Journalism Quiz #3

Prior restraint

Government censorship of information before it is published or broadcast

BAGDIKIAN REMEDIES:

THE ANSWER LIES IN ACTIVISM, PROTESTS, PETITIONS AND INVOLVEMENT OF THE YOUNG -- AS WELL AS IN VOTING. THE PEOPLE MUST USE THEIR POLITICAL POWER, WHICH CAN OVERCOME THE CRUDE POWER OF MAJOR CORPORATIONS.

free press

a press not restricted or controlled by government censorship regarding politics or ideology

Libel

a tort consisting of false and malicious publication printed for the purpose of defaming a living person

Invasion of privacy

violating a person's right not to have his or her name, photo, or private affairs exposed or made public without giving consent

3 forces on the horizon that may bring about a debate on media structure

) capitalism is falling out of favor and is in danger, so the possibility of debating it may arise 2) there has been a huge increase in the quantity and quality of media criticism -- the dominant myths are more and more being scrutinized 3) U.S. political culture is awash in a crisis of cynicism, ignorance and apathy -- in which the corporate media system has been implicated.

Bennett's important FINDINGS:

1) Believers of the story were exposed to 50% more news Believers ingested 8.83 hours of news a week Doubters ingested 5.20 hours of news a week 2) Believers used Television more as the source of their news 67% of believers watched TV news 80% of doubters relied on newspapers

A trio of corporate tactics used against media:

1) Corporations created intellectual think tanks to counter academic studies damaging to corporations. 2) Corporate leaders invoked the American belief (a belief that was itself created by media) that to criticize big business is to attack American democracy. 3) The corporate attack characterized journalists as a class of careless "economic illiterates" who are biased against business.

Reasons people follow news:

1) Curriosity and surveillance 2) Entertanment and escape 3) Social and psychological development 4) Learned behavior

McChesney emphasizes 2 fundamental ways to think about journalism and democracy:

1) Democracy neeeds journalism -- the U.S. constitutional system depends on there being an informed citizenry, and the press has the responsibility to make that happen. 2) Journalism needs democracy -- if a society is democratic in name only but has widespread inequality and vast apathy and hopelessness about politics, real journalism will be hard to conduct and will gravitate toward propaganda.

2 other Meiklejohnian solutions to the crisis of democracy

1) Most radical, almost entirely eliminate commercial media, and create a large, nonprofit, noncommercial media system accountable to the public 2) Less radical, accept the existence of corporate media giants, regulate the broadcasters, and tax media giants or use public funds to establish another viable nonprofit and noncommercial media system that can service the needs of citizens who are not able to own media corporations.

Regarding Thought Control in a Democratic Society, Chomsky makes these points:

1) Propaganda is to democracy what violence is to a dictatorship. 2) Ordinary people have remarkable creativity. 3) People have a fundamental need for creative work, which is not being met in systems where people are like cogs in a machine. 4) What would make more sense as a way to govern is a form of rationalist-libertarian socialism -- not one that increasingly functions without public input. Chomsky advocates a system where a community and its members run things in a democratic fashion and whose people do not function as some sort of wage slaves. 5) People need to be able to detect forms of authority and coercion and challenge those that are not legitimate. 6) The major form of authority that needs challenging is the system of private control over public resources. 7) The First Amendment means that democracy requires free access to ideas and opinions. 8) Democracy in America is not functioning in an ideal sense but more in the sense that Lippmann noted in Public Opinion (where a specialized class of about 20 percent of the people -- but who are also a target of progaganda -- manages democratic functioning) and, in effect, are under control of a power elite, who more or less own the institutions. The masses of people (80 percent) are marginalized, diverted and controlled by what he calls Necessary Illusions. 9) Manufacturing consent is related to the understanding that indoctrination is the essence of propaganda. In a "democratic" society indoctrination occurs when the techniques of control of a propaganda model are imposed -- which means imposing Necessary Illusions.

McChesney lists 2 characteristics of high-quality journalism:

1) it is committed to ending information inequality and has a stake in seeing the end of social inequality -- while requiring a society committed to openness and justice in order that the society can prosper. 2) it opposes corruption and secrecy and attacks on civil liberties -- but it also has a stake in lessening militarism.

3 reasons why there is little debate in America about how media are structured

1) the inability to publicly debate the capitalist basis of the media is a function of a general inability to criticize capitalism itself in our culture 2) the corporate media have actively cultivated -- with lots of success -- the ideology that the status quo is the only reasonable media structure for a freedom-loving, democratic society 3) the nature of media corporations themselves -- with political and economic muscle that all corporations have -- in their control over the flow of information

Types of News:

1)Fully Controlled (released news, pseudo-event) 2)Partially Controlled (press conference, etc.) 3) Uncontrolled (ex. Watergate, Daniel Ellsberg, Iraq prisoner abuse photos)

media reform in isolation from other reforms in society is not enough -- for two reasons:

1. America needs a very politically engaged democracy. 2. Media and communication systems can merely help citizens achieve society's goals of social justice and human happiness.

Two main forms of commercialization of U.S. journalism

1. Commercial interests directly penetrate the news, thus corrupting its integrity 2. Journalists using their privileges to report favorably on their owner's commercial ventures and investments.

According to the documentary, "Outfoxed," these are eight techniques used by Fox News to shape its broadcasts.

1. Shut up (Fox hosts such as Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly telling interviewees to be quiet) 2. Polling & graphics (i.e., the American flag as a backdrop or the Fox News Alert or the graphic, "Fair and Balanced) -- see graphic below 3. News, commentary & ad libs (off-the-cuff comments that support the Fox point of view and which receive positive reinforcement from management) 4. "Some people say" (inserting Fox-oriented opinion by using a vague phrase of attribution -- also used, "some say" or "a couple people say," etc. --where no source is named) 5. Use of experts (similar to 3rd-party advocacy as a PR technique -- Fox primarily uses experts that reflect its stances) 6. Operation character assassination (use of attack politics -- mirroring the administration talking points during the G.W. Bush administration -- against newsmakers with a different ideological view) 7. Fox liberals (using unknown and weak conservative or moderate lilberal commentators opposite strong Fox hosts) 8. Guests ( relying heavily on conservative guests -- for example, FAIR statistics showed five times as many Republicans as Democrats on Sean Hannity's program)

Chomsky argues that America and the world are in deep trouble and that 2 POSSIBILITIES EXIST regarding America's future and the future for a global community held hostage:

1. The general population will take control of its own destiny 2. Or -- there will be no destiny to control.

Chomsky asserts that in order to break free, citizens must take 2 actions:

1. They must seek out information from ALTERNATIVE MEDIA (media outside the mainstream and usually having a particular point of view) 2. they must move toward change by becoming engaged in community action -- because people can use their ordinary intelligence to make changes in their lives and communities. Grassroots movements begin there.

3 main reasons exist as to journalism's importance to a democratic state: (McChensey)

1. a democracy must have a rigorous watchdog of those in power and those who want to be in power 2. a democracy must have a way to ferret out truth from lies 3. a democracy needs a way to present a wide range of informed positions on the important issues of the day

When media news coverage of issues is bias in favor the status quo, these are the results:

1. ownership of media is held by major corporations with interests and goals similar to power elite elements of society 2. people with different views, "dissenting voices," are not heard much 3. the breadth of debate is limited 4. the official stance and institutional memory prevail and become history 5. people's interest and attention are often diverted away from issues about which they could become concerned

concision

Noam Chomsky's concept describing how mainstream media content is structured so that it forces those with dissenting voices to limit scope of answers to brief thoughts and soundbites that fit easily between two TV ads

Seditious libel

The crime of openly criticizing a public official

Obscenity

offensive content with no social value

Licensing

selling the right to use some intangible property for a fee or royalty