Chapter 10 - The Media
What comment did James Madison say about the importance of the media?
"A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both" (page 267)
What is a solution to "flame wars"?
Moderate the comments, to publish only those comments approved by a moderator. For most blogs, however, this procedure involves an unacceptable amount of effort (page 277)
The Internet is now the ____ most widely used source of information
Second. 22 percent of all persons consider it their primary source of news (age 267)
In 2011, a series of strongly conservative candidates rose up to challenge Mitt Romney, the "invisible primary" favorite
True. Each insurgent candidate had problems, however, and each one faded. Romney triumphed in the end (page 274)
Many rules by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have dealt with ownership of news media, such as how many TV stations a network can own
True. In 1996, Congress passed new legislation that had far-reaching implications for the communications industry - Telecommunications Act (page 278)
The First Amendment would seem to apply to all media
True. In fact, the United States Supreme Court has often been slow to extend free speech press guarantees to new media (page 278)
What are the 6 most common media functions?
1. Entertaining the public 2. Reporting the news 3. Identifying public problems 4. Socializing new generations 5. Providing a political forum 6. Making profits (page 267)
What percentage of Americans use television as their primary source of information?
55 percent. In addition, the Internet has become a major source for news, political communication, and fund-raising (page 267)
Among Americans older than sixty-five years of age, only ____ percent obtained the greatest amount of information about political campaigns in 2016 by going online
6 percent. In this older generation, 11 percent still relied on a printed daily newspaper, down from 58 percent in 2000. A full 70 percent found cable, network, or local television to be the most helpful. Among 18 to 29-year-olds, in contrast, social media came first with 35 percent, followed by news websites or apps with 18 percent (page 271)
What percentage of the public currently rely on print publications as the primary news source?
9 percent (page 267)
Sound bite
A brief, memorable comment that can easily be fit into news broadcasts (page 272)
Internet Service Provider (ISP)
A company or organization that provides Internet connectivity to end users or to servers (page 279)
Podcasting
A method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio or video files, for downloading onto mobile devices or personal computers. Like blogs, podcasting threatens traditional media sources. Publications that sponsor podcasts find it hard to make them profitable. Although politicians have been slower to adopt this form of communication, many now are using podcasts to keep in touch with their constituents, and there are currently tens of thousands of political podcasts (page 277)
Spin doctors
A political campaign advisers who tries to convince journalists of the truth of a particular interpretation of events (page 274)
Priming
A way in which the media can alter public perceptions of an issue-by choosing which facts they can include in the reporting (page 268)
Aggregator
A website that provides search and aggregation services, but creates little or no original content. Most ad revenues go to aggregators, such as Google (page 269)
Bias
An inclination or a preference that interferes with impartial judgement (page 282)
The Internet is directly descended from what?
ARPAnet, a project of the Advanced Research Projects Agency within the Department of Defense. Initially ARPAnet linked computers at four universities. Only in 1988 was the Internet opened up to commercial users (page 279)
Spin
An interpretation of campaign events or election results that is favorable to the candidate's campaign strategy (page 274)
Political campaigns are continuing events, lasting perhaps as long as two years. The significance of their daily turns and twists is only ____
Apparent later. The "drama" of Congress, with its 535 players and dozens of important committees and meetings, is also difficult for the media to present. Television requires, instead, dozens of daily three-minute stories (page 272)
When did newspapers begin to lose ground?
As early as the 1950s (page 271)
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates what?
Communications by radio, television, wire, and cable. For many years, the FCC has controlled the number of radio stations, even though technologically we could have many more radio stations than now exist. Also, the FCC created the environment in which for many decades the three major TV networks (NBC, CBS, and ABC) dominated broadcasting (page 278)
Many media outlets are now owned by who?
Corporate conglomerates. A single entity may own a television network. It may also own the studies that produce shows, new, and movies. Finally, it may own the means to deliver that content to the home via cable, satellite, or the Internet. Today, al of the prime-time television networks are owned by major American corporations and are part of corporate conglomerates (page 278)
Telecommunications
Ended the rule that kept telephone companies from entering the cable business and other communications markets. What this means is that a single corporation can offer long-distance and local telephone services, cable television, satellite television, Internet services, and, of course, libraries of film and entertainment. This act opened the door to competition and led to more options for consumers, who now can choose among multiple competitors for all of these services delivered to the home. At the same time, it launched a race among competition companies to control media ownership (page 278)
By far the greatest number of radio and television hours are dedicated to ____
Entertaining the public. The battle for prime-time ratings indicates how important successful entertainment is to the survival of networks and individual stations. A number of network shows have a highly political content Many younger people have reported that they get much of their political information from the Daily Show on the Comedy Central network. An equally important personality is John Oliver, who hosts Last Week Tonight on HBO. Oliver combines humor with serious investigative journalism (page 267)
Explain the several methods campaign staff tries to influence the quantity and type of coverage a campaign receives:
First, with an understanding of the technical aspects of media coverage, camera angles, necessary equipment, timing, and deadline, the staff plans political events to accommodate the press Second, the campaign organization is aware that political reporters and their sponsors, networks, newspapers, or blogs, are in competition for the best stories and can be manipulated through the granting of favors, such as a personal interview with the candidate Third, the scheduler in the campaign has the important task of planning events that will be photogenic and interesting enough for the evening news (page 273)
Blog
From Web log. A website where an individual or group posts regular updates on their ideas or experiences. Not all of the millions of blogs posted daily are political in nature. Many are, though, and they can have a dramatic influence on events, giving rise to the term blogosphere politics. Blogs are clearly threatening the mainstream media. They can be highly specialized, highly political, and highly entertaining. And they are cheap (page 276)
The nature of the Internet has allowed candidates to assemble thousands of individual activists who serve as what?
Fund-raisers. Two politicians stand out as pioneers of online fund-raising, these two being Ron Paul and Barack Obama (page 276)
The print media developed our understand of what?
How news is to be reported (page 267)
Base
In politics, a political party's most loyal supporters (page 274)
Almost all funding for the Internet comes from who?
Individuals and organization that connect to it... Funds flow in one direction: from the periphery through ISPs to the backbones. Major Internet destinations such as Amazon or Google must, of course, purchase vast amounts of connectivity. In the past, however, they have not usually had to pay extra fees to ISPs (page 279)
Historically, the print media played the most important role in ____
Informing public debate (page 267)
Today, the campaign staff of every candidate running for a significant political office includes an ____
Internet campaign strategist, a professional hired to create and maintain the campaign website, social media accounts, blogs, and podcasts. The work of this strategist includes designing user-friendly and attractive website for the candidate, managing the candidate's e-mail, Twitter, and Facebook communications, tracking campaign contributions made through the site, hiring bloggers to push the candidate's agenda on the Internet, and monitoring website for favorable or unfavorable comments or video clips about the candidate (page 275) Additionally, all major interest groups in the United States now use the Internet to promote their causes. Prior to elections, various groups engage in issue advocacy from their websites. At little to no cost, they can promote positions taken by favored candidates and solicit contributions (page 276)
Public agenda
Issues that are perceived by the political community as meriting public attention and governmental action (page 268)
The mass media identify public ____
Issues. American journalists also have a long tradition of uncovering public wrongdoing, corruption, and bribery, and of bringing such wrongdoing to the public's attention. For its part, the enormous collection of political sites on the Internet is filled with policy proposals representing every point of view (page 268)
In general, challengers have much more to gain from debating than do incumbents. Challengers hope that incumbent will ____
Make a mistake in the debate and undermine the "presidential" image. Incumbent presidents are loath to debate their challengers because it puts their opponents on an equal footing with them, but the debates have become so widely anticipated that it is difficult for an incumbent to refuse to participate (page 274)
Since the daisy girl advertisement, ____ advertising has come into its own
Negative. In recent elections, an ever-increasing percentage of political ads have been negative in nature (page 272)
The protections of the First Amendment are intended to keep the flow of ____
News as free as possible, because it is an essential part of the democratic process (page 267)
Young early adopters may find much of the offline irrelevant to their lives. Yet television news, cable networks, talk radio, and other forms of media are ____
Not irrelevant to American politics. Older voters outnumber younger ones by a wide margin. As of 2018, about 115 million Americans were age fifty or older. U.S. residents age eighteen through twenty-nine were less than half that number. Older voters are more likely to make it to the polls, and many early adopters of new media technology are too young to vote. It follows that television remains essential to American politics (page 271)
Content provider
On the internet, an individual or organization that generates original content. Unfortunately, they collect only a small share of the total revenues from online advertising (page 269)
Although young voters get a relatively small share of their news from television, it remains the ____
Primary news source for older voters. Therefore, candidates devote much effort to devising strategies that use television (page 272)
Blogs versus magazines
Originally, blogs were the work of a single individual, describing that person's opinions and experiences. Today, however, most of the highly popular political blogs are team efforts. In many cases, they were founded by an individual blogger who later hired additional contributors. It can be hard to distinguish such blogs from online magazines, given that a magazine and a team blog both contain original content from multiple writers. Indeed, some sites are divided into two parts: one designated as a magazine and the other as a collection of blog posts (page 276) A further complication is the difficulty in distinguishing between a blog with multiple authors and an aggregation site (page 277)
Three types of TV coverage are generally employed in campaigns for the presidency and other offices:
Political advertising (including negative ads), management of news coverage, and campaign debates (page 272)
Conservatives recognize that partisan media such as Fox News will put a ____ spin on almost anything they say
Positive. The "mainstream media" may be more skeptical, but many members of the base have come to believe that mainstream reporting is liberal propaganda and should be discontinued. As a result, Trump and other Republicans have felt free to make outlandish claims (page 274)
Perhaps one of the most effective political ads of all time was created by who?
President Lyndon Johnson's media advisor in 1964. In this ad, a little girl stood in a field of daisies. As she held a daisy, she pulled the petals off and quietly counted to herself. Suddenly, when she reached number ten, a deep bass voice cut in and began a countdown from 10. When the voice intoned "zero," the mushroom cloud of an atomic bomb began to fill the screen. Then President Johnson's voice was heard: "These are the stakes. To make a world in which all of God's children can live, or to go into the dark. We must either love each other or we must die." At the end of the commercial, the message read, "Vote for President Johnson on November 3" (page 272)
A primary function of mass media in all their forms is the ____
Reporting of news. The media provides words and pictures about events, facts, personalities, and ideas (page 267)
In presidential elections, perhaps just as important as political advertisements and general news coverage is the performance of the candidate in ____
Televised presidential debates (page 274)
Today, the Internet has begun to displace ____
Television (page 271)
For many Americans, especially younger ones, the Internet has replaced ____
Television as a source of entertainment. While much time on the Internet may be spent chatting with friends on services such as Skype or watching television programs online, politics is often a topic. YouTube, in particular, offers a large number of politically oriented videos, many of which are satirical. Talk radio and television shows that feature talk radio personalities are another form of politically oriented entertainment, one that is dominated by the political right (page 267)
Political advertising has become increasingly important for the profitability of who?
Television station owners. Hearst Television, for example, obtains more than 10 percent of its revenues from political ads during an election year. During the 2012 presidential elections, total spending exceeded $7 billion. Among other expenses, candidates purchased more than 3 million campaign advertisements. At the presidential level, ad spending was down in 2016, but candidates in other races continued to increase their expenditures (page 272)
The greatest concern advanced by observers of concentrated media ownership is what?
That it could lead to a decline in democratic debate. Also, media owners might use their power to steer the national agenda in a direction that they prefer. Indeed, several news organizations have clear conservative or liberal viewpoints. Among the most famous and successful of these is Fox News, part of Rupert Murdoch's operation (page 278)
Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union (1997)
The Court extended full protection to the Internet almost immediately by striking down provisions of the 1996 Telecommunications Act (page 279)
Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson (1952)
The Court found that motion pictures were covered by the First Amendment (page 279)
Some observers believe that the emergence of independent news websites, blogs, and podcasts provides an ample counterweight to what?
The advocacy of media moguls (page 278)
Even though the federal government was responsible for the Internet's creation, Internet pioneers were remarkably successful in preventing what?
The government from imposing regulations that might limit the freedom of users (page 279)
The First Amendment does not mention electronic media, which did not exist when the Bill of Rights was written. What became a result from this?
The government has much greater control over electronic media than it does over print media (page 278)
Network neutrality
The principle that an ISP should treat all Internet traffic equally. It should not block or degrade access to websites. The fundamental structure of the Internet has tended to enforce the network neutrality principle. If an ISP attempted to block access to a site, for example, angry users would switch to a different ISP. Congress has never written the network neutrality principle into law, however (page 279)
For decades, the contention that the mainstream media have a liberal bias has been repeated time and time again
True. Bernard Goldberg is among the most prominent of these critics. Goldberg argues that liberal bias, which "comes naturally to most reporters," has given viewers a reason to distrust the beg news networks A number of studies appear to back up his claim. A Gallup poll has reported that 47 percent of the public think that the news media are too liberal, while 13 percent see the media as too conservative. These views are strongly associated with the politics of the respondent: 75 percent of Republicans believe the media are too liberal, while only 20 percent of Democrats think that is true (page 282, 283)
As part of their news function, the media also provide a political forum for leaders and the public
True. Candidates for office use news reporting to sustain interest in their campaigns while officeholders use the media to gain support for their policies or to present an image of leadership. Presidential trips abroad are one way for the chief executive to get colorful, positive, and exciting news coverage that makes the president look "presidential." The media also offer ways for citizens to participate in public debate, through letters to the editor, blog posts, Twitter, and other channels (page 268)
Recent studies suggest that good or bad news for a candidate can affect the willingness of the candidate's supporters to participate in polling
True. Clinton's 7-point advantage, in other words, may have been caused by discouraged Trump supporters who refused to talk to pollsters and by upbeat Clinton supporters who were more than happy to talk (page 275)
Many, but not all, blog posts, and also articles in online newspapers and magazines, allow readers to comment on the post or article
True. Comments can be a way to build a community around a small blog, enhancing its influence. Sites with a huge readership drawn from the general public, however, experience problems with comments. They can quickly deteriorate into "flame wars" in which partisans of the left and right insult each other instead of entering useful observations (page 277)
For the most part, the media depend on advertisers to obtain revenues to make profits
True. Consequently, reporters may feel pressure from media owners and from advertisers. A recent academic paper shows that newspapers give less coverage to automobile recalls when the cars in question general substantial amounts of advertising (page 269)
Television news is often criticized for being superficial, particularly compared with the detailed coverage available in newspapers, magazines, and online articles
True. In fact, the television news is constrained by its technical characteristics, the most important being the limitations of time, stores must be reported in only a few minutes (page 271)
Most of the news media in the united states are private, for-profit corporate enterprises
True. In general, profits are made as a result of charging for advertising. Advertising revenues usually are related directly to circulation or to listener/viewer ratings. Several well-known media outlets, in contrast, are publicly owned. They include public television stations in many communities and National and Public radio. These operate without extensive commercials, are locally supported, and are often subsidized by the government and corporations (page 269)
Traditionally, newspapers and other media have tried carefully to separate opinion pieces from "straight news." Newer media may blur the distinction
True. In recent years, many media observers have worried that opinion is "taking over" and displacing news sources that try to be objective. Many blogs, for example, are almost pure opinion, even if in the course of delivering that opinion they also provide some facts (page 281, 282)
All forms of the media, television, newspapers, radio, magazines, online services, have a significant political impact on American society
True. It is not too much of an exaggeration to say that almost all national political figures, starting with the president, plan every public appearance and statement to attract media coverage (page 272)
While many journalists may be Democrats at heart, most operate under a code of professional ethics that dictates "objectivity" and a commitment to the truth
True. Journalists may not always succeed in living up to such a code, but it helps that it exists (page 283)
The media consumption patterns of early adopters of new technology are simply different from the past
True. Many younger people have abandoned e-mail, relying on Facebook, texting, and other systems of messages. Many have moved on from Facebook to newer, more innovative social-networking platforms. Television becomes something to watch only if you cannot find online the program you want to see (page 271)
The most conspicuous characteristic of talk radio is that it is almost completely dominated by conservatives, many of whom are quite radical
True. Most of the top twenty radio talk shows denature conservative politics. None of the top talk-show hosts are liberal. Talk show hosts do not pretend to be reporters or journalists. Rather, they are entertainment personalities who entertain their audiences with red-meat politics (page 282)
The United States has one of the freest presses in the world
True. Nevertheless, regulation of the media, particularly of the electronic media, does exist. In addition to First Amendment rights, we have the issue of concentrated ownership of the media (page 278)
Although all major newspapers are now online, they have found it difficult to turn a profit on their Internet editions
True. News sites typically cannot sell enough advertising to meet their costs. In response to this problem, many newspapers have begun charging for online access, a process dubbed retreating behind a paywall. Access charges, however, reduce the number of users who are wiling to view a site (page 269)
Lately, newspapers have found it increasingly difficult to make profit
True. Newspaper revenues have fallen because online services such as Craigslist have taken over a greater share of classified advertising. The recent economic crisis, which depressed advertising spending, pushed many large daily newspapers over the edge. Newspapers in Chicago, Denver, and Seattle went out of business. Even some famous papers, such as the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Boston Globe, were in serious financial trouble (page 269)
Clinton was the overwhelming favorite of party elders, but Sanders managed to turn the campaign into a serious race
True. Sanders emphasized a series of major themes, such as breaking up large banks, Medicare for everyone, and tuition-free education a public universities. Despite winning large margins among younger voters, in the end Sanders was unable to overcome Clinton's advantages (page 275)
It has been said that conservative talk radio was the Tea Party before there was a Tea Party
True. Talk radio has played a tole in pushing the Republican Party to the right (page 282)
Until recently, television networks, including cable networks, saw the rhetoric typical of talk-radio hosts as unacceptable
True. That sense of propriety has retreated in the last several years. Some credit that Glen Beck show on Fox News for breaking down the barriers to uninhabited speech. Beck's emotional style and apocalyptic views helped make him one of the nation's most political polarizing figures. Beck is no longer with Fox, but remains a significant radio and television personality (page 282)
Using political advertising to get a message across to the public is a very expensive tactic. Coverage by the news media, however, is free
True. The campaign simply needs to ensure that coverage takes place. In recent years, campaign manager shown increasing sophistication in creating newsworthy events for journalists to cover (page 273)
Agenda setting by the media is enhanced by the various ways in which they can present the news
True. The media can affect the public response to a particular issue by how they frame thee issue, that is, by embedding the issue in a particular story line (page 268)
All journalists love a "scoop," that is, to be the first to report an exciting new development
True. The search for a scoop can be troubling, however, when the goal is to be the first to "bring down" a prominent politician. Unfortunately for Hillary Clinton, many reporters were highly interested in bringing her down. Clinton loathed the media, and many of its members hated her right back. Clinton's hostility was in part generated by a decades-long series of investigations revealed any significant wrongdoing, but they had a lethal impact on Clinton's relations with the media (page 284)
Some progressives have accused Fox and other conservative outlets of allowing politics to interfere with their objectivity
True. They argue that conservatives find liberal bias even in reporting that is scrupulously accurate (page 283)
The media plays a significant role in the political socialization of the younger generation of immigrants to this country
True. Through the transmission of historical information, the presentation of American culture, and the portrayal of the diverse regions and groups in the United States, the media teach young people and immigrants about what it means to be an American. Many children's television shows are designed not only to entertain young viewers but also to instruct them on the moral values of American society. On the Internet, young Americans participate in political forums, obtain information for writing assignments, and, in general, acquire much of their political socialization (page 268)
The behavior of the media during the 2016 presidential elections posed one of the greatest challenges in years to the theory of liberal bias in the mainstream media
True. To be sure, journalists did not pull their punches when reporting on Donald Trump's often questionable business dealings and his failure to release his income tax returns (page 283)
Other contend that the issue of media bias is declining in importance due to the rise of the Internet
True. Today's technologically savvy media consumers can find information from a wide variety of sources, mainstream and alternative, liberal and conservative. The best answer to bias may be a willingness to consult a wide range of sources (page 283)
Back in the day when people connected to the Internet using dial-up modems, users often had dozens of ISPs vying for their business
True. Today, however, for many customers high-speed broadband service is available only from a cable TV company such as Comcast that has a local monopoly, and cell phone providers such as Verizon Wireless (page 279)
A related goal, although one that is more difficult to attain, is to convince reporters that a particular interpretation of an event is true
True. Today, the art of putting the appropriate spin on a story or event is highly developed (page 273, 274)
Net neutrality has become a partisan issue, with Republicans favoring the ISPs while Democrats champion Internet firms such as Facebook and Netflix
True. Under President Obama, the FCC tried to use the government's regulatory authority to defend net neutrality. In 2014, however, the D.C. Circuit Court ruled that the FCC could not impose the necessary regulations on the ISPs along as they were considered information services rather than "common carriers," that is, utilities (page 280)
Talk radio as it exists today would be impossible if the FCC had not repealed the fairness doctrine in 1987
True. Under the doctrine, anyone holding a broadcast license has to present controversial issues of public importance in a way that was honest, equitable, and balanced (page 282)
The most interesting aspect of television is that is relies on pictures rather than words to atract the viewer's attention. Therefore, video that is chosen for a particular political story has exaggerated importance
True. Viewers do not known what other photos may have been taken or what other events may have been recorded, they see only those appearing on their screens. Video clips, whether they appear on network news or YouTube, can also use well-constructed stories to exploit the potential for drama. Some critics suggest that there is pressure to produce television news that has a story line, like a novel or movie. The story should be short, with exciting pictures and a clear plot (page 271)
How did Trump's tweets make an impact on his campaign and presidency?
Trump's Twitter presence was backed up by a vast host of supporters who retweeted each of his observations to thousands of other people. These supporters were also quite willing to organize massive trolling campaigns against anyone who criticized their candidate (page 277)
The Republicans sponsored twelve debates and nine forums in 2015 and 2016. The most notable feature of these events was the ____
Very large number of participants, seventeen at the initial debate. Because of the large number of participants, the debaters with ten candidates was preceded by a secondary "junior varsity" event with an additional seven contenders (page 274)
The power of the media is important not only in revealing what the government is doing but also in determining ____
What the government ought to do. In other words, in setting the public agenda (page 268)
How can negative ads backfire?
When there are three or more candidates, a typical state of affairs in presidential primaries. If one candidate attacks another, the attacker as well as the candidate who is attacked may come to be viewed negatively by the public. A candidate who "goes negative" may thus unintentionally boost the changes of a third candidate who is not part of the exchange (page 272) The 2016 presidential primaries provided on example. New Jersey governor Chris Christie effectively critized Florida senator Marco Rubio for repeating lines in an almost robotic fashion. While Christie's comment hurt Rubio, it did Christie himself no good at all (page 272, 273)
In 2009, after the Democratic sweep in the 2008 elections, a number of liberal raised what question?
Whether the fairness doctrine ought to be reinstated. President Obama and the Democratic leadership in Congress, however, quickly put an end to this notion. True, the Supreme Court has held that the fairness doctrine is constitutional. Yet most Americans today would consider its reestablishment to be a serious violation of the right to free speech (page 282)
