Media Unit 3 Notes M

Mass Media  Form of communication that can reach large audiences (**news media is media that emphasizes just the news)  Media is a link between the government and people Interviews and Reports on government Programs Interview, poll results, cover protests

What is news?  What’s going on at the time  Interviews/facts/what others want you to know  Celebs, war, government, important events

Horse Race journalism  Media focuses on polls and who is ahead during campaigns rather than issues

Print Media  Newspapers: Most influential = Wallstreet Journal, NY Times, Washington Pst  Magazines: Most influential = Time, US News and World Report and Newsweek

Broadcast Media  1) Radio – FDR’s “Fireside Chats”, Talk Radio (usually conservative)  2) TV – 3 major networks = ABC, NBC, and CBS; cable (continuous coverage) = Fox, CNN, MSNBC  3) Internet – mostly people under 30  Politico.com and Huffington Post  Blogs, websites to connect with governemnt

Functions of Media

Entertainment  Popular culture  Take citizen’s minds off negative political events

News  Newspapers have been a source of information since the 1700s  Radio and TV and increasingly internet are most prominent formats now (and give a different tone/perspective)  CNN: liberal  Fox: conservative

Public Forums  Politicians use the media to promote careers  President has direct access to use the media to set policy agenda (set of issues, problems or subjects that are important and addressed by policy makers)

How journalists and officials interact  Press release: official written statement issues to journalists  Press brief: restricted questioning of press secretary/officials  Press conference: questioning of government officials  Leaks: when information is anonymously released to press

Rules for journalists  On record: can quote  Off record: can’t quote or print information  On background: can print, but can’t give officials name  On deep background: can print but can’t tell source

No Libel or Slander!  Libel – written defamation of character  Slander – spoken defamation of character  NY Times v. Sullivan – only libel if it is knowingly untrue or there is a reckless disregard for truth

NY Times v. US  government can’t censor the press (1 st amendment)  Pentagon papers case

Media and the President  President can address the nation at any time on all networks  Speech, brief, conference, sound bite (clip)  Press Secretary – link between president and media  Media focuses more on president than Congress (one person vs. many, campaigns and issues more high profile)

Media and Congress  Cover: hearings, oversight, investigations, scandals, vote on bills, C-Span  Who gets attention? Entire group, Speaker of House, Minority and Majority Leaders, Committee Chairs, Whips  Receive less attention than the President

Media and SCOTUS  TV is not allowed in SCOTUS  Written/audio transcripts released at end of session  Since Bush v. Gore (2000) some audio recordings allowed on case by case basis

Effect of Media on politics  Influential in determining what information people get  Agenda setting = ability of media to shape what is important and what make it onto policy agenda

Adversarial Press  tendency of the media to be suspicious of officials and eager to reveal unflattering information  Starts with Vietnam and Watergate

Roles played by the Media  Scorekeeper: keeps track of “horse race” aspect of political campaigns  Gatekeeper: decides who/what becomes important  shapes policy agenda  Watchdog: investigative journalism  watches and exposes details about candidates and officials

Homogenization  Media events report on the same topics, events, people  Why? Less local news, more media conglomerates and national news

Our Perceptions  Selected Perception: people perceive what they want to from media messages  Selected exposure: process in which individuals screen out messages that do not conform to their own beliefs

Media Bias  Does media favor certain point of view or ideology?  Journalists are … mostly liberal (up to 90% vote Democratic)

FCC  Regulates all media outlets  Conflicts arise over regulation v. 1 st amendment  Compromise = rating scale and delay in live tv

FTC  Regulates merger of media outlets

Freedom of Information Act 1966  federal agencies must make documents available to public  Exceptions: national security, internal practices, personal files  Expanded under Clinton to include electronic files  George W. Bush issues executive order to restrict access to former presidential records

Sunshine Laws  Over 50 department meetings open to public  Government can’t conduct business in private  Gives media a chance to cover and report

Fairness Doctrine  Media must present both sides  Equal time rule – give candidates equal coverage  Dissolved in 1987 – media should be objective on its own