PSCI Exam 4
Push Poll
A type of poll that attempts to influence opinions secretly using a poll (ex. would you vote for McCain if you knew that he had a black, illegitimate child?)
Sensational Era 1860-1920
Also known as yellow journalism era. Involved Yellow Kid, Yellow journalism, and Mukraking.
limited response choice
Answers don't always reflect the true opinion of the person taking the survey, they are forced to choose the answer closest to how they feel.
Infotainment 1991-2016
Multiple outlets, unlimited diversity. Ended in 2016 because fake news was more popular than real news.
cognitive dissonance
Term used to describe the mental discomfort that results from holding two conflicting beliefs, values, or attitudes.
Signaling-Function
The accepted responsibility of the media to alert the public to important developments as soon as possible after they happen or are discovered. Depending on where you read this news first could influence your opinion about it.
echo chamber
The idea that people pay attention to media that conforms to their ideological view to the exclusion of media that offer alternative perspectives.
gate keeping
The process by which stories are selected or rejected.
Priming
The process in which the media attend to some issues and not others and thereby alter the standards by which people evaluate election candidates.
Watchdog
The role played by the national media in investigating political personalities and exposing scandals.
Liberal
someone who believes that government should intervene in our society in order to bring about positive change and progress.
Conservative
someone who believes the role of government should be limited because intervention limits our individual liberty.
Muckraking
the action of searching out and publicizing scandalous information about famous people in an underhanded way.
Mukraking
the action of searching out and publicizing scandalous information about famous people in an underhanded way.
measurement error
the failure to identify the true distribution of opinion within a population because of errors such as ambiguous or poorly worded questions
Agenda Setting
the power of the media to bring public attention to particular issues and problems
Party Cues
the process through which party labels of candidates increase the information available to voters
Microtargeting
the use of direct marketing techniques that employ highly detailed data analytics in order to isolate potential customers with great precision
Framing
the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.
New Aggregators
web sites, applications, and software that cull content from other digital sources
Moderate
A person who believes government power, particularly in the economy, should be limited in order to maximize individual freedom.
Double barrel wording
A question with two separate issues, you can't answer one without the other.
high choice media system
A media system in which audiences have such a wide range of choices that they can largely control the type of information to which they are exposed. Ended in 2016, fake news was more popular than real news.
Equal Time
A "fairness" rule established by the Federal Communications Commission to ensure that broadcasters offer balanced coverage of controversial issues. If a radio or television station sells or gives airtime to one candidate for political office, it must provide other candidates with equal time.
Common Carrier Function
Because everyone reads the same news, everyone had something to talk about with everyone else (politics related).
Media Bias
Bias or slant in the selection of which news to report and how the news is reported.
question order
Can change the way you think about the following questions.
Yellow Kid
Cartoons making fun of immigrants, or whatever the smallest group of the town was.
Fairness Doctrine
Due to the limited number of television stations, the federal law dictated that media had to present both sides fairly.
Deregulation
Happened during the 1980s. Allowed corporations to buy more than one media outlet.
Yellow Journalism
Journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers
Horse-race Journalism
Making a political race seem as close as possible for more views.
What is modern medias main focus?
Money. Their goal is not to inform us about the news but to make money. This influences the stories we read (they are more likely to add more interesting stories).
Consolidation
More channels, but less choice. For example, We have a lot more radio stations but they are all owned by the same people (iHeartRadio).
What does it mean that "public opinion is unstable and inconsistent"?
Public opinion varies a lot depending on what events are going on.
Sound bites
Quote or "snippet" from politician's speech used by media to represent whole speech. Used by candidates to spread message (slogan); Used by media to avoid serious (boring) discussion of issues.
Partisan Era Democratic Republican
Ran the National Gazette newspaper
White House Press Corps
Reporters from both print and broadcast media assigned to regularly cover the president.
Professional Era 1921-1972
When journalism became objective. Made the New York Times the most important paper in the US. Has Priming, Signaling-Function, and Agenda setting.
Gender gap
a distinctive pattern of voting behavior reflecting the differences in views between women and men
Populist
a person, who strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.
Straw poll
a poll conducted in an unscientific manner, used to predict election outcomes
Double Negative wording
a question or statement that contains two negatives, which can muddy the meaning of the question
majoritarian democracy
a type of democratic system that concentrates power more tightly in a single-party executive with executive dominance over the legislature, a single legislative branch, and constitutions that can be easily amended
Low knowledge effects
cognitive bias whereby people with limited knowledge or competence in a given intellectual or social domain greatly overestimate their own knowledge or competence in that domain relative to objective criteria or to the performance of their peers or of people in general.
Fake News
content, articles, videos that present made up or false information
