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7

The Mass Media and the Political Agenda

π Chapter Overview

The power of the mass media has expanded dramatically since the beginning of the twentieth century. In this chapter, we examine how the mass media function as part of the American political process. We begin by examining the way in which political campaigns and political leaders use the media to communicate their messages. Then, we explore the historical evolution of the media in the United States. Next, we consider the major factors that influence media coverage and attention, and analyze how media coverage affects politics and public policy. Along the way, we also examine how policy entrepreneurs try to use the media to influence the public agenda. We conclude by assessing the effect of the media on the scope of government and democracy in America. By the end of the chapter, students should have a good understanding of how the media function as a political institution, and how they interact with other political actors and institutions to affect politics in the United States.

π Lecture Suggestions

Describe how American politicians choreograph their messages through the mass media.

LECTURE 1: There is often an adversarial, codependent relationship between public officials and the media.

▪ People tend to put more credence in what they learn from news programs than in information presented during paid advertisements.

▪ The press does not like to cover these staged events, preferring to capture more realistic news, yet they will often show them for fear of getting scooped by rivals.

▪ Politicians need the media to communicate with their constituents and advance their agendas, the media need politicians to provide news and entertainment, and the public needs both to make informed voting decisions.

LECTURE 2: Examine how media coverage differs across the three branches of government in the United States.

▪ Presidents use the media differently, depending on their personal style.

□ The Office of the White House Press Secretary supplies the White House press corps and the Washington-based media with daily information about the administration. Communication from the White House takes three general forms: press releases, news briefings, and news conferences.

□ Press releases and news briefings are the routine ways to release news. Press releases are prepared text in which officials present information to reporters and are worded in hopes that they will be used just as they are, without rewriting.

□ To allow the media to ask direct questions about press releases or current events, the presidential press secretary and other high officials regularly appear for news briefings.

□ News conferences are direct opportunities for the president to speak to the press and the public.

▪ Congress receives considerably less attention from the media than does the president. In general, the American public is not as interested in Congress. Further, Congress is much larger and more difficult for the media to focus on.

▪ The courts are the least covered branch of the government. This is largely a result of the belief that the federal courts are impartial. Further, federal judges rarely grant interviews lest their impartiality be questioned. The courts, moreover, deliberate and reach their decisions in secret, and very rarely do they allow televised or sound-recorded live coverage of cases as they are being argued.

LECTURE 3: Explore the law of minimal effects, which describes how effective political ads on television are in changing voters’ minds.

▪ When a person buys television time for a political ad, one assumes they are trying to convince those who are going to vote for someone else, or who are undecided, to change or make up their minds and vote for them. The law of minimal effects posits that the chance of this happening is slim.

▪ If this law is true, it would appear that when candidates spend large sums of money on television ads, they are not getting their money’s worth. Is it true?

□ First, why would television have a minimal effect on changing people’s minds? It has to do with the political interest and knowledge of the average voter. Most people are politically ignorant and apathetic. In the 1950s and a great deal of the 1960s, when candidates wanted to advertise on television they would buy large chunks of time (often 30 minutes) to explain their views to the voters.

□ Yet most voters did not want to listen to a candidate talk about issues for 30 minutes, so they would switch channels. Only two types of people watched these political ads: those who really liked a candidate and those who really disliked a candidate.

□ The candidate running the ads obviously did not want to change the mind of the former, and it would be nearly impossible to change the mind of the latter. The people whose minds were most susceptible to change were the people who would not watch the ads. These would be the moderates, fence-straddlers, or undecideds. Thus, this describes the law of minimal effects, if, by effect, one means changing the viewer’s mind.

▪ So Television Has No Effect? It would be incorrect to believe this. While television is less effective in the sense of getting viewers to change their opinions, it still plays an important role as a reinforcer. People who like candidates often watch the ads. These people are important to the candidate, who needs their votes. Television can serve the important function of reminding them that the candidate is in a battle and needs them to try to persuade others, and certainly to get out and vote. In close elections, it could make the difference.

LECTURE 4: The influence of the media in American politics results from the two primary functions of the media in our political system. Explain the idea of agenda setting and gatekeeping as they relate to the media.

▪ Many people believe that the media’s ability to select how and what they report is their greatest source of influence. Called agenda setting, it consists of determining which issues will be covered, in what detail, and in what context—and also deciding which stories are not newsworthy and therefore not going to be covered.

▪ The media also act as gatekeepers, determining which stories will receive attention in the media and from which perspective.

LECTURE 5: In recent campaign seasons, many candidates for office made great efforts to bypass the traditional news media and to communicate directly—but electronically—with the voters.

▪ The concept behind the approach is that the news media are biased against politicians, particularly conservative politicians. Reporters, intentionally or not, will distort the messages that candidates are trying to get across, especially if that message is against what passes for journalistic liberal conventional wisdom.

▪ Ross Perot in 1992, Newt Gingrich in 1994 (and even Bill Clinton in 1992), tried several alternative ways of communicating with the voters, with messages unfiltered through the lens of reporters. Methods such as distribution of videotapes, two-way interactive teleconferencing, and appearing on talk shows such as Larry King Live, were commonly used.

▪ Ross Perot had great success with the 30-minute infomercial, a direct challenge to the conventional 30-second advertising spot or the 60-second sound bite on network news.

▪ In 1994, Gingrich had millions of copies of the Republican congressional Contract with America printed in TV Guide magazine and distributed hundreds of videotapes of his college course on renewing the American dream.

▪ In 2004, John Kerry and George Bush made prominent appearances on talk shows in an attempt to circumvent journalistic interpretation.

▪ Both John McCain and Barack Obama used the Internet to build social networks and solicit donations during the 2008 campaigns, as did several of the primary candidates during the nomination process. The Obama mobilization effort appears to have been more focused on young voters, and as such, more effective in building volunteer networks to register new voters, conducting neighborhood meetings, and donating small amounts that together exceeded the fundraising efforts of the McCain campaign.

▪ In 2012, both campaigns made extensive use of direct contact with voters, echoing many of the mobilization efforts found in the 2008 Obama campaign.

Outline the key developments in the history of mass media and American politics.

LECTURE 1: While the First Amendment frees the press from government influence, the media have had to work hard in the last 220 years to gain their full freedom. Examine the historical evolution and contemporary status of the rights of a free press in the United States.

▪ The most famous early restriction was the 1798 Sedition Act, which criminalized criticism of Congress and the president. During the Civil War, the government limited telegraph transmissions from Washington, DC. After the war, the federal government jailed reporters who criticized Reconstruction.

▪ In the early twentieth century, there were laws that prevented the press from invading privacy. During WWI, the Espionage Act declared illegal publications that would undermine recruiting efforts. In the 1930s, the Supreme Court began to develop a more expansive understanding of the first amendment, and by the end of the 1970s, current press freedoms had been established in law.

▪ The media does not necessarily have free rein, however.

□ First, they cannot defame someone—that is, they cannot make a false or unsubstantiated attack on someone’s good name or reputation.

□ Second, they cannot be compelled to cover something.

□ There are more restraints on the broadcast media, which are considered semi-monopolies. Print media have fewer restraints because there are so many outlets.

▪ Reporters can be compelled to reveal the names of confidential sources when the information is germane to a legal matter.

□ A recent example is Time Magazine publishing the name of a CIA officer. The media was not at fault, but the person who leaked the information was in trouble. One reporter gave his source: Karl Rove.

□ Another reporter, Judith Miller, went to jail for eighty-five days for failing to reveal that Dick Cheney’s chief of staff had given her the name.

□ To avoid jail time, reporters have advocated shield laws granting them certain exemptions. While some states protect reporters, the federal government does not.

LECTURE 2: The mass media refers to media that is designed to transmit information to a large audience across a large region.

▪ The media is often described as the basis for the marketplace of ideas. This refers to the concept that ideas and theories compete for acceptance among the public through the media.

▪ The mass media refers to the media that is designed to transmit information to a large audience across a large region.

▪ A free media was viewed by the founders as a central pillar of American democracy, as reflected by the protections for freedom of speech and the press in the First Amendment.

▪ Authoritarian regimes, by contrast, assume that the government knows what’s best for its citizens and thus seek to control all flows of information, thereby molding what the public thinks about and believes. Authoritarian governments also believe that news and entertainment programs should not question government or its policies, and should instead build support and loyalty.

LECTURE 3: The battles between American politicians and the media are as old as the country. Examine this relationship by focusing on the debates the conflict between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams over the presidency.

▪ In 1799, Jefferson prepared to challenge John Adams in the election of 1800 by hiring the controversial political journalist and pamphleteer, James Callendar, to discredit Adams in the press. Callendar declared that Adams was determined to make war with France and that only Jefferson would keep the nation at peace. He also attacked Adams’ character, trashing him as a “strange compound of ignorance and ferocity, of deceit and weakness.”

▪ Jefferson established Callendar as the editor of the Republican Richmond Examiner. Callender began work on The Prospects before Us. He dug up pro-monarchy charges that always dogged Adams, then charged Adams with being “mentally deranged,” planning to crown himself king, and grooming John Quincy as his heir to the throne. Adams was a “hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”

▪ This story demonstrates how politicians need the media to convey their messages. However, the politicians don’t want to hear the opposite side of an argument, the criticism and editorial comment the press offers. Politicians are constantly looking to control the media, and the press wants to appear independent.

▪ Consequently, informed citizens need to understand the filters their news passes through, all the way down to the personal filters they apply. In the final analysis, do citizens apply selective perception, and simply, in the words of Simon and Garfunkel, “hear what they want to hear and disregard the rest”?

LECTURE 4: For a lively consideration of the topic, ask your students to explore the role of various media in their daily lives.

▪ Start by asking your students to list the media they consume on a daily basis. Have them note and compare the frequency of usage of each medium. For a more detailed assignment, you could also ask them to journal their consumption of media for a week.

▪ Then, go online with your class and explore the different types of media available through the Internet.

▪ You may want to encourage students to use their own personal devices (cell phones, PDAs, etc.). This may engender greater participation and enthusiasm.

▪ Finally, examine the advantages and disadvantages of traditional versus new media.

LECTURE 5: Trace the history of the mass media in American politics.

▪ Newspapers were the first mass medium intended to communicate information in a timely fashion to a large audience. Early papers generally tried to avoid controversial issues. Later, they were used to promote public support for ratifying the Constitution.

▪ Later, party presses, as they came to be known, were seen as the arms of competing political factions but were relatively expensive, and did not have many subscribers. After the Constitution’s ratification, political leaders thought it very important to promote newspapers, which informed citizens of major issues facing the new government.

▪ By the early 1830s, there were 12 daily newspapers published in Philadelphia and six in New York City. The number of newspapers published across the country soared, from around 200 in 1800 to around 1,200 in the mid-1830s.

▪ Yellow journalism, featuring sensationalism, comics, and scandal in a fierce competition to sell papers, became popular at the end of the nineteenth century.

▪ In the early twentieth century, the ownership of newspapers became more centralized, the result of competition that forced many papers to close or merge; by 1933, six newspaper chains owned 81 daily papers.

▪ The first radio stations were strictly local, but the formation of radio networks with syndicated programming began in the late 1920s. Like the newspaper industry, radio has experienced significant consolidation.

▪ Unlike newspapers and radio stations, which first were independently owned and only later consolidated into chains and networks, high costs dictated that almost from the beginning, TV stations were affiliated with networks, thus centralizing ownership. Today, however, the ownership of television broadcasting is becoming more competitive and diverse. With the advent of cable networks, the nature of watching TV changed, reducing the audience for network programming.

▪ By the late 1980s, the Internet was coming into widespread public use. Today, virtually all elected officials and organizations maintain Web pages to provide information and enable citizens to reach them directly but there still exists a technology gap.

▪ Today, many believe the media has become more democratized. Anyone with basic computer skills and the interest can create a Web page and a blog—and there is no mechanism to differentiate irrelevant, biased, or intentionally manipulative information from reliable and accurate knowledge other than to be an informed consumer of information.

List the major criteria that determine which news stories receive the most media attention.

LECTURE 1: One controversial question in American politics is whether media coverage of politics exhibits bias—that is, favorable treatment of certain politicians, policy positions, groups, or political outcomes. Certain media—talk radio, for instance—are decidedly biased. But this is not where to look for bias, as objectivity standards only apply to hard news reporting.

▪ Much of the evidence of media bias is anecdotal, and the findings are inconclusive; they contradict each other.

▪ One way to see whether there is media bias is to ask journalists themselves what they think. Journalists also contradict themselves; they say that liberals get a better view in the press, but then they say that labor unions are not as positively covered as the wealthy.

▪ Journalists are more likely than the general public to call themselves liberal—even though still more say that they are moderate, the liberals outpace the conservatives by quite a bit.

▪ Political scientists use content analysis, a technique for identifying themes, categories, and other logical groupings in written material or transcripts. Generally, the studies look at presidential election coverage. Studies looked at gatekeeping, coverage, statement bias—and found nothing in the aggregate. This does not mean that every channel was unbiased in every election; it just means the net result was zero bias.

LECTURE 2: Technology has had a profound impact on how people interact with the world around them.

▪ First, in 1440, Gutenberg invented the printing press, which made it possible to distribute large quantities of printed material. In 1837, the telegraph was invented; in 1866, the transatlantic cable was laid, meaning that people could know what was happening in Europe within minutes. In the 1920s, radio offered instant and immediate news, and in the 1940s, television offered instant pictures.

▪ While newspapers lost readership to television, they still continued to flourish.

▪ At the dawn of the twenty-first century, a fourth wave of technology shook the foundations of media—Internet, cell phones, iPhones, blogs, Facebook, Twitter—and newspapers and magazines are going bankrupt. Network news has lost millions of viewers to cable news and the Internet. Today, about half of all Americans report getting their news primarily from online sources.

▪ People can now self-select what they hear and watch; conservatives and liberals can hear and watch only those items that already fit their worldview.

LECTURE 3: The primary functions of the media generally center on a few key areas. Examine these with your students.

▪ Entertainment: Most Americans turn to the media for entertainment. But even in its entertainment function, the media also affect politics. During the 2008 campaign, Tina Fey’s portrayal of Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin defined Palin in ways the campaign was never able to overcome. Indeed, some of the most famous lines from the campaign—for example, “I can see Russia from my house,” were from Fey’s character rather than the real Sarah Palin. Nevertheless, many voters came to view Palin as unprepared for office.

▪ Surveillance: As Harold Lasswell noted, media are “the eyes and ears of the world.” They often assume responsibility for mentoring and reporting on issues. The more coverage an issue draws, the more likely it becomes an issue which political leaders will view as serious and in need of attention. In this sense, the media sometimes helps set the political agenda.

▪ Interpretation: The media also helps people make sense of the events taking place, framing issues in ways that resonate with consumers.

▪ Socialization: Finally, the media also act as an agent of political socialization, teaching us about the world around us. Media helps form our political belief structures and our political culture. The media also reinforce economic and social values. Adults can easily find programming to reinforce their ideology and political views; children are more susceptible to what they learn from TV.

LECTURE 4: Outline the primary sources of media power and influence.

▪ Deciding what is “news” and who is “newsworthy”—newsmaking—is the most important source of media power.

▪ The media also has the power of agenda setting, deciding what will be discussed. Indeed, the real power of the media lies in their ability to set the political agenda for the nation.

▪ The media not only decide what will be news; they also interpret the news for us.

▪ The media have power to socialize audiences to the political culture.

▪ The media, in both paid advertising and news and entertainment programming, engage in direct efforts to change our attitudes, opinions, and behavior.

LECTURE 5: The business of the media is to gather mass audiences to sell to advertisers. Examine the business of the media with your students.

▪ Economic interest drives all media to try to attract and hold the largest numbers of readers and viewers in order to sell time and space to advertisers.

□ Over one-quarter of all primetime television (8–11 P.M.) is devoted to commercial advertising.

□ Television networks and commercial stations charge advertisers on the basis of audience estimates made by rating services.

□ Newspaper and magazine advertising revenue is based primarily on circulation figures.

▪ As a result, lightweight entertainment—“soft fluff”—prevails over serious programming in virtually all media, particularly on television.

□ As part of this process, the dividing line between news and entertainment, particularly on television, has become conflated.

□ In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of entertainment-oriented, quasi-news programming, sometimes referred to as the “soft news media.”

□ Soft news comes in various formats: talk shows, both daytime and nighttime, and tabloid news programs.

□ Politicians themselves have come to understand the importance of soft news programming in reaching segments of the public that seldom watch news programs, speeches or debates, or campaign advertising.

▪ This distinction can be illustrated more clearly for your students. Use the Internet to find videos illustrating the various formats that disseminate soft news.

□ Sampling a daytime talk show like The View, a night-time talker like The O’Reilly Report, a satirical program like The Daily Show, and a soft news segment from a network evening newscast would aid in illustrating the characteristics of “soft news.”

□ Most major media outlets have videos available for download on their websites.

□ For further discussion of the business of media, hand out a copy of the weekly Nielsen ratings.

Analyze the impact the media has on what policy issues Americans think about.

LECTURE 1: Explain the difficulty of studying the effects of the news media on people’s opinions and behavior.

▪ One reason is that it is hard to separate the media from other influences.

▪ In addition, the effect of one news story on public opinion may be negligible, while the cumulative effect of dozens of news stories may be quite important.

▪ There is evidence that the news and its presentation are important in shaping public opinion about political issues.

▪ The decision to cover or to ignore certain issues can affect public opinion. But by focusing public attention on specific problems, the media influence the criteria by which the public evaluates political leaders.

▪ There is also some evidence that people’s opinions shift with the tone of the news coverage. Popular presidents prompt the public to support policies, but the most powerful influence is that of news commentators on public opinion change.

▪ Much remains unknown about the effects of the media and the news on American political behavior. Enough is known, however, to conclude that the media are a key political institution.

LECTURE 2: Discuss recent changes and trends in the news media with your students.

▪ As television and other mass media have become more specialized, the targeting of specific audiences, known as “narrowcasting,” has become far more common.

▪ Citizen Journalism: The increasing ease of access and declining costs of communication technologies have encouraged a massive increase in the number of people writing about politics. Some see citizen journalism as a positive mechanism allowing for more variety of content, promoting diversity, and enhancing participatory democracy, while others view it as something that is dangerous for democracy, since there is nearly no regulation of content or quality—in essence anyone can become a “citizen journalist” with no training or qualifications.

▪ The news media have become increasingly concentrated. As media ownership becomes more centralized, there is a tendency to promote a sameness of opinion and experience.

□ There is concern today because much of the news comes from national news services and there is minimal or no competition between papers in major cities—especially between two or more morning or evening papers.

□ Observers of the media enthusiastically approve of competitive news markets, which refer to locales with two or more news organizations that can check each other’s accuracy and neutrality of reporting, and regard news monopolies with single news firms that control all the media in a given market as potentially dangerous. Newspaper ownership in recent decades has tended toward monopolies and away from competitive markets.

LECTURE 3: When the media focus on frontrunners in polls and stories, lesser-known candidates often encounter many difficulties, especially with fundraising, and are often forced to withdraw early from the race. Moreover, the media often declare winners based not on the absolute vote total but on how well a candidate does compared to what had been expected.

▪ Research after the 2004 campaign season found that the more people read the print media and watch TV coverage, the more they are likely to support the themes being emphasized by the media.

▪ To counter negative advertising and shrinking news coverage, one key aspect of media usage in campaigns is the need to purchase paid advertising. TV coverage of campaigns has also shrunk, now consisting chiefly of tiny, frequently repeated visual snippets called “sound bites.”

▪ Televised debates can also be important in affecting the public’s perception of candidates. Television puts charismatic, telegenic candidates at an advantage; hence candidates for high-profile positions usually hire coaches to teach them how to behave when appearing on television.

LECTURE 4: Media play an important role in government elections. They can anoint the “frontrunner” in a political race and give more news coverage to that candidate. Televised debates are also key factors in influencing public opinion. Examine key debate moments with your students and consider how they affected presidential politics.

▪ In the first presidential debate in 1960 between Kennedy and Nixon, people listening to the debate on the radio thought Nixon won. He had won debating awards in college. Those viewing it on television thought Kennedy won. In subsequent debates, with most people watching them on television, the lesson was clear: it doesn’t matter what you say, it is how you look or project to your audience.

▪ Carter versus Reagan, 1980. Perhaps the most memorable moment in President Carter’s debate with Ronald Reagan was Reagan’s line during his summation: “Are you better off now than four years ago?” This was a brilliant strategy since he knew the answer for most of those viewing would be “no,” and he was appealing to the tendency of most voters to engage in retrospective voting.

▪ Many of these debates are available online.

□ Kennedy-Nixon, 1960:

□ The 1980 Reagan-Carter debate had several memorable moments, including Reagan’s “There You Go Again” () and “Are You Better Off…” () lines.

□ Although his ticket was unsuccessful, Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Lloyd Benson in 1988 delivered an outstanding one-liner in his debate with Republican Dan Quayle (), telling Quayle, “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”

□ President Bill Clinton was known to be an outstanding debater and speaker, as his 1992 debate with President George HW Bush illustrated ().

LECTURE 5: For many of our students, satire is the primary point of entry for engaging with the news media. The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart provide a good point of entry to discuss many of the themes raised in this chapter. For example, a discussion of Stephen Colbert’s concept of “truthiness” captures several important concepts.

▪ Colbert first introduced the idea of “truthiness” on his October 17, 2005 show. The idea refers to a “truth” that someone holds intuitively “from the gut” or because it “feels right,” even in the face of facts.

▪ In Colbert’s words, “And that brings us to tonight’s word: Truthiness. Now I’m sure some of the word-police, the ‘wordanistas’ over at Webster’s, are gonna say, ‘Hey, that’s not a word!’ Well, anybody who knows me knows that I am no fan of dictionaries or reference books. They’re elitist. Constantly telling us what is or isn’t true, what did or didn’t happen... I don’t trust books. They’re all fact, no heart. And that’s exactly what’s pulling our country apart today. Because face it, folks, we are a divided nation. Not between Democrats or Republicans, or conservatives and liberals, or tops and bottoms. No, we are divided by those who think with their head, and those who know with their heart...The ‘truthiness’ is, anyone can read the news to you. I promise to feel the news...at you.”

▪ The video is available at .

Explain how policy entrepreneurs employ media strategies to influence the public agenda.

LECTURE 1: People are trying to influence the government’s policy agenda when they confront government officials with problems they expect them to solve. Interest groups, political parties, politicians (including the president and Congress), public relations firms, and bureaucratic agencies are all pushing for their priorities to take precedence over others.

▪ Political activists (often called policy entrepreneurs—people who invest their political “capital” in an issue) depend heavily upon the media to get their ideas placed high on the governmental agenda.

▪ Policy entrepreneurs’ weapons include press releases, press conferences, letter writing, buttonholing reporters and columnists, and trading personal contacts.

▪ People in power can also use a leak, a carefully placed bit of inside information that is given to a friendly reporter.

▪ The staging of political events to attract media attention is a political art form.

LECTURE 2: Television strongly influences the public’s idea of what traits are important in a candidate. Candidates schedule events—press conferences, interviews, and “photo ops”—in settings that reinforce their verbal messages and public image. The most successful politicians skillfully use patriotic backdrops and “typical” Americans to generate publicity and popularity.

▪ Although the expense associated with television advertising has contributed to the skyrocketing costs of campaigning, it has also made politics more accessible to more people. Now with satellites, candidates can conduct local television interviews without having to travel to local studios. They can target specific voter groups through cable television or low-power television stations that reach homogeneous neighborhoods and small towns. All serious candidates for Congress and governor now make themselves and their positions available through a Web page on the Internet. Citizens can now interact with each other online on a wide range of political topics.

▪ At the same time, the influence of visual media often serves to make image more important than content.

□ Consistent with the media’s focus on personality is its highlighting of mistakes and gaffes by candidates and officeholders.

□ This ability of television to reach a mass audience and the power of the visual image on television has contributed to the rise of new players in campaign. Media consultants coach candidates about how to act and behave on television and what to discuss on the air. They report the results of focus groups and public opinion polls, which in turn determine what the candidate says and does.

▪ As television has become increasingly important to politics—and reforms such as primary elections have weakened the political parties and made news coverage of candidates more important—the question arises, what difference does the media make?

□ Some critics think reporters pay too much attention to candidates’ personalities and backgrounds and not enough attention to issues and policy.

□ Others say character and personality are among the most important characteristics for readers and viewers to know about.

▪ The influence of the media on the public varies by level of sophistication of the voters. Better-informed and more-educated voters are more sophisticated and therefore less swayed by information that focuses on personality, character, etc.

▪ A common tendency in the media is to comment less on a candidate’s position on issues than on a candidate’s position in the polls compared with other candidates—what is sometimes called the “horse race.”

□ Reporters focus on the tactics and strategy of campaigns because they think such coverage interests the public.

□ The media’s propensity to focus on the “game” of campaigns displaces coverage of issues.

▪ Paid political advertising, much of it negative in tone, is another source of information for voters. Political advertising has always attacked opponents, but recent campaigns have taken on an increasingly negative tone.

□ Voters say the attack style of politics turns them off, but most campaign consultants believe that negative campaigning works.

□ This seeming inconsistency may be explained by evidence suggesting that negative advertising may discourage some voters who would be inclined to support a candidate (a phenomenon known as vote suppression) while making supporters more likely to vote.

LECTURE 3: Examine the importance of selecting a theme or message for a political campaign, using key themes from historical campaigns. You may also find powerful commercials that illustrate some of these themes.

▪ In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson campaigned on a platform arguing that his opponent, Barry Goldwater, was too unstable to defend the country and deal with the threat of communism in Southeast Asia. His “Daisy” ad (watch?v=ExjDzDsgbww) remains one of the most powerful political commercials in campaign history.

▪ President Ronald Reagan chose to run a more upbeat campaign in 1980. His “Morning in America” () commercial illustrates the hopefulness of his campaign.

▪ In 2012, President Barack Obama used a speech by Mitt Romney to paint him as out of touch with American voters ().

▪ An outstanding collection of ads is available at the Living Room Candidate website ().

LECTURE 4: Use video clips to illustrate the importance of strong communication skills in political leaders.

▪ President Ronald Reagan was known as “the Great Communicator.”

□ Reagan’s 1980 campaign: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”

□ Reagan’s 1987 speech at the Brandenburg Gate: “Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”

□ Reagan’s 1989 farewell address.

▪ President Bill Clinton was an effective orator, but he excelled in interpersonal communication, projecting a sense of connection with the average voter.

□ His performance in the 1992 debate with George H.W. Bush illustrated this ability to connect (). His performance stood in contrast with that of President Bush (watch?v=7ffbFvKlWqE).

□ His response to the Oklahoma City bombing, perhaps most notably his “I feel your pain” () speech also illustrates this skill.

▪ President Barack Obama evoked memories of historic figures like Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Kennedy brothers (John and Robert).

□ In 2004, Barack Obama, who was running for the U.S. Senate at the time, delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. His “Red State, Blue State” speech () represented his oratory skills.

□ Even more powerful was Obama’s “We Are One People” speech (watch?v=U_lQYC7vqBg) delivered after taking second place to Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary.

▪ Screen video footage of these speeches and discuss the importance of strong oratory skills for elected leaders.

Assess the impact of the mass media on the scope of government and democracy in America.

LECTURE 1: Explore the decline of federal rules governing broadcast media.

▪ The Equal Time Rule requires the broadcast media to offer all major candidates competing for a political office equal airtime. The station can refuse to sell time to any candidates from any political party (including minor parties) for particular offices, but if it sells to one, it must sell to the others.

▪ The Fairness Doctrine, in effect from 1949 to 1985, was broader than the Equal Time Rule, requiring the broadcast media to allow “reasonable positions” to be presented on controversial issues of public interest. Therefore, we often see or hear news shows that have one person representing one side of an issue and another person speaking for the other side. While it is not required any longer, it is still a common practice.

LECTURE 2: Examine the restrictions on freedom of the press in the United States.

▪ In terms of the right to privacy, two standards apply—those for public figures and those for private individuals. Public “personalities” are assumed to have lower expectations for privacy and consequently have less protection.

▪ To help ensure a fair trial, gag orders can be issued, ordering all participants to refrain from discussing the case. In extreme circumstances, there can be a change of venue (holding the trial in another city), or the judge might even sequester (put into seclusion) jurors to prevent them from consuming news reports and other media coverage of the trial.

▪ The media are prohibited from publishing material that they know to be incorrect. Libel laws are designed to protect the reputations of individuals from negative and false reporting.

▪ The courts have ruled that prior restraint (censorship) is allowed only in the most extreme cases. Prior restraint refers to the power of the government to prohibit in advance the publication or broadcast of certain material.

▪ Regulation of the broadcast media falls to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), an independent regulatory agency created by the Communications Act of 1934 to “serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity.” Section 315 of the Communications Act of 1934 (and its many subsequent amendments) provides the central rules regarding censorship of the broadcast media.

LECTURE 3: This topic provides an outstanding opportunity for a guest lecture. If there is a local newspaper in your town, contact the editor and ask if one of the reporters would be willing to speak to your class. This is often seen as good public relations for the newspaper, and can enliven a class by bringing in the “real world” of reporting. Editors are often particularly interested in discussing the importance of freedom of the press.

LECTURE 4: While the media are often accused of bias, the most important source of bias in the media might be its reliance on exploitative and sensational stories in an obsessive search for profits. Examine this question with your students.

▪ The media are driven by competition to secure viewers. Higher ratings permit stations to charge higher rates for advertising, increasing revenue. Viewers aged 18–49 are particularly sought after.

▪ Defenders of the status quo argue that the media simply give us, the public, what we want—if we are displeased with what is being shown, we can use the power of the purse, including boycotts, to influence them.

▪ The libertarian view says that the media should show what they think the public wants, with no worry about the consequences. If viewers want violence, give them violence; if they want sex, give them sex. Conversely, the social responsibility theory (also called the public advocate model of news coverage) states that the media need to balance what viewers want with what is in their best interests.

▪ The need to make money often leads news people, especially those working in TV, to determine newsworthiness from the perspective of audience appeal rather than political, educational, or social significance.

LECTURE 5: Especially in light of some of the important work the media has done in exposing government abuses, it is important to convey to students the idea that free expression is valuable in part because of the function it performs in checking the abuse of official power.

▪ Start with a specific example. For instance, the media were an effective force in challenging wrongheaded government policies in Vietnam, Watergate, and the Iran-Contra affair. There is some indication that the media is playing a similar role in coverage of the current war in Iraq.

▪ This is a theme which was explained with clarity and power by Michigan Law Professor Vincent Blasi in his article, “The Checking Value in First Amendment Theory,” 1977, American Bar Foundation Research Journal. The idea that free speech serves as a check on the behavior of incumbents arose first in England in the late seventeenth century, according to Blasi, and appeared dramatically in the colonies with the 1735 seditious libel trial of John Peter Zenger. In his closing argument, Zenger’s attorney defended the right of all free men “publicly to remonstrate the abuses of power in the strongest terms, to put their neighbors upon their guard against the craft or open violence of men in authority.” Zenger’s attorney was a renowned Philadelphia lawyer named Alexander Hamilton.

▪ James Madison, author of the First Amendment, wrote that one of the principal purposes of freedom of the press is to permit intensive scrutiny of the behavior of public officials. Thomas Jefferson also tended to view liberty of the press in terms of its checking value. Blasi argues that the First Amendment was based on many values, but that in the eyes of the framers, the checking value was among the most important.

▪ The checking value approach tends to give the greatest protection to a specific type of speech, dealing with governmental misbehavior. But Blasi suggests other speech should be protected as well under different First Amendment theories.

▪ Blasi states that the checking value was never expressed more eloquently than in the last opinion Hugo Black wrote, New York Times v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971), where Black said, “The Government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government.”

▪ The lecture might end with some unanswered questions.

□ Is there a direct relationship between the degree of press freedom and democracy in every country? If so, why?

□ Who would challenge elected officials if the media were silent?

□ Is not the media an unplanned part of the American system that helps to preserve democracy? Is it unplanned?

□ What role do fact-checking sites on the Internet play in keeping candidates and officeholders accountable for claims?

□ How does recent media censorship in South Africa, Nicaragua, and Serbia demonstrate the linkage between a free press and democracy?

π Class Activities

CLASS ACTIVITY 1: Short audio or video clips can often provide a powerful way to illustrate key themes or issues:

▪ Download a podcast or transcript of The Rush Limbaugh Show (). Then, download the same from a left-wing talk show host like Randi Rhodes () or Thom Hartmann (). Many of these shows have video as well.

▪ Play or read segments of both to illustrate the contrasting rhetoric.

▪ Ask students to discuss the effectiveness, legitimacy, and political and social impact of this style of journalism.

This activity explores the rise of narrowcasting and its effects on politics in the United States.

CLASS ACTIVITY 2: Discuss the question of bias in the context of the news media.

▪ Are the mass media biased in their presentations of the news? If so, do they tend to favor liberal or conservative viewpoints? Be sure to differentiate between various forms of media, such as newspaper, television, radio, and Internet.

▪ Is the assertion true that there is a liberal bias in media reporting? In which medium is this assertion most accurate?

▪ News anchors, editors, reporters, producers, and others involved in the presentation of political information state that they are only “mirrors” of reality, that they are not presenting their personal biases in the productions. Do you believe this to be an accurate assessment? Why or why not? Be sure to consider biases other than political partisanship and ideology. How, for example, does the need to attract an audience or please advertisers influence coverage?

▪ Selection of subjects deemed as “newsworthy” may certainly exclude a good deal of other, less worthy, news from presentation. If you [students] were to be assigned responsibility for selecting “newsworthy” presentations, what would your criteria be for such selections?

This discussion item focuses on the question of bias in the news media and encourages students to reflect on the nature and source of media bias.

CLASS ACTIVITY 3: In recent years, the Internet has become the most important source of news for many citizens. Examine this trend with your students through a class discussion session.

▪ Is information on the Internet likely to be as reliable as that of print media? Why or why not?

▪ How does the public’s increasing reliance on the Internet relate to the idea of narrowcasting and the problem of selection bias?

▪ How can Internet users identify reliable and biased sources of news?

This question explores the rise of the Internet as a news source and helps students develop their ability to discern reliable and unreliable sources of information online.

CLASS ACTIVITY 4: Hold a class press conference on an issue or the week’s events. Assign some students to be reporters, others as government officials, and others as “spin” doctors. Discuss what happens afterward.

This activity helps students understand how press conferences function and how officials shape the news process.

CLASS ACTIVITY 5: Have your class examine a selection of the most effective or groundbreaking campaign ads from the modern era.

▪ Consider the following ads: Johnson’s “Daisy” ad (1964), Ronald Reagan’s “Morning in America” ad (1984), George H.W. Bush’s “Willie Horton” ad (1988), the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth’s “Pessimism” ad (2004), and Barack Obama’s “Big Bird” and “47 percent” ads (2012). Most of these ads are available on the Living Room Candidate website (), or via YouTube.

▪ You can also ask them to identify interesting ads from historical or contemporary campaigns.

▪ Then ask them to consider what makes an effective campaign ad. It is interesting to note that many of the ads listed above appeared only a handful of times. Johnson’s “Daisy” ad, which many argued was the most effective political commercial ever, aired only once.

This activity encourages students to think about the role of television advertising in political campaigns and illustrates the power of effective political ads.

CLASS ACTIVITY 6: Give students a list of news stories from the previous day. Divide students into groups. Each group, using the same list, should operate as a news director/producer and determine which items will go—in what order, and at what length—into the 24 minutes of news that evening. They should be prepared to defend their choices.

This activity helps students understand how news directors decide how much coverage to give particular news stories and illustrates the agenda setting function of the news media.

CLASS ACTIVITY 7: Ask the students to prepare an impromptu debate on whether there should be any limits whatsoever on First Amendment press rights.

▪ Choose two teams of four students to serve as opposing sides in the debate.

▪ Give them ten minutes to prepare arguments.

▪ Allot total debate time according to the demands of your class schedule.

▪ Ask the remaining students to act as debate judges.

This activity highlights the constitutional protections afforded to the press and considers potential limits to those rights.

CLASS ACTIVITY 8: For class discussion, ask students to evaluate whether American mass media has become too powerful.

▪ In particular, ask students to debate whether mass media’s impact on public opinion and political outcomes is consistent with the concepts of limited government and balanced power.

▪ Is there any democratic way to hold mass media organizations accountable for their behavior?

This discussion item encourages students to reflect on the relative influence and importance of the press in shaping American political opinions and outcomes.

CLASS ACTIVITY 9: Screen the “Thinking Like a Political Scientist” video for your class. In it, Texas A&M University political scientist Tyler Johnson discusses how media framing works and what market factors are influencing this process.

▪ Ask your students to reflect on the issues raised in the video, focusing in particular on the role of the media in a democratic polis.

▪ Then, collectively develop a political knowledge survey covering basic factual information about the U.S. government and current affairs. Include as part of the survey a question asking respondents to self-evaluate their level of knowledge about government and politics, and where they get most of their news.

▪ Consider having the class conduct the survey and tabulate the results. In doing so, ask them to note any particular patterns about confidence, primary news source, and level of factual knowledge. Then discuss these patterns in class.

▪ The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press () and the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland () both conduct regular surveys of this type across the United States. Their findings could make for an interesting comparison with those of your class. Alternatively, they could be used in lieu of the class survey to inform class discussion.

▪ The videos could also be used as a lecture starter or as a prompt for a short writing assignment using the question of voter turnout and political participation.

This activity examines the importance of framing and the role of the media market in shaping politics in the United States.

CLASS ACTIVITY 10: Where do you get your political news? Use the infographic from the textbook as the basis for a discussion around the following questions:

▪ Where do most Americans get their news? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each particular news medium?

▪ How do Americans of different political persuasions consume news differently? Which news sources are disproportionately consumed by Republicans? Which are disproportionately consumed by Democrats? Are these differences important? Why?

▪ How do the data presented here illustrate the concept of “narrowcasting” as discussed in the text? Why is narrowcasting important?

This discussion item helps to develop data literacy and encourages students to think about the way in which consumption of particular media reinforce political beliefs and perspectives.

π Research Activities

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Ask the students in your class to watch the evening news on the same network every night for one week. Have them keep a tally to indicate each topic where they think they can detect some bias in the coverage. Students should mark each incident as conservative, moderate, or liberal.

▪ Either as part of a class discussion or in a short written response, ask students to summarize their findings. If possible, have them conduct the same experiment a week later, using one of the other networks as their model.

▪ An interesting comparison might also be made by asking students with different ideologies to explore whether the bias is in the media or in the viewer (in the form of selection bias).

This activity explores the question of media bias.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: Create the first page of a newspaper that reflects a time period from American history. Your newspaper page should reflect the way news was reported during that time and what issues were important to the American public.

This activity illustrates how the nature of media and public opinion evolve over time.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: A media content analysis can serve as an excellent tool for illustrating the framing or interpreting aspect of journalism.

▪ Select three contrasting opinion pieces from different publications addressing the same political news story.

▪ Issue the following instructions:

□ Please analyze the tone (positive, negative, neutral) of each article.

□ Using information from the article (word choice, sources, title, order of information, missing information, etc.) and concepts from the chapter, explain why you reached your conclusion.

□ Does the article favor a particular political viewpoint? If so, what viewpoint?

□ Finally, compare and contrast the three articles.

This activity highlights the important role the media in framing and agenda setting in American politics.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: Watch the same political news story on three different media sources. Compare the accuracy of the different ways the story was reported. What does this suggest about political news coverage in general?

▪ As an alternative assignment, ask your students to look at the lead stories on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX News, and MSNBC, and explain their findings. Then examine differences in coverage in one common story that they all ran.

▪ Or, as another alternative assignment, have students choose a current event and compare the coverage in local press, national press, network news, and cable news. How and why do the ways each of these types of media cover the issues differ? How are they similar? What media outlets do you find most useful?

▪ Have your students present their findings, either as a short written assignment through a discussion forum in the LMS. Ask the students to consider whether, in their opinion, the media is effectively performing its primary roles.

This activity exposes students to the wide array of functions performed by the media, including its agenda setting and watchdog roles.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: Have students visit the Pew Center for Media and Society () and find the biannual Pew Media Survey. Ask them to prepare a short report in which they summarize the main findings of the annual survey. Then ask them to reflect on what those findings mean for the health of the American political system.

This activity familiarizes students with contemporary research on the role of the media in American politics.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: Compare American media to the media found in other countries, such as those featured at the Newseum (), and report on your findings. Visit different news websites from around the world and create a comparison and contrast chart. Some examples include: , , , .

This assignment gives students the opportunity to contrast the structure and function of the news media in the United States with those of other countries around the world.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: The popularity of political satire on television, most notably The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, has garnered academic attention. Have your students read and reflect on one of the following outstanding books on this topic:

▪ Jeffrey P. Jones (2009). Entertaining Politics: Satiric Television and Political Engagement. New York: Roman and Littlefield.

▪ Jonathan Gray, Jeffrey P. Jones, and Ethan Thompson (2009). Satire TV: Politics and Comedy in the Post-Network Era. New York: NYY Press.

▪ Amber Day (2011). Satire and Dissent: Interventions in Contemporary Political Debate. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

▪ Amarnath Amarasingam, ed. (2011). The Stewart/Colbert Effect: Essays on the Real Impact of Fake News. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company.

This activity helps students understand the idea of “infotainment” and how the intersection of entertainment and news has shaped the American media landscape.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: Have students locate three or four credible news sites on the Internet. In a short paper, ask them to explain how they determined reliability. What type of information is found there? Does it differ from more traditional types of media? How and why?

This assignment helps students critically analyze information and understand the criteria by which to assess the reliability of information found online.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 9: Have your students review a story covered by one of the mainstream news stations and the parallel coverage of the story on one of the political news satire shows like The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. Then ask them to write a short paper contrasting the approaches. Does satire offer any additional insights not provided by the mainstream coverage? Why?

This assignment provides an engaging way for students to think about the power of satire and the blurring of the lines between entertainment and news media.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 10: Simulation: “You Are the Newspaper Editor.” The media serves many functions in our democratic system. An editor’s focus on sales can impact how a media outlet fills these functions. In the “You Are the Newspaper Editor” simulation in MyPoliSciLab, you will learn more about the media’s role as you serve as the news editor of The San Francisco Call.

▪ Have your students complete the simulation and explore the functions of the media in a democratic polis.

▪ Then have them complete the associated quiz in MyPoliSciLab.

▪ As an alternative short writing assessment assignment, ask your students to complete a short response paper in which they discuss the themes raised in the simulation as they relate to the material covered in lecture and the chapter.

This activity examines the importance of the free press in a democratic society.

π Participation Activities

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: Have your students get the written codes of ethics that are used by your local or campus newspapers and television stations. Have them review these codes and consider the following questions in a short response paper:

▪ Do they seem realistic?

▪ Are they being followed?

▪ Are they vague and general or tightly written and specific?

▪ Can you think of examples of how each issue addressed in the codes might arise?

▪ How do the various codes differ?

▪ Then ask them to interview a journalist from the local newspaper, campus newspaper, or local television station, about the code of ethics journalists follow.

▪ Have them summarize their findings in a short paper.

This activity explores the role of the press in a democratic society and exposes student to the ethical code of journalists.

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: Have your students organize a campus screening of a film dealing with the role of the press in a democratic society. Examples might include Wag the Dog, Good Night and Good Luck, or Manufacturing Consent.

▪ After screening the film, ask them to talk with the audience about the role of the media and whether or not the media is living up to our expectations.

▪ Have them summarize their discussions in a short paper.

This activity encourages students to reflect on the role of the media in American politics.

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Ask your students to participate in an online discussion of politics, either by commenting on an existing blog or creating one of their own. Afterwards, ask them to contrast blogs and traditional newspapers as media of political communication in a short reflective paper.

This activity highlights the changing nature of political communication and the role of communication in developing community.

π Suggested Readings

READING 1: David J. Jackson (2009). Entertainment and Politics: The Influence of Pop Culture on Young Adult Political Socialization, 2nd ed. New York: Lang. An engaging text that considers the role of the media and pop culture in the process of political socialization.

READING 2: W. Lance Bennett (2011). News: The Politics of Illusion, 9th ed. New York: Pearson. Bennett’s classic text examines the changing role of the media in contemporary American politics.

READING 3: The role of the media in American politics is, perhaps not surprisingly, a popular topic. In addition to Bennett’s classic text mentioned above, others include:

▪ Doris A. Graber (2009). Mass Media and American Politics. Washington, DC: CQ Press.

▪ Doris A. Graber (2011). Media Power in Politics. Washington, DC: CQ Press.

▪ Gadi Wolfsfeld (2011). Making Sense of Media and Politics: Five Principles in Political Communication. New York: Routledge.

▪ Robert McChesney and Victor Pickard, eds. (2011). Will the Last Reporter Please Turn Out the Lights: The Collapse of Journalism and What Can Be Done To Fix It. Philadelphia: New Press.

READING 4: Shanto Iyengar (2011). Media Politics: A Citizen’s Guide. New York: WW Norton. Iyengar’s text teaches students how to be critical consumers of media, focusing in particular on how political leaders use the media to influence the political process.

READING 5: The popularity of political satire on television, most notably The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, has garnered academic attention. Several engaging books deal with the topic, including:

▪ Jeffrey P. Jones (2009). Entertaining Politics: Satiric Television and Political Engagement. New York: Roman and Littlefield.

▪ Jonathan Gray, Jeffrey P. Jones, and Ethan Thompson (2009). Satire TV: Politics and Comedy in the Post-Network Era. New York: NYY Press.

▪ Amber Day (2011). Satire and Dissent: Interventions in Contemporary Political Debate. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

▪ Amarnath Amarasingam, ed. (2011). The Stewart/Colbert Effect: Essays on the Real Impact of Fake News. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company.

READING 6: Robert McChesney has been one of the most ardent critics of the American media, advancing the argument that the primary bias of the media has not been liberal or conservative but the profit motive. Several of his books examine this theme in greater detail, including:

▪ Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times. New York: New Press, 2000.

▪ The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the Twenty-First Century. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2004.

▪ The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again (co-authored with John Nichols). Philadelphia: Nation Books, 2010.

READING 7: Jeffrey M. Berry and Sarah Sobieraj (2011). “Understanding the Rise of Talk Radio.” PS: Political Science & Politics. 44 (4): 762–767. Rejects the notion that the rise of conservative talk radio over several years is due less to a sharp increase in conservative popular opinion. Rather, Berry and Sobieraj argue that the deregulation and mainstreaming of digital music technologies have transformed talk radio, resulting in a concentration of radio management at the national rather than local level.

READING 8: Several outstanding journals focus on the questions and themes raised in this chapter. Examples include:

▪ Political Communication (), the journal of the Political Communications Division of the American Political Science Association.

▪ The International Journal of Press/Politics

▪ Communication, Politics, and Culture

READING 9: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) () is a liberal watchdog group looking for media bias. In their own words: “FAIR believes that independent, aggressive, and critical media are essential to an informed democracy. But mainstream media are increasingly cozy with the economic and political powers they should be watch-dogging. Mergers in the news industry have accelerated, further limiting the spectrum of viewpoints that have access to mass media.” Their website offers examples of bias and more. Accuracy in Media () performs a similar function from the conservative side.

READING 10: The Living Room Candidate website () offers an outstanding collection of classic and contemporary political commercials from the 1950s through today.

READING 11: Most major news outlets maintain an extensive Web presence. See, for example:

▪ ABC News

▪ CBS News

▪ NBC News

▪ Fox News

READING 12: The Annenberg Center for the Digital Future () at the University of Southern California offers outstanding analysis of contemporary developments in digital communications, particularly the Internet. The Annenberg Public Policy Center () of the University of Pennsylvania conducts content analysis on TV coverage of politics.

READING 13: The Pew Center maintains several outstanding sites dealing with the themes raised in this chapter.

▪ The Pew Center for Civic Journalism () works to encourage “good journalism.” The institute is trying to battle cynicism and re-engage citizens in the political process.

▪ The Pew Research Center for People and the Press () is an independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics, and public policy issues. Its website offers the results of numerous surveys including those of public attitudes toward the media’s coverage of politics and offers information trends in values and fundamental political and social attitudes.

▪ The Project for Excellence in Journalism () is sponsored by Pew, the Columbia School of Journalism, and the Committee of Concerned Journalists. They are trying to raise the standards of journalism and are running several projects, including one on local TV news and the state of newspapers in America. This and more are available through their website.

READING 14: Newseum () is the museum dedicated to the history of news and media, scheduled to reopen near the National Mall in Washington, DC in 2006. Its website currently operates in lieu of the museum and has some interesting cyber exhibits, including coverage of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, war correspondents, editorial cartoonists, women photographers, and front-page stories from around the country.

READING 15: All the President’s Men (1976). Based on the book of the same name, this film examines the story of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who uncovered the Watergate scandal.

READING 16: Bill Moyers Journal: Buying the War (2007). Films for the Humanities and Science. This program examines how the Bush administration marketed and sold the war in Iraq and the role of the media in the process.

READING 17: Broadcast News (1987). Romantic comedy about reporters and anchors in a newsroom.

READING 18: Citizen Kane (1941). Orson Welles’ classic movie depicting the life of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst.

READING 19: Disconnected: Politics, the Press and the Public (2000). Films for the Humanities and Sciences. This program focuses on the extent to which the media, with their emphasis on profit, deadlines, and entertainment, compromise media coverage of elections and disconnect the public from the political system.

READING 20: Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism (2004). This film alleges that Fox News is little more than an unprofessional and propagandistic corporate mouthpiece for Murdoch and his right-wing political beliefs. Greenwald bases much of his evidence on interviews with Fox employees themselves. Distributed by .

READING 21: Several films highlight the role of the media in contemporary politics.

▪ The 1972 classic The Candidate (Warner Brothers) explores the growing influence of television and its transformative role in U.S. politics.

▪ Wag the Dog (New Line Cinema, 1998) is a political satire in which the U.S. President attempts to divert attention from a sexual scandal by starting a war. Although released in 1997, the film bore a striking resemblance to President Bill Clinton’s 1998 decision to launch attacks on terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Sudan while enmeshed in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

▪ Power (1986) is an extraordinarily relevant primer by director Sidney Lumet on what goes on behind the scenes of a political campaign and the power brokers who dictate each move. Richard Gere stars as Pete St. John, a savvy but opportunistic and unscrupulous media consultant who has a way of packaging any candidate to turn the polls in their favor—regardless of political ideology.

▪ Good Night and Good Luck (2005). In a trip back to the era of early television that features Edward R. Murrow and Sen. Joe McCarthy, George Clooney raises some issues that were thorny then and, despite much debate, have yet to be resolved.

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