest to people (ratings!)

  11. Political Learning • People who read newspapers have higher levels of political information, higher levels of recall of information • Chicken and egg problem: do people with high levels of information seek out newspapers? • Most people don’t follow political news • Opinion leaders and cue givers – only need to follow news if friends who follow it say that something is important

  12. Can Politicians “Manipulate” the Media? • The rally effect – in times of crises, people rally in support of the government (and president), even the news organizations • Information is most effective in persuasion when there is no counter argument! • Presidents can demand a national audience, but the networks have only so much time they are willing to devote to the president

  13. “Going Public” • Using the media to rally the people to put pressure on government to force an issue on the agenda of elected officials • Only popular presidents are effective in manipulation, as people evaluate presidential proposals in light of their evaluation of the president • Presidents must choose issues that enjoy at least some popular support (president uses gatekeeping of this own to choose issues) • Other politicians can “go public” – presidents are most effective because of bully pulpit.

  14. Which approach to use? • Depends on: • If a simple argument can be made. • How the response is framed in existing attitudes towards the politician. How favorably are they viewed? Does the issue relate to other, similar episodes? • Can the response be framed in terms of moral or collective reasons? For example, “I broke the law because it was the right thing to do in this case…” • People do not like blaming others.

  15. Negative Advertising • (McDonalds spends more on advertising than all presidential campaigns combined; only 1% of 1996 advertising was political.) • Need to distinguish between “contrast” ads pitting one candidate’s stand on issues against another’s, and pure negative advertising. • Political ads are more negative than regular advertising; no accountability because of 1st Amendment free speech rights. • Academic research divided on whether negative ads reduce voter turnout.

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