1. Presentation Pro

2. What are they? Interest groups- private organizations whose members share certain views and work to shape public policy.

3. What do they do? raise awareness provide specialized information to government agencies promote political participation.

4. PACS Political Action Committees (PACs) raise and distribute money to candidates who will further their goals.

5. Lobbying Lobbying -activity which a group pressures legislators and influences the legislative process. Nearly all important organized interest groups maintain lobbyists in Washington, D.C.

6. Restrictions Restriction are given to all special interest groups on the money they can give to a candidate.

7. Propaganda and the media Propaganda - technique of persuasion aimed at influencing individual or group behaviors. Its goal is to create a particular belief which may be true or false. disregards information that does not support its conclusion. It presents only one side of an issue. Information may not be true

9. Media regulation Very little regulation on what can be presented in the media. (1 ST Amendment) FCC – Federal communication commission is established as a “watchdog”. Gives licenses any land based communication in the US. Each station must get re-licensed. (determined by complaints and politics) ie Howard Stern and Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction”

10. Role of the Media Gatekeeper - influence what subjects become national political issues, and for how long Scorekeeper - the national media help make political reputations, note who is being “mentioned” as presidential candidates and decide who the winners and losers are in Washington. This often leads to the coverage of presidential elections as if they were horse races (what happens during the primaries).

11. Role of the Media Watchdog: Following closely the front-runner candidates, searching for any past or current history that will make news. Media maintains close eye on all important happenings of major candidates. Agenda setter - TV news influence the standards by which government, presidents, policies and candidates are judged. Effect on Political Preferences? Research is lacking as to the true influence that media plays on public opinion. While TV may influence the political agenda to a certain degree, people are very unlikely to take cues from the media on issues that affect them personally. Media usually does more to reinforce beliefs than to change opinion.