Importance of Media in the New American Democracy Representative democracy Citizens need to know Events Media News Tree falling in the forest News shapes public opinion Need to “make news” shapes government’s

activities Inevitable concern about Bias and

Accountability

3 Potential Sources of Bias

Ideological bias of reporters/editors Profit bias of corporate owners Personal or selection bias of reporters

Bias in Historical Context

Party or House papers– Big Bias– Federalists, Gazette of the United State– Jeffersonians, National Gazette – Funded by government contracts, print party line

Penny Press– Depend on sales– Emergence of independent press – Muckraking, sensationalism– Increase in corporate ownership

TV, Radio & internet– 99% of houses have TV, 65% cable

Primary Source of News

Newspapers only 10% TV and newspapers 22% TV only 55%

Evening News audience declined 30% since 1980s

But 50 million in audience each night

Most Credible Source of News

Radio 5% Magazines 5% Newspapers 19% Television 58%

Criteria for Newsworthiness

Drama, color, brevity– Human interest story are always #1 – Media loves conflict – News is New!!

Framing

Systemic explanations – the increase in natural gas prices and decline in

federal heating assistance to low income families – National trend in increasing unemployment

Individual Explanations– high costs of heat- two families unable to pay

heating bills– unemployed worker-- unemployed auto worker in

Ohio

Framing (cont)

what is the most important cause of poverty --78% of people who saw the national trends

and high unemployment stories pointed to economic explanations (the recession) or government and society (references to Reagan’s policies)

--62% of people who saw the homeless story believed that motivation (laziness) or skills were most important.

Implications of Framing

Episodic frames encourage people to hold individual responsible for the situation they are in

thematic frames encourage people to hold the public officials responsible.

68% of CBS news poverty related stories presented a particular victim

People are more compelling than bar graphs (better copy), cheaper, and free of criticism

Personal Selection Bias

How Accurate is Media Framing? African Americans constitute 29% of the

nation’s poor. Surveys 50% of all poor people are

black? white Americans w/least accurate

perceptions oppose welfare

Pictures of Poor on CBS News

CBS News– 66% black, 34% non-black

Reality– 29% black, 71% non-black

CBS News– 15% working, 85% non working

Reality– 51% work, 49% non-working

Avg Time Devoted to 9 News Categories by local tv

state policy9% national policy

7%

local policy5%

local economy4%

Happy talk28%

sports16%

human interest14%

weather8%

disaster9%

Media as Corporate Entity

Merger of entertainment and news– Tabloid quality of Monica-gate

Ratings driven– Emphasis on spectacle stories (Diana, JFK Jr, OJ,

JonBonet)– No other news

Increasing corporate ownership– Time Warner-AOL– stock options– Disney---ABC, pedophiles at Disney?

Shift in Business Model– Profitability > Reporting

Gotcha Journalism

NBC Dateline on Valujet 1996 crash kills 110– "our government did not do enough to protect us.

It failed to implement the recommendations of its safety experts. It failed to warn us about dangers it knew of well before the crash. And one year after Flight 592 crashed here in the Florida everglades, it has failed to make sure that a similar accident cannot happen again."

– "I would probably favor listing the FAA as directly causing the accident."

Was it the Gov’s fault?

ValuJet a troubled airline string of mishaps Fire caused by oxygen canisters labeled

empty The immediate cause of the crash, was the

failure of both a private-sector airline and its private-sector contractor to follow government rules already on the books.

Increasing Gotcha Journalism

TV newsmagazine every night of the week

the rise of 24-hour-a-day cable news viewers harder to attract RESULT= personality-based "gotcha"

stories, grounded in scandal.

Negativity Bias towards Gov

a mismatched sense of the private sector's virtue and the government's vice – Government is in spotlight – Private companies are not, How much

does the Gap lose to shoplifters

Declining amount of News

Government news stories on "ABC World News Tonight" dropped from 40.2% of all stories in 1977 to 15.9% in 1997

In 1997, Time Magazine, ¼ the number of government stories as in 1977

Avg Time Devoted to 9 News Categories by local tv

state policy9% national policy

7%

local policy5%

local economy4%

Happy talk28%

sports16%

human interest14%

weather8%

disaster9%

Less Coverage of Gov

Department of Veteran's Affairs, 2 reporters

Interior Department, not 1 Full time Wisconsin state government

reporters, 24 in 1972, 12 in 1996

48 Hours

Bad Girls What would drive well-educated suburban girls to become armed robbers? 48 Hours looks at the case of four Texas teen-agers charged after a robbery spree last year. (Dec. 28,

  Dead Men Tell No Tales Tommy Lynn Sells

claims he's killed scores of people over the past 18 years. And as 48 Hours reports, it was a 10-year-old girl that helped bring him to justice.

Dateline

Actor leading the fight for a cure for Parkinson’s disease

  Conjoined twins Kathleen and Charity Lincoln

undergo a risky operation.

Breaking away Follow four families as they struggle to move out of the housing projects. Maria Shriver reports in this Special Interactive Documentary

Conseq of Neg. Bias

undermines citizen trust in gov Depicts public officials as self-serving

– Neumann on Seinfeld Media focus on scandal, rather than

preventing – Case of Challenger Disaster

Politics in Cyberspace

Will new technologies revive democratic politics?– “Offer a means of reestablishing the connection

between voters and candidates” email, chat room– “dramatically change the quality of information

readily available to voters”, wide spectrum of political groups

– CNN et al will develop multimedia sites devoted to political coverage

– More “unmediated sources of information”

Politics in Cyberspace

Will new technologies revive democratic politics?– Will reduce the cost of political contributions ..

Open the electoral process to groups and candidates who have traditionally been priced out of the political market

– Voters will have more candidates to choose from– Will make it easier to participate via email– Easier to do fund raising

Politics in Cyberspace

Concerns– Fair and equitable access, certain

segments of the electorate may be disadvantaged

– Requires a hgih level of motivation– Rise of formal and informal neo-

intermediaries

Bias in the Media

Accuracy in Media – Examples of bias

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting – Examples of bias

Who is right Change your perception

The Deliberately Biased Media

Article from biased sources Differences in news coverage between

the ideological press and the mainstream media

Being an intelligent citizen

Newspapers Magazines Commercial orientation of networks