Ap u.s. government & politics Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Current events discussion 7 Minutes

“Feeding frenzy” HW Discussion

Reporting the News: Professionalism, Accuracy, and Bias

Media Impact: Informing Research has shown that Americans are not well-informed about politics. Is that the media’s fault? What are some reasons why Americans may not be well-informed about politics?

Agenda Setting, Priming and Framing Through agenda setting the media influences what issues will be up for public deliberation. Priming is when the media stresses certain issues and people use those issues as a basis for political judgment.

Agenda Setting, Priming and Framing Framing is the way the media defines an issue by either emphasizing or deemphasizing certain aspects of that issue. When the news media covers elections, they often participate in horse race journalism.

Professionalism, Accuracy, and Bias: Mistakes Flaws do occur in news coverage, especially as journalists are competing to be the first to break a news story. With the emergence of 24-hour cable news networks and the Internet, journalists are facing more pressure.

Ideological Bias in the News Do you believe there is an ideological bias in the news? If so, is that bias liberal or conservative?

Ideological Bias in the News Source: surveys of 673 journalists, March 7–May 2, 2005 and 1,500 adults March 3–April 5, 2005, Annenberg Public Policy Center, “Public and Press Differ About Partisan Bias, Accuracy and Press Freedom, New Annenberg Public Policy Center Survey Shows,” May 24, 2005, at www .annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/Downloads/IoD_Survey_Findings_ Summer2005/Partisan_Bias_20050524.pdf, accessed April 12, 2009.

Types of Media Bias Advertising bias: When stories are selected or slanted to please advertisers. Corporate bias: When stories are selected or slanted to please corporate owners of media. Mainstream bias: A tendency to report what everyone else is reporting, and to avoid stories that will offend anyone. Could also at times be characterized as “Nationalist Bias” or “Pro-Government Bias” Sensationalism: Bias in favor of the exceptional over the ordinary, giving the impression that rare events, such as airplane crashes, are more common than common events, such as automobile crashes. Ideological Bias: Can be conservative, liberal, or moderate

The Media and the First Amendment

The Media and the First Amendment Which part of the First Amendment most clearly applies to the media?  “Freedom of the Press” What does “Freedom of the Press” mean??  Originally: No Prior Restraint Now Criticism of Government is Allowed Remember the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts? Laws regulating the Press (as well as Speech in general) must employ Viewpoint Neutrality Investigative Journalism is Protected Most importantly: Protection of Confidential Sources See: Watergate

Media Criticism of Government Officials Slander: Unprotected spoken criticism Libel: Unprotected written criticism What is the standard for determining whether statements are protected by the Free Press guarantee? Private citizens: False statement; Negligence in determining the truth Public figures: False statement; Intent to Harm/“Actual malice” (Knowing falsehood or Recklessness in determining the truth) New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) Why the different standards? Notice that truth is always a defense

Freedom of the Press and National Security Should the media be barred from (or punished for) publishing information that harms national security? In what cases? If it endangers the lives of American citizens? Wikileaks: “Collateral Murder” and other disclosures What happened to Julian Assange? To Chelsea (Bradley) Manning? Was this justified? Edward Snowden: Revelation of the NSA’s electronic surveillance program What happened to Snowden?

https://collateralmurder.wikileaks.org/

Student Supreme Court: Procedures You will work in a small group of approximately 5 students. The groups will generally remain constant throughout the unit, but we may make adjustments based on attendance. Your group will act as the Supreme Court in each case In your “Courts”, you will 1) Read the fact pattern. 2) Identify the issue(s) presented in the case. 3) Discuss the original understanding of the Constitutional provision at issue. 4) Identify the relevant legal principles that should be used to decide the case. 5) Write an opinion, announcing your Court’s decision and the reasoning supporting that decision.

The Pentagon Papers Throughout the United States’ war in Vietnam, the U.S. Government (during the Johnson and Nixon administrations) consistently lied to the American people about the justification for the war, the military activities conducted in the war, and the progress of the war. A whistleblower from the Defense Department leaked a classified DoD report to the New York Times and the Washington Post, which revealed much of the Government’s deception. The Nixon Administration sued the newspapers, arguing that publication of the materials would harm national security, endangering sensitive negotiations that were currently underway, as well as the lives of American troops who were being held prisoner in North Vietnam. In this case, the Government said, prior restraint was necessary in order to advance a compelling government interest. How should the Supreme Court decide this case? New York Times v. United States (1971)

Exit Ticket: Practice MCQ The deepest bias among political journalists is a. the desire to produce content that will gain the highest ratings or readership. b. to promote a liberal agenda. c. to provide accurate—even if boring—information to the public. d. to promote a conservative agenda. e. to create fame and celebrity for the journalist.  

Tomorrow Full Class Period (65 minutes) to work on your group’s Political Infomercial By the end of class tomorrow, your research should be complete and you should have a rough plan/script for your infomercial Homework: Meet with your group to discuss the current status of your project; Complete any advance work that you need to in order to have a productive day tomorrow.