MASS MEDIA Just how much influence should they have…

Role of the Media in the Political Process

Key Functions of the Media  Entertainment  Mass media emphasizes entertainment  Popular programs are continued, while programs that receive low ratings are cancelled  Informing the Public  News Reports- American newspapers have reported political news since the late eighteenth century (ex: The Federalist Papers)  Radio and television stations provide their audiences with varying degrees of news programming

Key Functions of the Media  Creation of Political Forums  Politicians use the mass media to promote their careers and draw public attention to their issues  The president has direct access to the media and is thus able to use it to help set the policy agenda  Watchdog, Gatekeeper and Scorekeeper

Media Influence  Gatekeeper: Editors and producers make decisions regarding what is printed or aired.  Control access to information  Pressures? Advertisers, public, desire for profit, personal bias  Limits? Selective exposure or selective perception

Media as a Linkage Institution  Mass Media connects people and communicates public opinion to their government officials  interviewing citizens, presenting poll results, and covering protests  Connect government officials to the public  interviewing political leaders and reporting on government committees and programs

Presidential Debate  moderator-keep-quiet-next-debate html moderator-keep-quiet-next-debate html

The Media and Politics  Agenda Setting  The policy agenda consists of issues that attract the serious attention of public officials  The mass media play an important role in drawing public attention to particular issues  Determine what news to cover Play a role in deciding what issues will get national attention and this influence the national agenda

Candidate-Centered Political Campaigns  Political campaigns have become more centered on candidates and less focused on issues  Presidential Debates between Kennedy and Nixon (television replaces newspapers and radio as America’s principal source of political news)

“The Living Room Candidate” 

Candidate-Centered Campaigns  The mass media contribute to the candidate- centered campaigns in the following ways  By replacing speeches and dialogues with sound bites that average just 7.8 seconds in length  By focusing on day-to-day campaign activities such as rallies, scandals, gaffes, and negative commercials  By engaging in horse-race journalism, which emphasizes how candidates stand in the polls instead of where they stand on the issues

Candidate Centered Campaigns  An election which focuses on the person and not the issues or the political party  TV/Media contributions?  Image is EXTREMELY important  Technical and Advertising strategies become more important than the candidate’s experience or qualifications  “marketing strategies”

Media’s impact on CCC  30 sec spots on news  Horse race coverage  Scandals  Personal lives  Debate coverage  Convention coverage  Primary and caucus coverage

Candidate Impact on CCC  Negative ads  Mainstream programs like SNL, Oprah  Cable and internet advertising  Consultants and “image”

Current Trends in Modern Media  Internet and Cable TV becoming more of a trend with younger voter demographics  Article: “Millennial Makeover”  Article: “Feeding Frenzy”  SNL, Tonight Show, etc.  Article: “Strange Bedfellows”  Result- growth in the airing of political views but a decline in the objectivity of news delivery

Current Trends in Modern Media  Americans perceptions of political affairs depend on the news sources they follow  Lack of a common version of reality  Contributed to greater polarization in the nation’s policies  Article: “How the Mass Media Divides Us”  Consider: Consequences of concentration of ownership of media outlets?  Increased similarity in network news coverage

Media Events  Public appearances  Photo ops  NAME RECOGNITION, public AWARENESS  Free advertising  Even a negative story is beneficial?  Can be detrimental? (The tank ad)

Television Advertising  60 percent of the campaign budget is spent on advertising  2/3 of political ads are NEGATIVE  We market our candidates like toothpaste and deoderant. -Larry Sabato  Same advertising agencies  “The Living Room Campaign”

Presidential Communications  FDR-”fireside chats”  JFK-1 st television president  Reagan-”the great communicator”  Acting background  TV presence/comfort level  Choreography/performance attitude

Print Media  Newspapers are declining in circulation  NY Times and Washington Post are still influential  Concerns?  Less informed voters since TV is where most people get their news  Only hear “soundbites” which cannot tell the whole story  TV reliant on advertising: How does this impact how stories are covered?

Federal Election Commission  Formed in 1934  Responsible for regulating the airwaves (radio, tv)  Regulatory examples:  Limits number of stations owned by one company  Licensing standards (language, content, etc.)

Cable TV  News available 24 hours a day  Affect on networks?  Selective exposure  Narrowcasting - aiming media messages at specific segments of the public defined by values, preferences, demographic attributes  More choices available (can that reinforce bias?)

“Business” of Journalism  Privately owned by corporations  Investigative journalism  Advertisers impact  News homogeneous due to many media outlets owned by one Corporation

Media terms to know  Soundbite  Less informed  Pressure on candidate  Context is IMPORTANT and could be misrepresented by the media  Leak  Intentional: gauge public response and make a decision/form a strategy  Unintentional: punishment may follow for the leaker