Mass Media and the Political Agenda 7 Mass

Mass Media and the Political Agenda 7

Mass Media Today Controlling the political agenda Media events n Carefully staged Commercials n 60% of presidential campaign budget n Nearly always negative Image-making 7

Development of Media Politics Print Media Emergence of Radio and Television 7

Development of Media Politics 7 Government Regulation of Electronic Media From Broadcasting to Narrowcasting: Rise of Cable and Cable News Impact of the Internet Private Control of the Media

Print Media Newspapers and a free press Newspaper readers better informed n Yet, circulation declines Online news n How to make money? Magazines n Suffering same fate 7

Emergence of Radio and Television Radio - 1930 s Television – post-WWII Cable television – 1980 s Internet – 1990 s End of the golden age of network news 7

Government Regulation of Electronic Media 7 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 1934 n n n Limits monopolies Stations must serve public interest Fair treatment rule Right-of-reply rule Fairness doctrine abolished

From Broadcasting to Narrowcasting: Rise of Cable and Cable News A general audience no more n Changing usage patterns n Infotainment 7

From Broadcasting to Narrowcasting: Rise of Cable and Cable News A general audience no more n n Breaking news “Talk radio on television” “Outrage discourse” Selective exposure 7

From Broadcasting to Narrowcasting: Rise of Cable and Cable News A general audience no more n From prestige to profit 7

Impact of the Internet Information at your fingertips n Pop culture over politics 7

Impact of the Internet Facilitating communications n Meetup and Facebook Blogs n Equal weight with professional journalists? 7

Private Control of the Media Private v. public ownership n Private more common in U. S. n Public more common abroad n Freedom of the press varies Profit orientation n Advertising revenue n Decline of foreign news reporting 7

Reporting the News Finding the News Presenting the News Bias in the News 7

Finding the News Beats Trial balloons Symbiotic relationship Pulitzer Prize winning journalism 7

Presenting the News Skimming off the cream n n 10 -second sound bites Complex policy issues ignored Politicians can’t present issues Politicians can avoid issues Presidents rebuffed n Shunted to cable 7

Bias in the News Do the media have a liberal bias? “If it bleeds, it leads” n Visual stimulation: no talking heads 7

News and Public Opinion How influential are the media? Agenda-setting effects n Sets criteria by which public evaluates leaders n Emphasizes one event over another n Focuses on misstatements 7

Policy Entrepreneurs and Agenda Setting Policy agenda n Many issues compete for attention from government n Interest groups, parties, politicians, agencies, all push their priorities Policy entrepreneurs n Political activists depend upon the media n Protests attract coverage 7

Understanding the Mass Media and the Scope of Government Individualism and the Media Democracy and the Media 7

Media and the Scope of Government Media as watchdog n Press criticism does more good than harm n Reporters hold negative views of public officials Media as skeptic n Constrains government n Focus on injustices enlarges government 7

Individualism and the Media TV furthers individualism n No need for intermediaries n Candidates can reach individual voters TV focuses on individuals n Personality important n Focus on executive branch 7

Democracy and the Media “Information is the fuel of democracy” n But more info does not equal more competence Superficial by demand n Profit motive again n Public appetite shapes choices 7