Media, Politics, and Government

1. Media, Politics, and Government

2. Freedom of the Press “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom…of the press…” Origins of freedom of the press: • Influence of the printing press • Ideals of the Enlightenment • Pamphlets and papers during the American Revolution Colonial-era printing press

3. What Is the Press? Non-traditional forms: Traditional forms: • Radio • Television • Personalizes communication to masses, individualizes the news • Internet • Technology gap • Reliable? • Newspapers • Concentration of ownership • Magazines • Pamphlets • Posters

4. New Media (continued) • “Wikimedia” meet the need for people to participate in the news • Instantaneous, on demand, and tailored to their liking • Sources are interactive so the consumer can respond directly to the provider • Information consumers can also be information producers

5. New Media in Politics and Government (continued) • Will government officials listen more to the people? Will they respond to calls for change? Will they replace negative actions with better behavior? • Will citizens become more informed or more tolerant? Will they feel that their voices are being heard? Will it be easier for them to organize and take action? • Will policy itself reflect a broader consensus of the citizens and not just private interests? Will new policies contain new and different ideas? Will such policies actually improve the situation or conditions under which people live? What impact will new media have on government leaders, citizens, and policy?

6. Mass media-television • Television is unique • Has the ability to reach millions of people and provides almost all our political knowledge by showing us a world larger than we know • Power of Cronkite • Is the media, however, unbiased and all inconclusive, or selective? • Will we admire journalists the way we did Cronkite? • Should the media be controlled?

7. Mass media in politics • “I did not realize the importance of communications and the overriding importance of what is on the evening television news. If I am not on, or there with a message, someone else is, with their message.” Bill Clinton • “When I think of the millions of dollars that go into one lousy 30-second television spot advertising a deodorant, it seems to me unbelievable that we don’t do a better job in seeing that presidential appearances always have the best professional advice whenever they are to be covered on TV.” Nixon

9. Critiques of media • Narrowcasting • Cable and internet media catering to specialized audiences that further fragment society • Telemundo and Univision for example • ESPN, History Channel, C-SPAN • Concentration and centralization of ownership • A nationalization of news occurring meaning less variety of opinions and information • 6 major media companies that own TV stations, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, trade publications, movie studios, and production companies

10. Cable News shortcomings • Coverage was spotty, ignoring many important topics • All in all, Cable news was “talk radio on television” • The idealism of the potential of TV as a medium is disappearing; cable is more about profit and not about prestige • Columbia University study found: • 11% of time was taken up with written or edited stories • The role of the reporter was to talk, a lot • Stories were repeated without new information

11. Free Press: Essential to Democracy • The media as the “fourth branch” of government • Important benefits of a free press: • Open expression of ideas • Advances collective knowledge and understanding • Communication with government representatives • Allows for peaceful social change • Protects individual rights

12. The Role of Media in Politics: Goals • Entertainment • Media outlets also tend to blur between news and entertainment (larger audience means more money) • Informing the public • Newsworthiness (again, money) • Agenda setting • Effect of policy entrepreneurs New York World headline from the Spanish-American War

13. The Role of Media in Politics: Goals (continued) • Lasswell’s social effects of media • Surveillance-watchdog function “eyes and ears to the world” • Investigative journalism-how far can they go? • Interpretation-civil rights movement, Iraq war, representation of poor • Bias • Socialization-teaching facts and values • Presenting a forum for the exchange of ideas Police drag away a civil rights protester President Nixon leaving the White House after his resignation

14. The Role of Media in Politics: Goals (continued) • Measure Public Opinion • Polling • Random sampling • Sampling error • Criticisms • Creates a bandwagon effect • Forces politicians to change policies becoming followers and not leaders • Pollsters can elicit certain responses by how the question is asked • Do you favor keeping a large number of US troops in Iraq until there is a stable government or bringing most of our troops home in the next year.—Harris poll • Do you think the US should keep its military forces in Iraq until civil order is restored there, even if that means continued US military casualties, or, do you think the US should withdraw its military forces from Iraq in order to avoid further military casualties, even if it means civil order is not restored there?-- ABC/Washington Post poll

16. The media in the political arena • The media tends to focus on the “horse-race” and designating front-runners has a negative effect on other candidates • Also, how are candidates portrayed • How much candidates spend on advertising • @ $70 million spent on TV advertising and news coverage of campaigns has shrunk increasing the use of sound bites (which are shorter) • The media, especially TV’s effect on a candidate’s image • Would Washington, Lincoln, FDR been elected if their was TV then? • Is image more important then ideas?

17. The shrinking soundbite

18. Public Officials’ Use of the Media: Radio • Radio as a tool for political communication • President Franklin Roosevelt’s “fireside chats” and press conferences • Inventor of modern media politics FDR giving a “fireside chat”

19. Public Officials’ Use of the Media: Television • “Eisenhower Answers America” Opening shot of Eisenhower’s commercial

20. Public Officials’ Use of the Media: Live Television • The Nixon–Kennedy debates • President Kennedy and his use of television • Facing his doubters • Presidential press conferences Ronald Reagan: “The Great Communicator” Choreographed public appearances

21. Public Officials’ Use of the Media: Advertising Techniques Attack advertising • “Daisy Girl”: Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 presidential campaign www.livingroomcandidate.com A shot of the “Daisy Girl” from LBJ’s 1964 ad

22. Public Officials’ Use of the Media: Advertising Techniques (continued) Attack advertising • Willie Horton: George H.W. Bush’s 1988 presidential campaign Bush’s “Willie Horton” ad • The “infomercial” • Ross Perot’s 1992 presidential campaign Perot campaigning on television

23. Public Officials’ Use of the Media:Government-Sponsored News • Stories sponsored by government agencies to inform the public • Use of trial balloons • Announce upcoming • Discredit political opponents • News or propaganda? • GAO report • Columnists paid by government agencies to endorse programs • Practice misleads American public

24. Government Regulation • Libel laws • Actual malice toward an individual • Censorship? • FCC’s job • Equal time rule • Presidential debates exclusion of 3rd parties • Fairness doctrine-hurt AM radio talk shows • Freedom of press vs. national security • Accountability vs. safety • Right to privacy in media • Public figures vs. private figures • Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn (1975) • Releasing rape victim’s name