Unit III Mass Media, Political Parties and Interest Groups pp – Mass Media

High Tech Politics A politics in which the behavior of citizens and policymakers, as well as the political agenda itself are increasingly shaped by technology. Mass Media – key part of this technology (radio, television, newspapers, internet and magazines) esp. now with cell phones featuring apps

Media Event Staged purposely so that the media will cover it! Can include “photo opts” and special coverage events Candidates going door to door, candidates kissing babies, etc.

Development of Media Politics FDR ( ) – media was seen as a potential ally. FDR promised reporters two press conferences a week resulting in about 1,000 press conferences during his 12 years in the White House. “Fireside Chats” to the Depression-ridden nation 1960s brought about an entirely different type of media attention – cynicism

Investigative Journalism The use of detective-like reporting methods to unearth scandals ▫Watergate ▫Lewinsky

Print and Broadcast Media Print Media – includes newspapers and magazines Broadcast Media – includes radio, television and the internet

The Print Media 1 st American daily newspaper – Philadelphia 1783 Advancements of the printing press Pecking order ▫The New Your Times ▫The Washington Post

The Broadcast Media 1930s-1950s – radio coverage of news, music and on-air shows caught America’s attention 1950s-1960s – emergence of television Vietnam – first time the horrors of war were seen on tv Growth of cable brought about multi-media networks including ▫CNN ▫Fox News ▫MSNBC ▫C-SPAN

Government Regulation of the Broadcast Media FCC – Federal Communications Commission 1934 – Congress created the FCC to regulate the airwaves Today the FCC regulates radio, telephone, television, cable and satellite Regulates in 3 ways: ▫Prevent near monopolies ▫Conducts periodic examinations to make sure the public interest is being served ▫Fair treatment rules for the airwaves

Narrowcasting Focus on a narrow audience rather than a general audience (broadcasting) ▫MTV/VH1 ▫C-SPAN/MSNBC/CNN/Fox News ▫ESPN ▫HGTV

Private Control of the Media Privatization of networks – ABC, NBC, CBS Europe – BBC Chains – Major metropolitan newspapers are mostly owned by chains Today’s massive media conglomerates control newspapers with over 80% of the nation’s daily circulation.