1. Unit 3: Media and Public Opinion

2. Old Media vs. New Media New Media’s Challenge to Old Media
More people view Television than read the Newspaper
More people read blog postings than magazine articles
Bloggers often serve as fact checkers to old media sources
Internet is the primary source of news for people between ages 18-29
Old Media (Newspapers and Magazines)
Weaker overall in regards to politics.
Less readers/circulation
New Media (TV and Internet)
Stronger overall in politics
More viewers/online presence

3. Parties created, subsidized, and controlled various newspapers
History of Media
The Party Press
Parties created, subsidized, and controlled various newspapers
Circulation small
Expensive subscriptions
Circulated among party elite
Government subsidized president’s party press

4. History of Media Popular Press
Changes in society and technology made possible self-supporting, mass readership daily newspapers.
High speed press
Telegraph gave local papers greater access
Associated Press (1848)
Urbanization
Sensationalism to grab more readers

5. Middle class favored new, progressive periodicals
History of Media
Magazines of Opinion
Middle class favored new, progressive periodicals
Individual writers gained national following
Number of competing newspapers declines, reducing sensationalism
Readers more sophisticated
Today political magazines are a small fraction of declining number of magazines.

6. History of Media Electronic Journalism
Radio arrives in 1920s, television in the late 1940s
Politicians could address voters directly
President routinely covered
Others must be controversial or have a national reputation
Shorter sound bites on the nightly news make it difficult for candidates and office holders to convey their messages
Increase in “partisan” or “opinion” news with growth of Cable

7. 84% of Americans use the Internet
History of Media
The Internet
84% of Americans use the Internet
Free market in political news (less fact checking?)
Playing a larger role in politics
Increasing communication between voters and political activists
Impact of Memes?

9. Degree of Competition (Newspapers)
In 1900 more than 60% of cities had competing news papers
Today only 4% do

10. Degree of Competition (Electronic)
It is safe to say there might be a small amount of competition in electronic media

11. Top 10 media chains account for more than 50% of daily circulation
Media Consolidation
Top 10 media chains account for more than 50% of daily circulation

12. Roles the Media Plays
Gatekeeper/Agenda Setting Media influences which stories become national stories and for how long. Scorekeeper/Horse-Race Journalism Tracks political reputations and candidacies. (At expense of policy details) Watchdog/Investigative Journalism Investigates personalities and exposes scandals

13. Impact of Media Roles on Politics/Policy
Agenda Setting/Gatekeeper
What issues become important to voters
What issues do politicians speak to
What gets put on the policy agenda
Scorekeeper/Horse-Race Journalism
Lack of focus on policy positions
Less informed voters?
Watchdog/Investigative Journalism
Pre-Watergate/Vietnam
Growing distrust in leaders?

14. Trust in Government

15. Trust In Government Context
Mistrust is tied to specific leaders and policy and not in the system
Mistrust of government has trended along with mistrust of other institutions (big business)

16. Law and the Press
First Amendment Protections No Prior Restraint Self-Regulated (considerations of safety can change publishing) Shield Laws Laws protecting journalists from revealing sources (some states have, some don’t) Freedom of Information Act (FOIL) Records of Public officials, for the most part, must be made available to press upon request Limitations Defamation (Libel and Slander) Harder to prove against Public Figures. Have to prove not only media knew it was not true, but also published it out of malice (New York Times v. Sullivan, 1964)

17. Media Rules Federal Communications Commission
Licensing and Regulatory Body for TV, Radio
Licensing Process has been relaxed and deregulated over the years.
Used to have to reapply for license, now a process only if there are enough objections by the public
No longer enforce rules limiting amount of media ownership
Regulates broadcast standards
Fairness Doctrine Abolished: Used to have to allow anybody requesting to argue another viewpoint to get time to do so.
Equal Time Rule: Stations that sell advertising to one candidate must sell equal time to opponent

18. How Media Impacts Politics
Prominence of the President
Despite three “equal” branches, President gets most coverage
Public perception of the power of the President influenced
Congress
Resentful of lack of coverage (nobody watches CSPAN)
Senate gets more coverage (“Presidential Candidate Incubator”)
Must be in leadership position or “controversial” to get coverage
News Leaks
Separation of powers leads to competition among branches, press used as a weapon
Trial Balloon

19. News Management Reagan’s 7 Principles Plan ahead Stay on the offensive
Control flow of information
Limit access to President
Talk about issues you want to talk about (talking points)
Speak in one voice
Repeat the same message

20. Public Opinion Definition
The distribution of individual preferences or evaluations of a given issue, candidate, or institution within a specific population.

21. “Government for the people, by the people”
“We should have balanced budgets” “Women should have legal protection against discrimination at the federal level” “Forced school busing should be stopped.” “We need to enact stricter campaign finance reform.” “Gun laws in this country are too lax, we need to make them strict” All of these policies are supported by a majority of the people None of them have been enacted

22. Public Opinion vs. Public Policy
The purpose of the United States Government was not to have “popular rule.”
The founders looked for substantive goals and public opinion was just one of the options to get there
Federalism and a large republic contains many “publics” that don’t reach the needed consensus.

23. Public Opinion Polling
Qualities of a valid public opinion poll
Random Sample
A sample in which every element in a population has an equal chance of being selected
Mostly done through Random Digit Dialing
Questions must be comprehensible
People make up answers to questions they cannot understand
Questions must be fair
Cannot contain loaded language (push polling) that can influence responses

24. Public Opinion Polling
Keep In Mind
Sampling Error: In particular in close races
For a population over 500,000 pollsters need to make about 15,000 calls to reach 1,065 respondents to get a poll with a +/- error of 3%
Lack of responses hurts accuracy
Impact of Polls
Bandwagon Effect
Donations to Candidates
Voter Turnout

25. Qualities of Public Opinion
Intensity/Saliency
Most public opinion polls do a bad job at measuring how strongly somebody feels about an issue.

26. Saliency can influence perception of public opinion by making it appear one side has a stronger numerical base. In addition a smaller, intense group may have a better chance of influencing policy than a larger non-intense group
What do you think the percentage of people who believe abortion should be available in some form in the United States?

27. Qualities of Public Opinion?
Stability and Fluidity
The rate at which public opinion shifts over time. Any opinion that stays around the same over a long period of time is said to be stable. Any opinion that dramatically changes over a long (or short) period of time is said to be fluid

28. Stable Opinion:
Abortion

29. Fluid Opinion:
War In Iraq

30. Qualities of Public Opinion
Distribution
The typical American public opinion is distributed over many different positions (most issues do not have just two sides to it). Distribution can tell politicians how much compromise is possible on a particular issue