1. Mass Media and the Political Agenda

2. The Mass Media today
Media event- tightly scripted appearance by the candidate
Getting on new can benefit campaigns
60% of campaign spending is on tv ads
Image Making
Negative ads poison political process

3. News management for presidents
1. plan ahead
2. stay on the offensive
3. control the flow of information
4. limit reporter access to the president
5. talk about issues you want to talk about
6. speak in one voice
7. repeat the same message many times

4. The Development of Media Politics
FDR fist major politician to use media effectively
Press conferences- twice a week (FDR)
Good relations between reporters and government til 1960s
Personal lives off table
Vietnam war and Watergate led way to skepticism and cynicism

5. The Development of Media Politics
Come to realize politicians rarely tell the truth
Investigative journalism- use of detective like reporting methods to check up on statements of government officials
Adversarial role
Campaign coverage change from “what”(policy) to “why”(race)
Coverage has become more negative

6. Print Media 1783 Philadelphia first newspaper
First amendment gave them freedom to print what they saw fit
Those who read newspaper more engaged
Online editions
People not willing to pay for news
Newspapers and magazines struggling

7. Emergence of radio and television
1930s radio ownership universal
1960 first televised debate between Kennedy and Nixon
Kennedy’s looks helped
TV the medium in Vietnam where people could see the horrors
Pushed anti-war protests

8. Government Regulation of Electronic media
1934 Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Regulates airways
Prevent monopolies
No single owner control 35% of market
Grants broadcast licenses
Fair treatment rules candidate access to airwaves
Fairness doctrines gotten rid of in 1980s

9. From broadcasting to narrowcasting: the rise of cable and cable news
Broadcasting-sent out to broad audience (ABC, NBC, CBS)
Narrowcasting is broadcasting to a narrow focus like espn of mtv
Political satire shows primary source of news for young people
Cable news (FOX, CNN, MSNBC) systematically fail to cover political events
11% of time taken up with edited stories
Role of reporter to talk extemporaneously
Stories were repeated frequently usually without prior information
Coverage of news spotty ignoring important topics
“talk radio of television”

10. From broadcasting to narrowcasting: the rise of cable and cable news
Cable news become ideologically charged
Selective exposure- people tend to choose the information sources that have similar views to their own
Fox for republicans
MSNBC for democrats
Made compromise harder
Sensationalize stories

11. Impact of the Internet
Quickly find answer to policy and be informed on candidates
Internet is purposive- what people see is the product of their own intentional choices
Limited motivation
Blogs means to make concerns heard

12. Private Control of the Media
Journalism has been big business
All media outlets in private hands
Press not restricted from speaking the truth
Dependent on advertising
Owned by giant conglomerates
Fight for viewership

13. Reporting the news Millions of events happen every day
Journalists must decide what to report on
Ultimately a business so report most entertaining things

14. Finding the News
Beats- specific locations from which news often emanates, such as congress
Trial balloons- information leaked to see what the political reaction will be
Politicians rely on media to get their message out
Embedded reporters
War reporting was seen more positively
Reporting can cause politicians to pay attention

15. Presenting the news
“found” new has to commonly be compounded into 30 second news segment
Hard to fit all facts into segments
Commonly causes interest over content
Sound bites- 10 sec or less of speeches
Sound bite journalism gives candidates ability to avoid issues
Nothing significant can be said in that time

16. Bias in the News Little to back up charge of liberal media bias
More a different world view
Bias more towards stories that draw more audience
People more likely to follow involving conflict, violence, disaster, or scandal
Talking head- shot of persons head speaking directly to camera

17. Policy entrepreneurs and agenda setting
Policy agenda- list of subjects or problems to which government officials associate with officials
Policy entrepreneurs- political activists, invest political capital in an issue
Also coverage of protests that attempt to set agenda

18. Rise of political satire
1960s done in a sitcom format
1975 Saturday night live- depicted imitations of candidates
The Daily Show and Colbert Report- satire politics and news media
Jon Stewart starting video playback of other news programs
Held media to slightly higher standard
More prevalent today than ever before

20. Rise of Fake News News that has no standing in fact Partisan sources
Purposely seek to create story that creates and emotional response
Most are conspiracy theories
Use some facts mixed with out of context quotes and information