AP Civics
Chapter 10 Notes
The News Media: Communicating Political Images
I.
Introduction
• The media desires timely, dramatic, and compelling events
*timely (new or unfolding developments)
*dramatic (striking developments)
*compelling (developments that arouse people’s concerns and emotions)
• Hence, its over-emphasis on the O.J. Simpson murder trial and its concomitant neglect of important social,
political, and economic issues such as the high birthrate among unwed women
• News is a business – needs revenue to survive
• Press (News Media): those print and broadcast organizations that are in the news reporting business
• The media remains a key link between the public and its leaders
• Americans connect to politics more through the news that is produced by the media than through the
activities of parties or groups
II.
Historical Development: From Partisanship to Objective Journalism
• Framers recognized the important role of communication in a democratic society – advantage of
promoting the establishment of newspapers
• Partisan Press: newspapers and other communication media that openly support a political party and
whose news in significant part follows the party line
A. From a Partisan Press to an “Objective” One
1. Technological changes, such as the invention of the telegraph(1837) and rotary press(1815)
decreased printing costs and led to an increase in circulation and the decline of the partisan press
a. New York Sun – increased circulation to over 10,000 in less than a year
(1) increased circulation and revenues gave newspapers independence from
government and parties, a change that some political leaders welcomed
th
2. By the late 19 century, several American newspapers were printing 100,000 or more copies a day
a. could charge for advertising
3. Yellow journalism boosts circulation
a. emphasized “a shrieking, gaudy, sensation-loving, devil-may-care kind of journalism
b. William Randolph Hearst (New York Journal) v. Joseph Pulitzer (New York World)
4. Excesses of yellow journalism gave way to objective journalism
a. based on reporting of “facts” rather than opinions and was “fair” in that it presented both
sides of partisan debate
b. Adolph Ochs – The New York Times
c. Editorials in a newspaper can favor partisan viewpoints
(1) evident during endorsement of candidates during elections
5. Today objective journalism is being replaced with interpretive reporting
a. attempts to explain why something is taking place or has occurred
(1) produces more opinionated news coverage
b. has greatly increased journalists’ ability to shape the news to fit their own views,
including their skeptical opinion of politicians’ motives and accomplishments
B. The Development of the Broadcast Media
1. Radio and Television: The truly national media
a. the advent of radio created the first truly national communication medium
(1) FDR’s fireside chats allowed him to get his New Deal message directly to the
people
b. television followed radio, adding a visual dimension to news (by late 1950’s 90% of
American homes had television sets)
c. today television provides a 24 hour forum of political news and information
(1) CNN, C-Span, Fox News Channel, MSNBC
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d. television and radio talk shows have grown
(1) Larry King, Rush Limbaugh
e. television journalists rely more on an interpretive style of reporting
(1) most use a narrative or storytelling mode in order to appeal to an audience
accustomed to entertaining programming
2. Government licensing and regulation of broadcasters
a. Communications Act 1934
(1) broadcasters must be licensed and meet certain performance standards
(2) Federal Communications Commission (FCC) administers the Act
b. since the airwaves are a limited resource, broadcasters have been required by law (for
example the “equal time” restriction) to treat opposing sides fairly
(1) FCC can withdraw a station’s license for not complying with broadcast
regulations
3. The Emergence of the Internet
a. provides ordinary citizens the opportunity to exercise their free press rights
b. citizens can post information about public affairs, harangue officials, argue for public
policy, and attempt to mobilize the support of others
c. the internet also provides political leaders and organizations a direct channel to the public
d. one of the best known web outlet to the news “The Drudge Report”
III.
Freedom and Conformity in the U.S. News Media
• In the United States, the 1st Amendment gives the press substantial protection – Courts normally uphold the
right of U.S. newspapers to report on politics as they choose
• The U.S. Government cannot block publication of a news story unless it can convincingly demonstrate in
court that the information would jeopardize national security
Newspapers
Weeklies
1,600
7,500
News Industry in the United States
Radio Stations
National TV
News Networks
10,000
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•
Cable
Television
Systems
6,000
The uniformity of news coverage is surprising. Each day, Americans, almost regardless of where they live
and what sources they use get a common rendition of the news.
Reasons
Objective
Domination of
Competitive
Imperatives
Shared
Journalism
News Production
Pressures
Professional Values
Its emphasis on
• Small number of • No major news
• Reporters are
• Reporters are on
facts and salient
news
organization
assigned such
the lookout for
events provides
organizations
wants to miss an
beats as the
aspects of a
journalists with
generate most of
important story
White House
situation that
a basis for
the coverage
that others are
and Congress
lends themselves
agreement
• Associated Press
reporting
to interesting
American
(AP) services
• Network, wire
news stories
reporters unlike
95% of nations
service, and a
• Journalists have
their
dailies
few elite dailies
developed a
counterparts in
• 5 major
establish a
common
some European
networks (ABC,
national standard
understanding of
democracies, do
NBC, CBS,
of story
what news is
not take sides in
PBS, and CNN)
selection
partisan disputes
generate most of
news coverage
of national and
international
politics
•
•
Local
Television
Stations
1,000
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IV.
•
The News Media as Link: Roles the Press Can and Cannot Perform
• Many European newspapers still apply partisan or ideological values to current events
-Daily Telegraph – loyal mouthpiece of Britain’s Conservative Party
• U.S. news organizations do not routinely and consistently take sides in partisan conflict – main task is to
report and analyze events
Media
Driven by the search for interesting and revealing
stories
•
•
Parties and Interest Groups
Exist to articulate particular political opinion and
values
There are three roles the media can play successfully, and one for which it is unsuited
A. The Signaler Role
1. Alert the public to important developments as soon as possible after they happen
a. signaler role is one that the American media performs well
b. media is well suited to signal developments from Washington
(1) more than half of all reported national news emanates from Washington D.C.
2. The ability to focus the public’s attention and influence their beliefs is referred to as agenda
setting
a. subset of the signaler role
b. media’s stress on crime in 1993 and 1994 caused the public to indicate that crime was
their number one concern
B. The Common-Carrier Role
1. Media serves as an open channel of communication between political leaders and the public
a. political leaders make a great effort to get coverage
(1) news conferences, press releases, staged events
b. the press today is less deferential to political leaders
(1) press places its own “spin” on stories
(2) Vietnam and Watergate heightened skepticism of politicians
2. News today is as much journalist centered as it is newsmaker centered
a. candidate’s sound bite has gone from 45 seconds to 10 seconds
(1) length of time within a television story that the candidate speaks without
interruption
C. The Watchdog Role
1. Media protects the public by exposing deceitful, careless, incompetent, and corrupt officials
a. Watergate scandal – Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post
2. Inherent tension between watchdog role and common carrier role
•
Watchdog Role
Demands that the journalist maintains a skeptical
view of political leaders and keep them at a distance
•
Common Carrier Role
Requires journalists to maintain close ties to
political leaders
3. Media tends to stress “bad news”
a. although most journalists lean toward the Democratic party in their personal beliefs,
negativity is non partisan
b. this skepticism has been criticized as going too far and an invasion of the privacy of public
officials
(1) public is ambivalent about the news media skepticism
(2) press can undermine its watchdog role by its zealous pursuit of scandal – leads to
a decline in the public’s trust of the media
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D. The Public Representative Role
1. Spokesperson and advocate for the public
2. Two basic reasons that journalists are not nearly as well suited as political leaders to the role of
public representatives
Lack of Accountability
•
•
Elections
Press resists public scrutiny of its actions
Do not Promote a Consistent and Coherent Set of
Political Values
• Journalists respond to good stories, not political
concerns
• Human interest and personality stories have
increased
3. Vital, but Limited
a. democracy needs a free press, but media cannot replace political institutions
b. the news in form and content has become closer to entertainment where we are in danger
of “amusing ourselves to death”
(1) it has created a “pseudocommunity” where citizens feel that they are a part of the
functioning whole until they try to act upon their news awareness
c. The media cannot organize the public in any meaniful way and thus cannot do the job of
political institutions
(1) media’s job – public information not public advocacy
(2) news can only raise public consciousness – it cannot serve as a guide to policy
choice
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