The American Media

Liz Bonnett and Anya Kim

Two Way Relationship

• Politicians and Mediao Politicians take advantageo Not an exact mirror of politics-editing,

appeals to specific audiences, opinions of the members of the media

Competition• Newspapers (60%)• Radio TV

o 11 thousand cable TV systems• Europe vs. USA

o Europe is more nationalizedo US is more local

• Federal Communications Commission regulates

National Media• Wire Services (AP), national radio, news

magazines and TV

• NYT & WSJ

o Quantity, have political elite attention

o Influence radio and talk shows

o More educated/ experienced writers (also more liberal)

• Roles of Press

o Gatekeeper- What is an issue?

o Watchdog- Keep tabs and make $$$

o Scorekeeper- “Horse races”

Rules Governing Media• Newspapers-no license• First Amendment

o no “prior restraints”• Libel, obscene, incitement

o very narrowly defined• Illegal to use printed words

to advocate overthrow of government

• Privacy laws for citizenso name and picture can be

printed w/o consent

Confidentiality of Sources• Reporters and Government disagree

o Reporters Government • E.g. Supreme Court-general vs. Farber

o His source was killing patiento Farber went to jail (wouldn’t reveal source)

Decision: Right to fair trial > Confidentiality

• Government can search newspaper officeso Congress revoked- Need subpoena

Regulating Broadcasting● License from FCC

○ Renewal standards-7 years radio, 5 years TV

● Regulation gone down● Telecommunication Act

○ 8 in large markets, 5 in small markets, could use it nationally

● Fairness Doctrine

○ give time to opposing view-abandoned

● Equal Time Rule

○ sell advertising time to one political candidate equally to opponents

Are the National Media Biased?● What are the views of the national

media?○ More liberal, secular (p. 303)○ Public recognizes○ Radio Talk Shows- Conservative

● Do the beliefs of the media affect the news?○ Should be neutral and objective ○ Opportunity for bias changes

depending on the type of article■ Routine stories, feature stories

and insider stories○ Public distrust has grown

Are the National Media Biased?• Does what the media write or say influence how their readers

and viewers think?o Some will and some won’t be influencedo Selective attention- Remember/ believe what they want too Studies of this would be very hard to conducto Really in depth study- Found editorials affect news coverage,

and news coverage affects public attitudeso Also affect what policy issues people think are importanto Media has more influence in things people aren’t familiar

witho Proof that it affects politics- Political campaigns

Citations1.

http://comprendia.com/2013/05/03/acp-ls-guest-post-social-media-monitoring-for-life-science-suppliers-7-steps-to-an-effective-strategy/

2. http://progressivepopulist.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/rush-limbaugh-nose.jpg3. http://media.washtimes.com/media/image/2012/06/04/mets-bill-maher-baseb_lea.jpg4.http://www.charleslindbergh.com/images/fp.gif5. http://i.huffpost.com/gen/311213/thumbs/r-WALL-STREET-JOURNAL-large570.jpg6. http://www.the-digital-reader.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Fcc_logo1.gif7. http://whowhatwhy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/7771.jpg8. http://eofdreams.com/photo/spy/02/