Media as a Linkage Institution

Why is media a linkage institution? Media educates citizens and politicians For politicians, candidates, and interest groups: – They use media to communicate a message integral to political success Politicians want to: gain control of and influence the political agenda

Media Events! Politicians will often hold media events to communicate an image Typically, a candidate will spend 60-70% of his/her campaign funds on television ads, commercials, print media, etc. Media Event example: – President Barack Obama – – What is President Obama proposing in this video? What is he trying to do/change? _______________________________________________ _______________________________

Types of media Broadcast media: television programs, more popularly watched and followed – Examples: Nightly News (not with Brian Williams anymore…womp womp), ABC World News Tonight, etc. Print media: written news articles; these are commonly more popular amongst the more politically informed, activist types – Examples: The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Washington Times, USA Today

The Rise of Cable News Narrowcasting: viewers can select what information they want and what they do not want (selective attention/”tuning stuff out”) and they would rather watch sitcoms, TV dramas, reality T.V., etc. As a result, the electorate is less knowledgeable, more suspicious of politicians, more unaware of everyday political activity, and policymaking/agenda, and simply less politically involved

20 th Century (and beyond) Changes to Media Radio, T.V., press conferences, debate, internet (i.e. youtube debates, individual websites, etc.) In the 1800s, we had yellow journalism; today, we have investigative journalism = detective-like reporting methods to unearth scandals and negative interest stories – Today, this makes news more adversarial and watchdog

1960s- Present More negative More focused on politician’s daily behaviors and personality  lack of depth in content SOUND BITES: 10 seconds on average; in the ‘60s, they were 40 seconds

Roles of Media Watchdog – Scrutinizing the behavior and decisions of public officials – Since the 1970s, there has been a significant rise in the popularity of investigative journalism – Clips: violated-law-with-bergdahl-prisoner-swap-government- watchdog-says/ violated-law-with-bergdahl-prisoner-swap-government- watchdog-says/ investigative-journalism investigative-journalism watching-the-watchdog----liam-mccormack

Roles of Media, Con’t. Gatekeeper/agenda setter – The media determines what they will print or ain and in turn, this dramatically affects what the public knows about – Clip: jobs-report-2012-election_n_ html

Roles of Media, Con’t. Scorekeeper/horserace journalism – Media keeps track of where candidates and those in office stand in the polls, especially during an election year – Clip: _n_ html _n_ html numbers-encouraging-mitt-romney/#sp=show-clips numbers-encouraging-mitt-romney/#sp=show-clips