American Politics The Media and Politics

November 28, 2015 American Politics 2 Media ARE Plural Not a monolith Different Outlets Different Formats Different Audiences Affects content

November 28, 2015 American Politics 3 Formats I: Books and Magazines books –Small (but influential) audience –Not a significant source of news –Indirect effect on coverage magazines –Political magazines similar to books –Newsweeklies have larger “activist” audience

November 28, 2015 American Politics 4 Formats II: Television and Newspapers Television –“mass media”: large audience, similar coverage – believable because visual –Mass impact limited by cable TV and “narrowcasting” Newspapers –Few “national” newspapers –Collectively, large audience but shrinking for decades Compare nature of coverage –TV: “if it bleeds, it leads” –Newspapers: “Big picture, local focus”

November 28, 2015 American Politics 5 Formats III: Radio & the Internet Radio –Homogenization of programming –News content rare except during “drive time,” on “talk radio,” all-news and on NPR Internet –Increasingly important as source of news, especially for younger people –Vast array of information; many more ways to avoid political content –Narrowcasting becomes “slivercasting”

November 28, 2015 American Politics 6 Roles of the Media What criteria shape what’s considered “newsworthy”? Media as (political) watchdogs Media as a “fourth branch” of government Media as businesses

November 28, 2015 American Politics 7 Media as Watchdogs provide the information the people need to know to protect themselves from government investigative journalism focus on scandal and abuses of power political effects

November 28, 2015 American Politics 8 Media as Businesses Media outlets run as for-profit enterprises What’s covered determined by what sells (Demand) – bad news, superficial gossip has large audience – substantial political news has “upscale audience” – look at the advertisements Production costs (Supply) –Gathering and checking news more costly than acting as conveyor of information –Media mergers often result in cuts to news divisions

November 28, 2015 American Politics 9 Media Relationships with Politicians and Government Why “relationships?” –Implied by roles –Crucial for assessing media power Access –Leaks, background sources, trial balloons –Government management of access Information –News releases, news conferences –Sound bites, image manipulation

November 28, 2015 American Politics 10 Limitations on Print Media First Amendment blocks most limits –No “prior restraint” –Thus, limits directed at keeping information out of newspaper’s hands in first place –Consider Pentagon Papers (1971)Pentagon Papers New York Times v. Sullivan New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) –Limited scope of libel –Had to show “actual malice” –Extended to any “public figure” in Hustler Magazine v. Falwell (1987)Hustler Magazine v. Falwell