Gov Chapter 10

The Daily Show by Jon Stewart

Had the look of a conventional newscast, but its content aimed to entertain. Headlines were slanted, news reports poked fun at those in power, editorials blended satire with serious commentary. Spawned similar programs like on Comedy Central and other nontraditional news channels. The most frequent target of their jokes is whoever happens to be president at the moment. During his first hundred days in office, Trump set the record for a seated president. There were 1,060 jokes on the humor talk shows mocking Trump's performance as president—roughly 10 jokes per day on average.

Information Commons

A shared set of facts and ideas transmitted to the people through news media. Although it sometimes had blind spots and there were different interpretations, it was a balanced and common rendition of the news. Began to break apart in the 1980s.

CrowdTangle

Alerts news sources to topics that are trending on social media and they produce stories on the topic until the traffic slows down. Used by hundreds of local newsrooms.

Alexander Hamilton's use of the paper

Alexander Hamilton persuaded John Fenno to start a newspaper, the Gazette of the United States, as a means of publicizing the policies of George Washington's administration. To finance the paper, Hamilton, as secretary of the treasury, granted it the Treasury Department's printing contracts. Hamilton's political rival, Thomas Jefferson, dismissed the Gazette's reporting as "pure Toryism" and convinced Philip Freneau to start the National Gazette as an opposition paper. Jefferson, as secretary of state, gave Freneau the authority to print State Department documents.

Cable Television

By 1990 half of American homes had cable access. Transmitted through privately owned wire rather than broadcasting, so it wasn't subject to broadcasting regulations.

Indicator of the fast-paced story form

The shrinking sound bite. In the 1960s, a newsmaker's sound bite (the length of time within a television story that a newsmaker speaks without interruption) was more than 40 seconds, but today it is less than 10 seconds, barely enough time for the newsmaker to utter a long sentence. It is the journalists, not the newsmakers, who do most of the talking on television news.

"We're increasingly able to choose our information sources based on their tendency to back up what we already believe. We don't even have to hear the arguments from the other side."

Vox's Ezra Klein.

The Signaling Function

alerting the public to important developments as soon as possible after they happen

High-choice media system

audiences have such a wide range of choices that they can largely control the type of information to which they are exposed

Most prominent news types that employ the partisan function

Radio and television partisan talk shows are the most visible form of this type of media. What listeners liked best were rants about the opposing party (partisan outrage)

What did separating the advertising department from the news department do?

Reduced the influence of advertisers on news content, thus leading to more responsible reporting.

Russia has used Internet messaging to disrupt elections in

a dozen Western countries, including Germany, France, Great Britain, Norway, the Netherlands, and Austria.

How many viewers did ABC, CBS, and NBC have in the 1970s?

more than 50 million viewers. CBS had the biggest audience and anchor Walter Cronkite was the most trusted man in America.

How many sources were there in the era of objective journalism?

1,500 daily newspapers and 1,000 local television outlets. Journalists covered political developments in similar ways..

Partisan Press

Newspapers owned or openly backed by political parties.

Yellow Journalism was built upon

Sensationalism, luring the reader by any possible means.

Soft News vs. Hard News

Soft news: Celebrity gossip, hard-luck stories, good- luck tales, sensational crimes, scandals in high places, and other human interest stories. Hard news: breaking events involving public figures, major issues, or significant disruptions to daily routines. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, stuck to the old way of doing things, but most outlets softened their news in an effort to attract a broader audience.

Ted Turner

Started CNN in the 1980s. Told his correspondents to use objective journalism.

What Did Trump Announce on March 8, 2018?

Sweeping new tariffs on imported steel and aluminum

What happened in 1987?

The FCC rescinded the Fairness Doctrine because the emergence of cable television and the expansion of FM radio had alleviated the problem of scarce frequencies. 1. All radio stations were forced to air public affairs content (brief newscasts per hour) but now they dropped the newscasts. 2. Stations didn't have to worry about running partisan content so now they ran partisan talk shows.

Who received more attention from the press than any president of the television age?

Trump

Agenda Setting

the power of the media to bring public attention to particular issues and problems

Journalist A. J. Liebling

wrote that freedom of the press belonged to those with enough money to own a news outlet.

What happened in the 1950s?

90% of American homes had a TV set. The FCC imposed the Fairness Doctrine. Broadcasters were prohibited from using their news coverage to promote one party or issue position at the expense of another, they had to promote the reasonable discussion of conflicting views. Objective reporting model was law for broadcasters.

Monthly Unique Visitors to Online News Sources

1. Huffington Post (80 million) 2. Breitbart (60 million) 3. Drudge Report (30 million) 4. Politico (25 million) 5. The Hill (20 million) 6. Slate (18 million) 7. Daily Kos (15 million) 8. Info Wars (9 million) 9. Salon (8 million) 10. The Blaze (7 million)

What two things blunt politicians' efforts to manage the news?

1. Journalists' norm of partisan neutrality. Get statement from officials of both parties. 2. Although news stories originate in the words of political officials, they don't monopolize them. Television newscasts have multiple pieces woven together in story form, with the journalist acting as the storyteller.

4 Main Ideas of the Chapter

1. The American news media were initially tied to the nation's political party system (the partisan press) but gradually developed an independent position (the objective press). In the process, the news shifted from a political orientation, which emphasizes political values and ideas, to a journalistic orientation, which stresses newsworthy information and events. 2. In recent decades, new forms of media have emerged—cable television shows, partisan talk shows, and Internet outlets. Their norms and standards differ from each other, and from those of the traditional news media. 3. Media outlets seek to attract an audience by meeting people's information needs, playing to their partisan bias, or feeding their desire to be entertained. All media outlets engage in each of these activities to a degree, but most outlets have one of the three as the primary focus. 4. The audience for public affairs has been fragmenting, largely as a result of the expanded number of media outlets created by the advent of cable television and the Internet. Citizens have more choices than ever before and have tailored their choices to their information interests and partisan leanings.

Outlets that started on the internet:

1. The Huffington Post (started by liberal activist Arianna Huffington) 2. Breitbart (alt-right, founded over a decade ago by conservative donor Robert Mercer. 75 million visitors per month.) Steve Bannon was one of the biggest reporters until his firing in 2017. Bloggers on the internet, the most extreme and popular are on the right and have 100,000 or more followers.

What did different news outlets say about Trump's tariffs?

1. WSJ: worried that they will drive up consumer prices. 2. Breitbart: will create 19,000 new jobs in steel and aluminum industries. 3. MSNBC (Rachel Maddow): Criticized the tariffs, saying Trump was clueless about trade policy. 4. Fox News (Sean Hannity): Embraced the tariffs, part of Trump's efforts to protect and build America. 5. Washington Post: Said they were stupid. 6. CNN: Quoted a steel executive that said: "thank you, Mr. President."

How many people got Russian-sponsored content during the election

150 million Americans (more than half the adult population)

Russia in Michigan

A widely circulated fake story during the 2016 U.S. election, for instance, tried to stir up anger against Muslims. It falsely claimed that Muslim men in Michigan with multiple wives were collecting welfare checks for each of them.

The Partisan Function

Acting as an advocate for a particular viewpoint or interest—was traditionally the responsibility of political leaders, institutions, and organizations. Today, however, a large number of media outlets and programs operate in this way. They're in the business of promoting a partisan agenda by playing to their audience's partisan bias.

"wanted as little partisanship as possible . . . as few judgments as possible."

Adolph Ochs to his reporters.

Architect of Objective Journalism

Adolph Ochs. Bought the New York Times in 1896, when its daily circulation was 9,000, and brought it to 82,000 four years later. Got the reputation as the country's best newspaper.

Trump Tweets Stat

An estimated 99 percent of Americans' exposure to Trump's tweets was from hearing about them through stories generated by the news media.

Black Pigeon Speaks

An operative who offers uncompromising world views designed to demonize particular groups. He espouses a white nationalist ideology wherein Jewish bankers are trapping us in debt slavery, Muslim immigrants are plotting to impose Sharia law, and women are betraying their biological heritage by placing their careers above childrearing. Black Pigeon Speaks said of women, "This half-century long experiment of women's liberation and political enfranchisement has ended in disaster for the West."

The Inattentive Audience

Before cable TV, when the only option was the evening news, many people just watched it as "inadvertent viewers." 2/3 young adults watched it every night. They were just addicted to TV. Today there aren't as many because they can watch everything from sports to just entertainment. Compared with adults over 50 years of age, those under 30 are only a third as likely to follow public affairs closely through a newspaper, only half as likely to watch television news regularly, and less likely even to consume news on the Internet. Today, many Americans just pay sporadic attention to news, like when Hurricane Harvey wreaked the Gulf Coast in 2017. Most of them know very little about politics because they are uninformed and are susceptible to disinformation and conspiracy. Today, people see more media than ever - exposed 10 hours a day to media. Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon noted, this leads to information overload where we can't process everything. Cognitive psychologist David Meyer calls digital media a modern day "Skinner's box," a reference to psychologist B. F. Skinner's famed stimulus-response studies of the 1930s. Cell phones, TV remotes, and other devices offer instant gratification, conditioning us to seek more of it. Media multitasking has magnified the "more is less" effect. When you multitask your function decreases - Sherry Turkle (MIT psychologist)

Who said "the Press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling them what to think about."

Bernard Cohen

Rupert Murdoch

Billionaire who started Fox news in 1996. Didn't follow objective journalism. Conservatives distrusted established networks so would embrace a channel that offered a conservative version of the news. Hired Roger Ailes, a Republican Political Consultant, to run it, and he hired conservative talk show hosts. Most heavily watched cable news network.

Ebola

CNN reported that Ebola may be transmitted through the air, like the cold or the flu, but there is no evidence per the WHO that this could be the case. It is fluid-borne. Nobody who got ebola in the US died but still, 2 in 5 Americans were worried they or a family member would catch the disease (Pew Research).

Cable News Network that treats news like entertainment

CNN. Offered conspiracy theories on Malaysian Airline Flight 370, which went missing. Ratings went high.

What increased the entertainment content in traditional news outlets?

Cable. In the 1980s and 1990s, Americans had additional choices like HBO's movies or ESPN so a theatrical style of news emerged to compete with cable entertainment. Aimed at the marginal news consumer (those with a weak interest in news who would tune in if they were entertained).

A circulation battle between William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer's New York World

Contributed to the Spanish-American war through sensational and inaccurate reports about the cruelty of Spanish rule in Cuba.

News by 1900

Daily circulations in excess of 100,000 copies. Marked the height newspapers' power and the low point in their civic responsibility. They started doing yellow journalism.

The Telegraph

Destroyed the partisan press. Came into widespread use in the mid 1800s. Newspapers had access to breaking news about events outside the local area, which led them to substitute news reports for partisan commentary.

Power-Driven Printing Press

Destroyed the partisan press. Invention in the late 19th century. Publishers could print newspapers more cheaply and quickly. Advertising revenues rose as circulations rose so they lessened dependency on government patronage.

Digital Technology's Contribution to Watchdog

Digital technology has enlarged the media's watchdog capacity. Nearly everything that public figures communicate through the Internet, and even some of what they say in private settings, is recorded in one way or another and can prove damaging if it becomes known. One such recording sent Donald Trump's 2016 campaign into temporary tailspin. Trump was caught on microphone making lewd comments and bragging about kissing and groping women without their consent, saying that "when you're a star, they let you do it." Trump had made the claim in 2005 as he was arriving at a studio lot to make an appearance on a TV show, unaware that the microphone was open. The audio recording was provided by an anonymous source to The Washington Post, which quickly published it.

Foreign Actors

During the 2016 election, Russia payed more than 1,000 individuals to spread false information about HIllary Clinton.

Percentage of Internet Access and News Access through Media

Eight in every 10 residents of Colorado, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Washington—the states with the highest levels of Internet penetration—have regular access. In contrast, only 6 in every 10 residents of Arkansas, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Tennessee—the states with the lowest levels of Internet penetration—have access. States that are poorer and more rural have lower rates of Internet penetration. Less-affluent citizens are less able to afford the Internet, and Internet companies are less likely to offer it in rural areas because of the higher installation costs.

Fake News

Fictional stories that originate on the Internet and aim to undermine a political opponent.

Russia supporting right-wing policies

Finally, Russia has tried to tilt popular support toward right-wing parties, on the assumption that such parties are more likely to take ultranationalist foreign policy positions rather than positions that would oppose Russia's efforts to expand its sphere of influence. That strategy was employed during the French, Austrian, and Bulgarian elections.

Pew Research Center Poll

Fox News: 54% conservative, 11% liberal MSNBC: 6% conservative, 19% liberal The Daily Show: 1% conservative, 21% liberal Rush Limbaugh: 21% conservative, 2% liberal

Partisan Programs that don't fit the outrage model

Fox and MSNBC. But, they report different things -- Fox reported less of the election meddling and more the good stock market, and MSNBC did the opposite.

2016 election scandal

Hillary Clinton sent e-mails as secretary of state from a private server rather than the Department of State's secure server, the news media called it a scandal and highlighted the story for months on end, contributing to the public's perception that Clinton was not trustworthy. The controversy widened during the closing weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign when WikiLeaks made public thousands of e-mails hacked from the accounts of Clinton aides, including her campaign manager, John Podesta. The hacked e-mails included excerpts from speeches that Clinton had privately delivered to Wall Street firms and that contained statements at odds with some of her public remarks. The release of Clinton's e-mails by WikiLeaks sparked another round of watchdog reporting when it was discovered that Russians had been the ones who hacked the e-mails, presumably to damage Clinton's campaign and promote Trump's campaign. As it became clear that Russian meddling extended into other areas of the campaign, news organizations launched investigations.

Change in 1920

Hundreds of radio stations were broadcasting news.

Russia undermining the EU

In referendums in Britain and the Netherlands, for example, Russia's disinformation efforts aimed at undermining support for the European Union.

The Traditional Audience

In the 70s, 50 million watched the evening news. Combined circulation of morning and evening papers was 60 million. The introduction of cable news led to a decline in traditional audiences. Today, around 25 million watch evening news and daily circulation of newspaper is around 30 million. The traditional news audience is shrinking. in 1970, people spent 30 minutes reading the news and today it is 16. In 1980, the average viewer of ABC, CBS, and MSNBC was 40 and today they're 60. For cable news it is 50 today. Heavy consumers of traditional news are the most relatively politically informed. Heavily correlation between reading the physical news and being informed. They are usually pretty moderate because they're exposed to the other side. Aren't highly informed, they are just followers of the news -- they just see things and forget it. Issues aren't prominent in the news because they don't change that much. During the 2016 elections, only 5 out of 150 New York Times articles compared Trump's and Clinton's policy positions. Journalists cite polls and focus on political conflict first. Coverage of public affairs has been diluted with the blend of hard and soft news. In broadcast evening news, studies about government and politics has declined from 70 to 50%.

Frederic Remington

Later became a noted painter and sculptor. Worked as a news artist for Hearst, was going to return home because Cuba seemed safe, but Hearst told him to stay.

MSNBC

Liberal news network promoted as the alternative to Fox in the 2000s. Focused more on talk shows than news reporting. Big figures are Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews.

"There was little variation in news viewing habits by age. TV news producers could hardly write off young adults, given that two out of three said they had watched such broadcasts every night."

Martin Wattenberg

The news media (press)

Media outlets that are in the business of creating and reporting original news stories. They perform three functions—the signaling, common-carrier, and watchdog functions—that contribute to the public's information needs.

Purpose of the Associated Press

Most news outlets lacked the resources to gather news outside of their own location. Relied for this coverage on the wire services, like the AP, which had 3,000 reporters stationed throughout the country and the world to gather and transmit news. Avoided partisanship because it served the full range of American news outlets.

Partisanship in the era of objective journalism

Most papers backed one political party or the other on their editorial and opinion (op-ed) pages. However, it was hard to see what party a newspaper backed because if a high-ranking public official got embroiled in a scandal or policy blunder, newspaper played it up, whether the official was a Republican or a Democrat.

"I am saying something far more serious than that we are being deprived of authentic information. I am saying we are losing our sense of what it means to be well informed. Ignorance is always correctable. But what shall we do if we take ignorance to be knowledge?"

New York University's Neil Postman warned about the consequences of treating news as a form of entertainment.

Media Outlets are Gatekeepers

News sources choose what messages reach the public. These messages affect what citizens will see and hear, and thus what they think and talk about. Messages are selected by: The need of media outlets to attract an audience. Without advertising or other revenue sources, a media outlet would go out of business. Media outlets attract attention by providing content that meets people's information needs, plays to their partisan bias, or feeds their desire to be entertained.

What happened in 1934?

News stations used the same or adjacent radio frequencies, interfering with each other's broadcasts. No government oversight. In 1934, Congress passed the Communications Act, which regulated broadcasting and created the Federal Communications Center. Broadcasters had to be licensed by the FCC. Because broadcasting frequencies are limited in number, licensees were required to be impartial in their political coverage and were prohibited from selling or giving airtime to a political candidate without offering to sell or give an equal amount of airtime to other candidates for the same office.

Approach of partisan internet sites

Outrage. Inflame the partisan divide through lies and deceptions.

Selling Cards of Conservative and liberal talk shows

Outrage. They name call, misrepresent, mock, belittle, etc. They make the other party look bad.Senator Charles Schumer is "Up-Chuck," Hillary Clinton is a "feminazi," Tea Party members are "a bunch of greedy, water-carrying corporative-slave hypocrites," Obama supporters are "Obamatards," and Trump is "a clown" and "an orange-utan." As for the ordinary citizens who side with the other party, they're "fools" or "morons." The partisan divide is the main point of attack for talk show hosts, but the cultural divide is a close second. Issues are played less as policy questions than as questions of cultural identity. On conservative talk shows, gun control isn't about trigger locks or background checks but instead about guns as cultural identity. Attempts to control guns are portrayed as a liberal plot to destroy a way of life that's been around since frontier days.

How many reporters cover the White House

Over 200. The presidency gets way more coverage than Congress and its 535 members..

Who got better coverage during the 2016 election?

Over the full course of the 2016 presidential campaign, for example, the candidate with the most negative coverage was Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump. His coverage was 56 percent negative to 44 positive during the campaign, whereas her coverage was 62 percent negative to 38 percent positive.

News outlets are an intermediary

Parties and groups seek influence in order to promote particular leaders or policies. Some media outlets have that as their goal, but other media outlets seek primarily to inform the public about politics and still other media outlets use politics primarily as a way to entertain their audience.

Comedy Talk Shows

Partisanship seeped in here. While the top draws of conservative talk shows are Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham, the top-rated partisan comedy talk shows have liberal hosts like Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, John Oliver, and Samantha Bee.

Upworthy Method

Puts out variations of the same headline and uses whatever one is most popular.

"Over the years, press coverage of Congress has moved from healthy skepticism to outright cynicism."

Scholar Mark Rozell.

Audience Concentrations use

Search Engines (2/3 of online users use Google) and Social Media (4/5 of online users use Facebook).

Awaiting burial at Arlington National Cemetery are

The coffins of U.S. troops who died during the Spanish American War. The Washington Monument is visible in the distance.

Watergate

The Washington Post uncovered this scandal (1972 burglary of the Democratic National Committee's headquarters and the subsequent cover-up). Richard Nixon and Attorney General John Mitchell were forced to resign.

Priming

The context established by media messages affects how people will interpret the information they receive. When seeing or hearing something about politics, most people do not judge it by all that they know. They respond in terms of the thoughts that come most readily to mind. When the press consistently frames politicians as individuals who seek to win at all costs, people are "primed" to see politicians as self-serving. They'll ordinarily assume that what a politician has done is motivated by self-interest and judge the politician's actions through that lens.

Why is freedom of the press enjoyed by more today?

The internet and its lower cost of entry. This was started by cable television, which expanded media options for Americans.

Why is the internet not the democratic instrument that some expected?

The long tail: There are a few heavily visited sites on one end and thousands of lightly visited sites. The most heavily visited are CNN and the New York Times. Most other heavily visited sites, like Yahoo News, carry news that was gathered and reported first by established media.

The news

The news is mainly an account of obtruding events, particularly those that are timely (new or unfolding developments rather than old or static ones), dramatic (striking developments rather than commonplace ones), and compelling (developments that arouse people's emotions).

Watchdog Function

The press exposes officials who violate accepted legal, ethical, or performance standards. The fourth branch of government that checks abuses by those in power.

Common-Carrier Function

The press is a conduit through which political leaders communicate with the public. Citizens cannot support or oppose a leader's plans and actions if they do not know about them, and leaders require news coverage if they are to get the public's attention and support.

Framing

The process by which journalists select particular aspects of situations and craft their stories around them. Journalists frame their stories and politics as a fight for partisan advantage.

"The press in America . . . determines what people will think and talk about, an authority that in other nations is reserved for tyrants, priests parties, and mandarins."

Theodore White

1990s television strategy to up ratings

Upping crime coverage. "If it bleeds it leads" became the mantra of local TV news. Meanwhile, the national media were playing up several high-profile murder cases including the kidnap-murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas in California. In the previous decade, 5% of Americans believed that crime was the biggest problem but now it was 40%. Lawmakers got caught up in the public's anxiety by enacting tough new sentencing policies and building new prisons at the fastest rate in the nation's history. The irony was that the level of crime in America was actually declining during this period. According to U.S. Justice Department statistics, the rate of violent crime dropped by 5 percent between 1990 and 1994.

Flat Presses

What early newspapers were printed on. They limited production and raised the cost. The amount of people that could read the National Gazette was 1500. Needed party patronage to survive.

Signaling in 2017

When wildfires erupted in California in 2017 and 2018, news organizations helped alert residents to the dangers posed by the fires, which were the most extensive and costly wildfires on record in California.

"Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war."

William Hearst to Frederic Remington

"editor has no objection to facts if they are also novel. But he would prefer a novelty that is not a fact to a fact that is not a novelty."

William Randolph Hearst

The Partisan Audience

in the era of information commons, the only partisan outlets magazines (weekly) were The Nation and The National Review. Today, on television, radio, the Internet, and social media, partisan outlets are readily available and easy to access. Although more prefer traditional news sources, many prefer news outlets that confirm what they already believe (echo chambers). These are the most partisan people. Social Media is also an echo chamber -- interact with people that share your views. Fox: 13X Republican than Democrat MSNBC: 5X Democrat than Republican Breitbart: 10X Republican over Democrat Huffington Post: 3X Democrat over Republican Exposure to partisan outlets helps us understand our own party's positions better. Warps understanding of and generates hostility toward the opposing party. Heavy exposure to partisan outlets generate distrust of traditional media.

Exception made for FCC licensees.

made for election debates; broadcasters can televise them even if third-party candidates are excluded.

What is the true bias of the media?

negativity. Congressional coverage has been steadily negative since the 1970s, regardless of which party controlled Congress or how much or little was accomplished.

What did local television stations rely on in this era?

outside sources for national news coverage. Relied on video feeds from ABC, CBS, and NBC.

Objective Journalism

reporting of "facts" rather than opinions and is "fair" in that it presents both sides of partisan debate. Promoted at newly formed journalism schools at Columbia University and the University of Missouri.

Partisan Talk Shows

they take a conservative bias. They were more opinionated and less devoted to factual accuracy. From 1988 to 1994, the number of talk show listeners jumped nearly 10-fold to 20 million people.