AP US GOVERNMENT
& POLITICS
UNIT 3
POLITICAL PARTIES/INTEREST GROUPS/
THE MASS MEDIA/AND ELECTIONS
POWERPOINT #6:
Interest Groups and the Mass Media
Interest Groups
• Interest group: an organization of people with
shared policy goals entering the policy process to
try and achieve those goals.
How is that any different than a political party?
Interest groups
• Do NOT run candidates for
office
• They are policy specialists
Political Parties
• They run candidates for office
• They are policy generalists
because they try to appeal to
(guns, environment, abortion, cheese,
everyone
etc.)
• There are relatively few political
• There are thousands of them
parties in the U.S.
nationwide
• What are the factors that will make some groups
more successful than others?
– Financial Resources
• The more money a group has the more influence they can obtain
with the public through advertisements, with lawmakers by
making campaign contributions and establishing PACs (Political
Action Committees).
– Ones smaller in size (?!?!?)
• The smaller the group the easier it is to be organized.
• Conflict is less likely to occur if there are fewer members.
– Intensity
• Groups that have a deep and emotional interest are more likely
to be dedicated to their cause.
• The more intense and demanding a group is the more likely a
politician will listen to their concerns.
• Some of these “intense” groups are single‐issue groups (they have a
narrow interest and tend to dislike compromise). Example: Abortion groups.
Theories of Interest Group Politics
• Pluralism (optimistic): interest groups provide people
with an outlet to express their preferences in the
political process.
– Groups provide a key link between people & the
government
– Groups compete & play by the same rules
– No one group becomes too dominant
The national government
purchases 1 million acres of land
to be used for forest preservation.
The Sierra Club wants all animals that
live on the land to be protected.
The NRA wants
people to be
allowed to hunt
Fishermen of
America wants the
rivers to be used for
recreatio nal fishing.
All groups lobby Congress
The end result:
Congress permits fishing and hunting with federal
restrictions to protect animals.
Billions of dollars are lost in the
stock market due to the collapse of
a market bubble.
The end result:
New regulations are established,
but none directed at banks.
Congress considers new
regulations on the stock market.
Everything from new rules for
banks, individual traders, & the
housing market is considered.
Big banks lobby Congress to be
spared new regulations.
• Elitism (pessimistic): : Interest groups are running
the political process. Wealthy groups are at
an advantage over others due to PACs, thus
not all voices are heard.
• Hyperpluralism (cynical): : Interest groups are
the reason nothing gets accomplished.
Politicians give them too much attention and
in an effort to please all groups gridlock
occurs.
A cancer institute lobbies
the government to have
an “Anti‐smoking
Campaign.
The end result:
Nothing changes
Don’t Smoke USA is
launched and ads run
nationwide.
Congress provides
subsidies to tobacco
farmers.
The tobacco industry is
worried people will stop
smoking and decide to
lobby Congress.
How are interest groups influential?
1) Lobbying: the act of communicating with lawmakers and the public in an effort
to advance one’s agenda, but not necessarily a citizen acting on their own behalf.
– Many lobbyists are former lawmakers.
Given their past experience, interest groups are willing to pay
big salaries to ex‐lawmakers in order for them to persuade their fellow colleagues to advance certain issues.
How do lobbyists help politicians with lawmaking?
– They serve as a source of information about an issue.
– They can help a lawmaker build a strategy for pushing legislation forward.
2) Litigation (they sue, or file amicus curiae briefs)
3) Going public
Interest groups will look to both educate and mobilize the public on a particular issue
through grass-roots lobbying
2) Electioneering
When interest groups work to get specific candidates elected into office so that
they will have an “ally” in the legislature.
How?
– The group endorses a candidate, they may even mail out advertisements on the
person’s behalf
– The group volunteers to work for the campaign
– The group donates money The financial support of interest groups toward candidates
is given through Political Action Committees (PACs) – when an interest groups spends
more than $1,000 in electioneering it must register as a PAC. PACs are limited to what
they can give to a candidate.
How do interest groups impact decision making?
How has the government attempted to limit their impact?
Factors that expanded the power of Interest Groups:
Factors that limited the power of Interest Groups:
1. Buckley v. Valeo (1976): Corporations’ right to spend
money campaigning for candidates is protected by 1st
Amendment. (Corporate soft money legal).
1. Federal Election Commission established in 1974.
Established PAC’s . Put limits on the amount of hard
money a person or organization could donate.
2. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010):
Removed limits on PAC contributions from individuals,
unions and corporations for “independent
expenditures” – Spending cannot be associated w/
candidates, but is unlimited.
2. McCain-Feingold Act (Bipartisan Campaign Reform
Act): Banned Soft Money ads 60 days before a general
election and 30 days before a primary.
3. Lengthy and Expensive Elections:
Candidates are increasingly dependant on interest
group donations.
4. Incumbency Advantage: Since incumbent politicians
are the most frequent recipients of donations, they are
unlikely to push for organizational change.
5. The “Revolving Door”: Congressmen and regulators
often take lobbyist positions with Interest Groups after
they leave public office.
3. Issue Networks: Often, there are interest groups with
opposite messages seeking to influence an election,
minimizing impact.
Political Action Committees (PACs)
A Political Action Committee (PAC) is an organization in the United States that
campaigns for or against political candidates ballot initiatives or legislation. PAC’s
must register with the FEC.
CITIZEN
LIMITED
LIMITED
LIMITED
LIMITED
LIMITED
PAC
Candidate
Party
UNLIMITED
527 Groups:
Political organizations that are not
regulated by the Federal Election
Commission or by a state elections
commission, and are not subject to
the same contribution limits as
PACs
Independent Expenditures:
Money spent by individuals or groups not associated
with candidates to elect or
defeat candidates for office
Issue Ads:
Promoting a particular position or an issue, paid for by
interest groups or individuals but not by candidates
Incumbent advantage:
PACs are more likely to donate money to incumbents as
compared to challengers due to their likelihood of
reelection
Unions and Corporations
CANNOT contribute to PAC’s
***PACs Cannot Coordinate Independent
Expenditures with Candidates or Parties***
Bundling:
The practice of one donor gathering donations from
many different individuals in an organization or
community and presenting the sum to a campaign
SUPER PACs
A SUPER PAC is a new type political action committee that was approved by the FEC in 2010. Super PACs have different
fundraising and spending rules and permit donations from unions and corporations. They are immensely powerful.
SuperPAC’s must register with the FEC.
CITIZEN
UNIONS
UNLIMITED
UNLIMITED
CORPORATIONS
UNLIMITED
BANNED
BANNED
SuperPAC
Candidate
***SUPERPACs Cannot Coordinate
Independent Expenditures with
Candidates or Parties***
Party
UNLIMITED
***SUPERPACs Cannot give money
directly to candidates or parties***
Independent
Expenditures
(Ads, etc.)
BIG IDEA!
SUPERPACS ARE PROVING TO BE EXTREMELY INFLUENTIAL. UNIONS AND CORPORATIONS
ARE BECOMING AN ENORMOUS PART OF THE POLITICAL PROCESS
Iron Triangles
• A theory that within the national government exists
smaller sub governments called iron triangles, where
groups acting in their self‐interest rely on each other to
protect a particular issue / interest.
The congressional
subcommittee –
Communications &
Technology
The Screen Actors Guild
FCC
Federal
Communications
Commission
THE MEDIA
• Mass media: the connector (medium) between events and people,
including television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet.
Media Bias
• The public / the voters make their decisions based upon the
information they have and since the media is often the sole
source of obtaining political news it does affect public opinion.
• Therefore, any bit of bias can affect the decision made by voters
and even set a political agenda – the issues that attract the
attention of public officials.
Forms of bias:
• The selection of stories the media covers
• The amount of attention given to a topic
• Ideological bias (liberal, conservative, etc.)
• Bias in favor of advertising sponsors
• Bias due to media’s frame of reference (i.e. most major media
outlets are out of New York instead of Nebraska).
How do politicians use the media?
• To obtain information
• Leaks / trial balloons
• To give their side of the story (press conferences, sound bites,
press releases)
The Roles of the Media in the Political System
1. Gatekeeper
• Can influence what issues become political through coverage
• Control access to media coverage – no coverage? no issue
• Collectively this is known as agenda setting
2. Scorekeeper
• “Horse Race Politics” AKA “political handicapping”
• The tendency for the media to concentrate on who will win instead of the issues.
• These tendencies can influence elections
3. Watchdog
• Will investigate personalities and expose scandals
• Tolerant of underdogs, tough on favorites
Trends in the Political Media
1.Elitism to Populism: With the rise of the Internet, there are now more
people creating media content.
2.Slow to Fast: The shift from newspapers to cable news and the Internet have
given speed to reporters.
3.Independent to Conglomerate: News organizations are being increasingly
purchased by a few select individuals, creating media empires (Viacom,
Disney, Fox News).
4.Fact to Opinion: With the expansion of news coverage, reporters are
concentrating less on “what happened” and more on “what should happen
next”. Editorial programming is rampant.
5.Accuracy to Sensationalism: With more news outlets, reporters must
compete for viewers/readers. Reporters must sensationalize or “sell” their
news.
6.Liberal Bias to Dual Bias: The traditional liberal bias of the media has been
balanced through the emergence of conservative news sources such as talk
radio.
7.Accuracy to Inaccuracy: The race to get news out before anyone else causes
sources to take risks. The results are often inaccurate.