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Copyright © 2016, 2014, 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
7 Mass Media & the Political Agenda
Patrick Semansky/AP Images
Copyright © 2016, 2014, 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The Mass Media & the Political
Agenda
Chapter 7
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Copyright © 2016, 2014, 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Introduction • Mass Media:
– TV, radio,
newspapers,
magazines, Internet,
etc
• High-Tech Politics:
– Political agenda
increasingly shaped
by technology
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The Mass Media Today • Effective communication thru
media is key to political
success
– Media Events: events
staged for media that look
spontaneous
• Media events can be staged
by almost anybody
– Image making & news
management is important,
especially for presidents.
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Development of Media Politics
• Introduction
– News media wasn’t always
important
– Press Conferences:
• Meetings of public officials w/
reporters
• Franklin Roosevelt held over 1,000
– Investigative Journalism:
• in-depth reporting to unearth
scandals, scams & schemes putting
reporters & politicians opposite each
other
– Coverage of presidential
candidates has become less
favorable
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Print Media • Newspapers & magazines
• “Yellow journalism”:
– Sensational style of reporting characterized newspapers @ turn of century
• Pecking order among newspapers
– has largest impact
• Newspaper & newsweekly circulation has declined
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Broadcast Media • Television & radio
• Brought govt & politics
into peoples’ homes
– Vietnam War
• Politicians’ appearances &
mannerisms more
important
– Kennedy-Nixon presidential
debate
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Gov't Regulation of Media • Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) regulates the
use of airwaves in three ways:
1. Prevent near monopoly
control of market
2. Reviews performance of
stations
3. Issues fair treatment rules
for politicians
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Broadcasting to Narrowcasting • Rise of Cable News
Channels
– Narrowcasting: • Media programming on cable
TV or Internet focused on 1 topic & aimed at a particular audience
– e.g., C-SPAN (politics)
– Report news as it happens & offer many choices
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• Potential to inform Americans about politics
• Internet is purposive
– People choose what to learn
• Americans generally disinterested in politics
– Blogs provide additional information about news stories.
Impact of the Internet
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• Small # of TV stations are publicly owned in America
• Independent in what they can report, but totally dependent on advertising revenues
• Chains:
– Massive media conglomerates
• Account for over 4/5ths of nation’s daily newspaper circulation
• Also control broadcast media
Private Control of the Media
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Reporting the News • Finding the News
– Beats:
• specific locations from which news
frequently emanates, such as
Congress or the White House
– Trial Balloons:
• Intentional news leak for purpose
of assessing political reaction
– Reporters & their sources
depend on each other—one for
stories, the other to get them
out
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Reporting the News
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Copyright © 2016, 2014, 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Presenting the News • Superficial describes most
news coverage today
• Sound Bites:
– Short video clips of
approximately 10 seconds
• Major TV networks devote
less time to covering political
candidates
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Bias in the News • Many people believe news is
biased in favor of one point of
view
– Generally is not very
biased toward a particular
ideology
• News reporting is biased
towards what will draw the
largest audience—good
pictures & negative reporting
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Copyright © 2016, 2014, 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Copyright © 2016, 2014, 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Reporting the News
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Copyright © 2016, 2014, 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The News & Public Opinion • TV news can affect what
people think is important
– Agenda-setting effect
• Media influence criteria by which public evaluates political leaders
• Some stories or events can be made more important, others less important, depending on their coverage
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Media’s Agenda-Setting Function • Policy Agenda
– Issues attract serious attention
of public officials & other people
actively involved in politics at
time
• Policy Entrepreneurs
– People who invest their political
“capital” in an issue to get it
placed high on governmental
agenda
– Use media to raise awareness
of issue
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Understanding the Mass Media • Media & Scope of Government
– Media as watchdog restricts
politicians
– New proposals are met w/
skepticism which restricts
scope of government, what it
can do
– If media identifies a problem, it
forces government to address
it, which expands the scope of
government
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Understanding the Mass Media • Individualism & Media
– Candidates run on their own by appealing to people on television
– Easier to focus on one person like the president, than groups, e.g., Congress or the courts
• Democracy & Media – “Information is fuel of democracy.”
• But news provides more entertainment than information; it is superficial.
– News is a business, giving people what they want.
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Summary • Media shape public opinion on political
issues & influence policy agenda.
• Broadcast media have replaced print media over time.
• Narrowcasting & the Internet are further shifting media.
• Seeking profits, media are biased in favor of stories with high drama.