Interest Groups and the Mass Media

Interest Groups  Interest groups are private organizations that try to persuade public officials to respond to the shared attitudes of their members  Interest groups have been viewed with suspicion  James Madison warned against the dangers of “factions” in Federalist # 10  Interest groups raise awareness in public affairs and allow members to achieve a common goal  Represent their members  Provide information to government

Types of Interest Groups  Economic Interest Groups – business groups, trade associations, labor groups, agricultural groups, professional groups  Groups that promote causes – ACLU, National Right to Life Committee, National Rifle Association, Sierra Club  Groups that promote the welfare of certain groups – AARP, NAACP, Christian Coalition  Public Interest Groups – League of Women Voters, Common Cause, MADD

Techniques of Interest Groups  Influencing public opinion  Propaganda  Lobbying  Influencing elections – campaigning and contributing money through PACs  Litigation

The Media  Print – magazines, newspapers; early newspapers were often financed by political groups  Electronic – cable, satellite, network (“free”), radio, internet  Mass Media v. Group Media

Roles of the Media  Reporting the news  Interpreting the news  Influencing public opinion  Setting the political agenda  Socialization  Providing a link between citizens and government

Who Controls the Media?  Media is driven by the “profit motive” and audience ratings  Protected by the First Amendment  Networks are owned by large corporations  News departments can be affected by who owns the media

Use of the Media  Use of the media by the President in news conferences and speeches  Photo Opportunities  Spin doctors and talking heads  Free media coverage for making news  Use of “leaks”  Love/Hate relationship between the press and politicians  White House press corps, press conferences

Media Influence  News filtering (accidental and intentional): time slots, lead stories, story lines  Media as Gatekeeper, Scorekeeper, Watchdog

Print Media  Usually owned by conservatives  Has less and less affect – more than 50% of the population gets 100% of their news from TV; internet based news continues to grow in influence  Had an anti-middle class bias because of the higher education of the reporters  Reporters are usually personally liberal, but try to be neutral in their reporting

TV News  Cuts across age groups, social groups, economic groups  Captive audiences  Vivid, emotion, dramatic  Has contributed to distrust of all institutions including the media itself through investigative reports  C-Span  Political Satire

Rules Governing the Media  The Federal Communications Commission was established in 1934  Rules relating to ownership, equal access air time, libel, slander  First Amendment protects freedom of the press  The Telecommunications Act of 1996 deregulated the media  “self” censorship

PROJECT  You will work individually and organize information about an issue of your choosing from the following options  Crime rate  Pollution  Bullying  Violence in the media  Write neutral questions to learn about public opinion on that issue (conducting this poll on 5-10 people)  You must include peoples age group, and gender.  Create a media piece(newspaper, television commercial, webpage, advertisement to influence public opinion on the issue.