The Media

The News An account of obtruding events Types Timely, dramatic, compelling Types Broadcast Cable Newspapers News magazines Internet sites

Historical Development Era 1: Partisan Press Gazette of the U.S. v. National Gazette Era 2: Penny Press New York Sun Telegraph Rotary press Price goes from six cents to a penny Circulation  Advertising  Less partisan

Historical Development Era 3: Yellow Journalism Hearst’s New York Journal v. Pulitzer’s New York World Era 4: Objective Journalism Facts and fair Adolph Ochs—New York Times Radio emerges in 1920s Federal Communications Act Equal time restriction TV shows in the 1950s Fairness Doctrine

Historical Development Era 5: The New Era Here comes cable Privately owned No Fairness Doctrine What effect? Internet Low cost of entry

Functions News media acts as a gatekeeper Doesn’t shape opinions...just perceptions Signaling Common-carrier Watchdog Partisan

Signaling Alert the public Up to traditional media largely Agenda setting Not what we think, but what we think about If it bleeds it leads… Still need to attract an audience Need fresh stories…hard events Novelty

Watchdog Expose officials who violate accepted legal, ethical, or performance standards “No prior restraint” Hard to win libel suits Failed during McCarthy Watergate Abu Ghraib

Common-Carrier Serve as a conduit through which political leaders of both parties can communicate with public More than half of national news comes from DC Presidency gets most coverage Partisan neutrality Sound bites…the person doesn’t matter most The game of politics Framing

Partisan Acting as advocate for a particular point of interest Newspapers side editorially with R Broadcast news typically neutral But have a preference for the negative Talk shows are conservative mainly Rush v. Olbermann v. Maddow NPR Daily Show and Colbert Internet leans liberal Mobilize, interact, the long tail

Attention to News We used to have an inadvertent news audience Then we got cable News is disproportionately older Age gap in news and information Emergence of soft news

For Thursday Read chapter 6 and all 4 course reader documents What are Gitlin’s issues with the American media? What is the role of the free press in the propaganda war between the U.S. military and the Taliban? How has the scholarship of public opinion changed over time? Why does the heart win when it comes to elections?