Chapter Ten

Howard Dean YelpBad speeches caught on tape!More funny

• Infotainment• Soft news• Sound bite• Framing• Public agenda• Priming• Horserace journalism• Libel• Penny press• Yellow Journalism• Muckraking• New Media• Fireside Chats• Telegenic• Narrowcasting

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Introduction

• Mass Media:– Television, radio, newspapers, magazines,

the Internet and other means of popular communication

• High-Tech Politics:– A politics in which the behavior of citizens and

policymakers and the political agenda itself are increasingly shaped by technology

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The Mass Media Today

• Effective communication through media is key to political success.– Media Events: events purposely staged for the media

that nonetheless look spontaneous • Media events can be staged by almost anybody.

– 60% presidential campaign spending is TV ads• Two-thirds is negative.

– Image making and news management is important, especially for presidents.

Who are political pundits?• A Pundit is someone who offers to mass-

media his or her opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically political analysis, the social sciences or sport) on which they are knowledgeable. The term has been increasingly applied to popular media personalities. In certain cases, it may be used in a derogatory manner as well.

• The Power 50

The Political Functions of the The Political Functions of the MediaMedia

Providing InformationProviding Information Infotainment (Ex: Infotainment (Ex: The Daily Show-The Daily Show-

Political Satire)Political Satire) Sound bites and Sound bites and soft news The profit motiveThe profit motive

Interpreting Matters of Public Interest Interpreting Matters of Public Interest and Setting the Public Agendaand Setting the Public Agenda

Providing a Forum for Conversations Providing a Forum for Conversations about Politicsabout Politics

Socializing Children to Political CultureSocializing Children to Political Culture

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Providing Information: Reporting the News

• Presenting the News– Superficial describes most news coverage today.– Sound Bites: short video clips of approximately 10

seconds…..today down to about 7 seconds– Major TV networks devote less time to covering political

candidates.

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Reporting the News

Providing Information

• TAKE THE QUIZ

• 2012 Pew Research Update

Interpreting Matters of Public Interest Interpreting Matters of Public Interest and Setting the Public Agendaand Setting the Public Agenda

• Public Agenda / Policy Agenda: the issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actively involved in politics at the 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

(Priming)– Framing and telling us what to think about

Forum for Conversation:Top 50 Political Blogs II

Mrs. Bertola’s BLog

Socializing Children to Political Culture

- Diversity- Individualism- Patriotism- Democratic principles- Political issues

Evolution of the Media• 1790’s-1830’s: “power of pen”, elite, educated

persuasive/biased• 1830’s-1920’s: “penny press”, yellow

journalism, muckraking• 1920-1950’s: New Media on rise: fireside

chats, talk radio, “pundits”,

fairness doctrine(eventually repealed)• 1950’s-1980’s: television, sound bites,

image, pundits• 1980’s-PRESENT: blogs, netroots e-

campaigning, convergence

The Press and Politics: A Historical The Press and Politics: A Historical ViewView

■■The Early Role of the The Early Role of the Press: “power of Press: “power of the pen”, penny the pen”, penny presspress

Yellow Journalism Yellow Journalism and Muckrakingand Muckraking

A Widening War for A Widening War for Readership: Readership: newspapers, radio, TV, newspapers, radio, TV, Internet, blogs, and satellite Internet, blogs, and satellite technologytechnology

Pecking order Pecking order among newspapers among newspapers New York Times, Wash Post, New York Times, Wash Post, Chicago Tribune, USA Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Wall Street JournalToday, Wall Street Journal

Magazines

• Developed out of yellow journalism

• News magazines big at first, now decline

-Time, Newsweek, George, US News & World Report

(First magazines: Nation, Harpers, Atlantic Monthly)

●Magazines now deal with sex, sports, personal/lifestyles

--FDR’s Fireside Chats

--Talk Radio

Popular Talk Shows

• Telegenic: 1960 Presidential Election

--Narrowcasting:-Targeting teens--Media Segmentation:

--

Television brought government and politics into peoples’ homesEx: Vietnam War

Plummeting Nightly News

• Major networks: 1996— 60%

2006—35%

Morning News, Cable News, Public television: 25-40%

Local Television news: 55%

**What’s key for candidates is to get on TV for free and be INTERESTING (Ex: Leno, Larry King, SNL)

Would you vote for the following?:

The Media Revolution Continues: The Media Revolution Continues: The InternetThe Internet

• The Internet and Civic EngagementThe Internet and Civic Engagement– The ProsumerThe Prosumer

• The Internet as a Source of NewsThe Internet as a Source of News

The Internet’s Influence on The Internet’s Influence on Political Participation and CampaignsPolitical Participation and Campaigns

• e-campaigninge-campaigning• BlogosphereBlogosphere• Media ConvergenceMedia Convergence• The Negative Political Impact of the The Negative Political Impact of the

InternetInternet• The Internet and Free SpeechThe Internet and Free Speech

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Reporting the News

Top 10 Search Items in 2008• 1) Poker 6) Britney Spears 2) Paris Hilton 7) Clay Aiken 3) YouTube 8) Pamela Anderson

4) Golf 9) Facebook 5) Sarah Palin 10) Holly Madison• Top 10 Films of 2008:

1) The Dark Knight 6) Sex and the City Movie 2) Iron Man 7) James Bond Quantum of Solace 3) Cloverfield 8) 21 The Movie 4) Twilight 9) Camp Rock 5) Indiana Jones 4 10) High School Musical 3

• Top News Stories of 2008:1) Economic Collapse/Bailout 6) Jennifer Hudson Family Murder 2) Presidential Election '08 7) Eliot Spitzer Scandal 3) Death of Heath Ledger 8) Travis Barker Plane Crash 4) Clay Aiken Comes Out/Becomes Dad 9) Sichuan Earthquake 5) Death of Paul Newman 10) War in Iraq

• Top Television Shows of 2008:1) Star Trek Enterprise 6) The Simpsons 2) Dancing with the Stars 7) Big Brother 3) Family Guy 8) The Office 4) Greek 9) Hannah Montana 5) American Idol 10) The Biggest Loser

• Top 10 Bands of 2008:1) Jonas Brothers 6) Pink Floyd 2) The Beatles 7) 'N Sync 3) Metallica 8) Backstreet Boys 4) Slipknot 9 ) Rolling Stones 5) Linkin Park 10) Pussycat Dolls

• Top 10 Sports Stars of 2008:1) Anna Kournikova 6) Tom Brady 2) Danica Patrick 7) Manny Ramirez 3) Maria Sharapova 8) David Beckham 4) Michael Phelps 9) Tiger Woods 5) Serena Williams 10) Paul Pierce

• Top Three Blog Sites of 2008:1) Perez Hilton 2) Drudge Report 3) Huffington Post

Media Bias:

Media Bias, Regulation, Propaganda, and Ownership

• Bias--: a pre-conceived notion that inhibits impartial judgment; prejudice, tendency towards a particular perspective—Often goes undetected by many people

• Propaganda—technique of persuasion aimed at influencing public opinion to favor a particular viewpoint or BIAS

FCC and Media• Censorship is more likely with broadcast media RATHER than print media• The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)—Independent Regulatory Agency that

oversees free-to-air broadcasting (both television and radio). – Regulation of Obscene, Indecent, and Profane speech and visuals– Satellite, cable television, and Internet outlets are not subject to content-based FCC

regulation• 2004 Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy

– “Nipplegate”—FCC deemed it indecent and offensive– $550,000 fine levied by the FCC against CBS

Fairness Doctrine:Enforced by the FCC (Federal Communication Commission) until 1987 when it was repealed, imposed on radio and TV licenses, by law required time for opposing viewpoints.

Mass Media, Politics, and Propaganda

Propaganda--Why should we care?

Propaganda is all around us• Studies show that the av

erage teenager sees 3000 advertisements and propaganda everyday.

Bandwagon

Testimonial/Appeal to Authority

Plain Folks

Transfer

Transfer ad?

Mike Huckabee

Fear• Daisy Girl: 1964 Election clip• Ice Cream Ad

Logical Fallacy

• Osama Bin Laden is a Muslim

• Osama Bin Laden is a terrorist

• Therefore, all Muslims are terrorists

Glittering GeneralitiesGlittering Generalities allow the speaker to appeal to the emotion,

rather than the intellect, of the audience

• American Way• Justice for all• Christian • Social Justice• Equality for All• Democracy • Socialism• Freedom• Family Values • Republic/nation/country • United

• Risky• Terrorism• Evil • Coalition of the Willing • Shock and Awe• Treason• Unpatriotic• “Patriot”….Act • Struggle ; Work• Change

Name Calling (ad hominine attacks)

Ad Hominine Attack

• 2009—Pew Research: 11% of Americans believe Obama is a Muslim

• 19% of White Evangelicals Think So

Others:

• 9. Humor • 10. Repetition • 11. Beautiful people • 12. Warm & fuzzy (think animal shelter commercials)• 13. Flattery• 14. Simple solution • 15. Slippery slope• 16. FLAG WAVING—appeal to blind patriotism• 17. Cause vs. Correlation.

Review Types of Propaganda

• 1. BANDWAGON: • 2. TESTIMONIAL: • 3. PLAIN FOLKS: • 4.TRANSFER/ASSOCIATION• 5. FEAR: • 6. GLITTERING

GENERALITIES: • 7. LOGICAL FALLACIES: • 8. NAME-CALLING:

• 9. Humor. • 10. Repetition. • 11. Beautiful people. • 12. Warm & fuzzy. • 13. Flattery. • 14. Simple solution. • 15. Slippery slope. • 16. FLAG WAVING—

appeal to blind patriotism• 17. Cause vs. Correlation.

• Amount of Trust %

A Great Deal 10

A Fair Amount 43

Not Very Much 31

None 13

Media and the Public:

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The Development of Media Politics

• Private Control of the Media– Only a small number of TV stations are

publicly owned in America.– Independent in what they can report, media

are totally dependent on advertising revenues.

– Chains: massive media conglomerates that account for over four-fifths of the nation’s daily newspaper circulation

• Also control broadcast media

Effective Frequency• The number of times a viewer needs to see an

election ad for it to sink in (1972 elective frequency was 3 times, now 5-6)

Characteristics of ads:Even as there are more ads with more issues, political

ads are using fewer words (1960-over 210 words per average spot vs. 1996-86 words)

Negative advertising has grown 11% 1960, 43% 1996

Use of Propaganda:• Bandwagon, Plain Folk, Fear, Namecalling,

Glittering Generalities, Transfer,

• Edit a commerical

• Daisy Commercial, 2004, 2008 examples

Seeing Spots: A Functional Analysis of Presidential Television advertisement 1952-1996 found more breadth less depth—parties jam more into ads (1952-1996 average # of issues in Rep. ads increased by 115% and by democrats a whopping 519%)

Why Americans Hate the Media:By James Fallows

• Not Issues but the Game of Politics (issues don’t matter except as issues to fight over)

• Reductio Ad Electionem: The One Track Mind (less coverage on the event itself, more on how it was “handled”

• Pointless Prediction: The Political Experts (Competing predictions rather than extracting lessons of success and failure from events that have already occurred)

• Spoon-Feeding: The White House Press Corps (Why not go and investigate issues you don’t normally have time to cover instead of sitting around the White House press corps in case a press conference was called?)

• Glass Houses: Journalists and Financial Disclosure (Politicians have to disclose financial records, why not pundits?)

• Out of Touch with America/Lost Credibility

Media Bias Basics: Info. Taken from Media Research Center

• How the media vote: surveys show habits of backing Democratic candidate in every election since 1964 (2004, 2 to 1)

• Journalists’ Political views: five times more journalists described themselves as “liberal” as said they were “conservative”

• How the public views the media: Gallup polls consistently show three times as many see the media as “too liberal”

• Admissions of liberal bias: number of journalists admitted majority of approach to news is from a liberal angle

• Denials of liberal bias: Many journalists deny the liberal bias Ex: Dan Rather

• Evidence of bias in news coverage: The Media Research Center continuously reports instances of the liberal bias in the mainstream media

Review of Media Terms:• Pundit: political analyst offering opinions/ “expertise”

• Media Event: Occasion so staged the coverage becomes more important than the event

• Soundbite: Down to average 7 seconds/short snippet of taped comment or news

• Daisy spot: Political advertising/Anti-War

• Libel v. Slander: written/spoken defamation

• Horserace journalism: election coverage focused on opinion polls and public’s perception—not issues

• Watchdog/Scorekeeper/Gatekeeper: draw attention, “mentioners”, investigate individuals

Media and Politics: Key Terms

• Issue Framing: This occurs when the media (or politicians through use of the media) induces people to think about an issue from one standpoint rather than another—provides “context”

• Agenda Setting: This occurs when the media affects the issues and problems people think about, even if the media do not determine what positions people adopt. ---KEY IDEA: Media tell us more what to think ABOUT rather than HOW to think of specific issues– Can influence the policy agenda (set of issues that are seen as

important by policymakers) of politicians and government officials who make public policy.

• Presidents tends to get the most media attention (1 person versus ALL other politicians) and can therefore use the “bully pulpit” of the presidency to help use the media to shape public opinion.

Rules of the Press• 1st Amendment Applies all the time

- No prior restraint

- No libel/slander: Hard to prove

- Must divulge sources if necessary• FCC Regulates Broadcasts- License required- Political rule: Sell time to both candidates, SC states don’t

have to be given right to reply- FCC can limit obscenity/speech ($475,000 compared to

$27,000)- Confidentiality of Sources: SC ruled govt. can compel

reporters to divulge info. as a part of a criminal investigation

-

Regulation of the Media: Is it Regulation of the Media: Is it Necessary?Necessary?

Control of the Business Side of the MediaControl of the Business Side of the MediaControl of Media ContentControl of Media Content

Media Ownership and Democracy

Who Owns the Media?• 1996: Telecommunications Act

– Led to deregulation of Media and competition in all markets• Allowed major conglomerates corporations to compete in all markets and

eventually extend ownership across various media outlets.

Effects of Media Consolidation?

General Electric (GE) 10th Largest Company in the world

2005 revenues: $139.2 billion• NBC, Universal Pictures, CNBC, Bravo, MSNBC, USA,

15 other cable channels, Universal Parks & Resorts: Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Orlando

• 2004: Vivendi Universal, a French Telecom, was bought by GE (80%) forming NBC-Universal

• 2009--Comcast recently plans to purchase 51% stake in NBC Universal with GE retaining 49% and GE announced a buy out of remaining shares of Vivendi

OWNS

Viacom2005 revenues: $33.6 billion

• CBS—recently split but both majority owned by Summer Redstone

• 50% of UPN/WB (CW) network, over 35 TV stations, MTV, VH1,Comedy Central, Showtime, Nickelodeon, BET, Paramount Pictures, Dreamworks, Blockbuster Video, over 175 radio stations

• Production Companies: Paramount Pictures, MTV Films, Nickelodeon Movies, BET Films, Paramount Home Entertainment

AOL-Time Warner (Time Warner)2005 revenues: $43.6 billion

• Warner Bros, AOL, CNN, HBO, Time Warner Cable, Turner (TNT, TBS), Cartoon Network, New Line Cinema, Castle Rock Entertainment, 50% of CW

• Time-Life Books, DC Comics, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, People, and Netscape Communications and over 50 other magazine titles

• currently in talks to obtain Yahoo!

Disney2005 revenues: $32.4 billion

• TV Networks: ABCCable Channels: ABC Family, The Disney Channel, SoapNet, ESPN Inc. A&E Television, The History Channel, Lifetime Television, E!

• 10 other TV channels and over 60 radio stations

• Disney theme parks and Anaheim Angels (sold in 05)

News Corp (Fox) 2005 revenues: $23.5 billion

• CEO—Ruppert Murdoch• Fox News, Fox Sports• 17 Other Cable Channels• Indirect owner of Direct TV• 20th Century Fox Movies• New York Post, Wall Street Journal, and over 50

other newspapers and magazines • L.A. Dodgers (sold in 06), LA Kings (part)• Myspace

Who is the most targeted?

• YOU!

 

• Which of the following groups have had the highest percentage of its members voting for Democratic candidates in recent presidential elections?

• a. white southerners

• b. blacks

• c. Jews

• d. blue-collar workers

• e. Catholics

• The most important influence in an individual’s political socialization if his or her

• a. school• b. church• c. occupational group• d. family• e. local government

 

• When a popular president influences voters to support candidates for other offices from the president’s party, the result is called

• a. the plurality system• b. the coattail effect• c. logrolling• d. gerrymandering• e. winner-take-all

• What is the most important goal of any media campaign?A. Get attention

B. Smear the opposition

C. Present the issues

D. Influence polls

E. Present the candidates background

 

• Which state primary receives the most media attention?A. Iowa

B. California

C. South Carolina

D. Florida

E. New Hampshire

 

• These groups run campaign advertisements without making explicit endorsements for a particular candidate.A. 525

B. PAC

C. 527

D. Interest groups

E. 555

 

• At the National Convention, what is the party’s statement of goals and policies for the next four years.A. Keynote address

B. Caucus

C. Party Platform

D. Frontloading

E. None of the above

• This is a bipartisan body created to administer campaign finance laws.A. PAC

B. FEC

C. FTC

D. NRA

E. CBO

 

• What should a candidate do in order to run an effective campaign?A. Get a campaign counsel

B. Assemble a campaign staff

C. Get a fund-raiser

D. Get a campaign manager

E. All of the above

 

• A major purpose of the Federal Election Campaign Act was to

• a. encourage more independents to run for office• b. tighten reporting requirements for

contributions to campaigns• c. encourage more professionally run campaigns• d. organize campaigns more carefully• e. encourage more spending on campaigns

 

• The most important factor in creating and maintaining a two party system in the U.S. is

• a. the degree of consensus on major issues in the U.S.

• b. single member distract and plurality voting procedures

• c. the two party heritage from western Europe

• d. the strength of the central organization of the two established parties

• e. strong loyalties among party members

• Most critics of national media coverage of political campaigns and government activities characterize the media as

• a. uninformed

• b. objective, but not thorough

• c. biased with a liberal view

• d. biased with a conservative view

• e. too controlled by their sponsors

• In early U.S. history, newspapers were• a. as widely read as they are today• b. more widely read than today, since no

electronic media was available• c. more objectively written than they are today• d. read by a small number of educated people• e. read primarily in New England

 

The primary purpose of PACs is to • a. advise Congressmen on how to run their election

campaigns• b. organize effective campaigns for the challengers to

Congressional seats• c. provide funds for reelection campaigns of incumbents

who support the interest group’s agenda• d. provide strategies and funds for class action lawsuits• e. share the government’s agenda by raising new

issues and calling attention to previously ignored problems•  

Study the Chapter:

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