American gov final (Vaughn May)

("Learn to Code" by Robby Soave) Why does the author argue that the biases of social media are "vastly less damaging to conservative speech than the bias of traditional media?"

Facebook doesn't employ many conservatives, but allows them to use the platform and drive traffic to conservative websites. Twitter "gave a megaphone" to Trump. Traditional media is far more "anti-trump" and many don't employ any conservatives.

("The Assault on Empiricism" by Wilfred Reilly) What does Reilly say about systemic racism?

Systemic racism does not exist. There is the same amount of racism for Jews, Hispanics, Blacks, and women, yet very different outcomes in each of these. If you factor in different variables (age, region of residence, etc.) the gaps close.

(Morone and Kersh) How does Griffith define a partisan?

To be involved in some common enterprise among a group which is less than the whole

("Partyism" by Cass Sunstein) What does Sunstein say about the institutional characteristics of the executive branch?

· Justify a degree of trust, certainly not always but at least a general rule · The reason is that the executive branch tends both to have a great deal of technical expertise and to treat technical issues as they should be treated

("A New Standard of News Quality: Burglar Alarms for the Monitorial Citizen" by John Zaller) What is Schudson's "monitorial citizen"?

· Citizens should keep themselves sufficiently informed that they can judged candidates and issues independent of party · Rather than try to follow everything, the monitorial citizen scans the environment for events that require responses · There are times when citizens should gather info, like when something goes really wrong, but most of the time just monitoring is enough · Citizens want to do more virtuous things in their free time.

("Learn to Code" by Robby Soave) What does he list as the "First Commandment" of the internet?

"Thou shall not treat an online platform as the publisher of any information provided by another party"

(Lecture) Barriers to the 3rd party

- Constitutional - Media - Psychological

(Lecture) Benefits of the 3rd party

- Important source of policy innovation - Important outlet for citizen discontent

(Lecture) Characteristics of the American Party System

- It is a very durable system; around since the 1790s - It is a very competitive system; beware of journalists warning that a party is dead - it is a decentralized system. Leaders at the top cannot control what happens at the grass roots level - It is a 2-party system

(Lecture) New medias chief characteristics

- They are more anti-establishment than traditional media - New media personalities tend to develop closer links to members of their respective audiences than do traditional media - New media are much more entertainment oriented than traditional media - New media furnish a more "participation friendly environment than do traditional media

("Journalists Against Free Speech" by John Tierney) What does the author offer as some "basic steps" editors and publishers should take?

- concentrate on hiring journalists committed to the most important kind of diversity: a wide range of ideas open for vigorous debate - stop capitulating. Ignore the online speech police, and don't reward staff censors, either.

(Lecture) What do political powers do for us?

1. They organize and operate government 2. They focus responsibility on governmental action 3. They recruit and develop governmental talent 4. They simplify our electoral system 5. They educate the electoral

("The Age of Twitter" by Bryan Ott) What are the three key features of Twitter? Make sure that you can explain these features.

1. Twitter demands simplicity (all ideas must be simplified to fit the character limit) 2. Twitter promotes impulsivity (tweeting requires almost no effort which requires little forethought, reflection, and consideration) 3. Twitter fosters incivility (depersonalizes interactions which leads to people to not consider how actions affect others.

(Lecture) Important points about framing

1. Framing is not all powerful 2. Pundits do not have the liberty to simply make up frames 3. Framing can point in any ideological direction

("The Daily Me" by Cass Sunstein) According to Sunsein, "a well-functioning system of free expression must meet two distinctive requirements." What are they?

1. People should be exposed to materials that they would not have chosen in advance - this leads to encounters with topics and points of view that people have not sought out 2. Many or most citizens should have a range of common experiences. - Heterogenous society will have a much more difficult time addressing social problems.

("The Media Cornucopia and its Critics" by Brian Anderson and Adam Thierer) How do the authors respond to the argument that "a tiny group has a stranglehold on the media?"

A 2002 survey of ten media markets showed that each had more outlets and owners in 2000 than in 1960. Americans do not lack a rich variety of voices because eery source must be different to set them apart from competitors.

("Partyism" by Cass Sunstein) What is Partyism?

A form of hostility and prejudice that operates across political lines

(Morone and Kersh) Party Machine

A hierarchical arrangement of party workers, often organized in an urban area to dominate power politics; they helped integrate immigrants and minority groups into the political system. Most active from the mid nineteenth to early twentieth centuries.

(Lecture) Mass media framing

A media frame is a central organizing idea that calls attention to some aspects of a news story.

("The Age of Twitter" by Bryan Ott) What is "medium theory"?

A perspective that suggests every communication technology (I.e. medium) has key physical, psychological, and social features that are relatively distinct and fixed, and that these features shape how users of the media process information and make sense of the world.

(Morone and Kersh) Priming

Affecting voters' or poll respondents' perception of candidates or public officials by raising issues that are perceived to enhance or diminish the candidate.

(Morone and Kersh) Party identification

Affiliation most people acquire in childhood. Best predictor of voting behavior

("A New Standard of News Quality: Burglar Alarms for the Monitorial Citizen" by John Zaller) Why does Zaller believe that mass media frenzies may have positive value?

An intense, dramatic story that keeps up a "critical mass" over one or several news cycles in all information media breaks through the fog of disjointed news and engages the attention of the monitorial citizen

(Morone and Kersh) What does Griffith mean when he notes that "parties produce some byproducts which have some use in elections"?

As a result of all the labeling and rallying, however, parties produce some by-products which have some use in elections. Identifying a candidate's party is a fairly low-cost way of increasing your information about the candidate's preferences. Seeing a "D" or an "R" next to a candidate's name wont tell you everything they stand for; there is a deal of variation within the parties, even if the pep-rally atmosphere obscures it. That letter does significantly improve the accuracy of your guesses about what policies the candidate will favor. One letter is low cost for the quantity of information that it provides.

("The Toxins We Carry" by Whitney Phillips") What does the author mean when she notes that "the negative effects of all this toxicity are not equally distributed"?

Campaigns that target people of color are more vicious, more sustained, and more systematic. But that is not how they tend to be treated by reporters; compounding dangers faced by these communities. All online disinformation starts with the weakest people in society to test its capabilities. Traditionally represented communities are vulnerable, don't have the resources to fight back or defend themselves. "arm's length reporting amplifies abuse against vulnerable communities, normalizes identity-based attacks, and ensures that more harms are just around the corner."

(Morone and Kersh) Make sure that you understand the sections "The First Amendment Protects Print Media From Regulation" and "Regulating Broadcasters"

Congress cannot take away freedom of speech of the press.

("Sex, Lies, and War: How Soft news Brings Policy Issues to the Inattentive Public" by Matthew Baum) What does it mean to say that the soft news media has "democratized" foreign policy, and why is this both a challenge and an opportunity for America's political leaders?

Democratized: made foreign policy accessible to everyone Challenge: leaders can no longer count on communicating effectively with the American people solely through traditional news outlets. Leaders must reformulate their message in terms that appeal to programs preferred by the politically uninterested Opportunity: allow leaders to communicate with segments of the population that have traditionally tuned out politics and foreign policy (allows to expand coalitions). Expands participation in politics.

("Sex, Lies, and War: How Soft news Brings Policy Issues to the Inattentive Public" by Matthew Baum) What is cheap framing?

Emphasizing dramatic and sensational human-interest stories, intended primarily to appeal to an entertainment-seeking audience.

("Sex, Lies, and War: How Soft news Brings Policy Issues to the Inattentive Public" by Matthew Baum) What are soft news media?

Entertainment oriented, quasi news media outlets

(Morone and Kersh) Party platform

Every four years, the political parties draft a document stating the policy positions of the party. This party platform details general party-wide issue stances. The process sometimes engenders disputes among fellow partisans but is rarely an election issue and often is written to avoid controversy.

("The Toxins We Carry" by Whitney Phillips") What does the author say about the role of "facts"?

Facts are ill equipped to solve the problem on their own and ineffective at dislodging false beliefs

(Morone and Kersh) Filtering

Filters choose which signals in the media environment people are liable to accept or reject

("The Media Cornucopia and its Critics" by Brian Anderson and Adam Thierer) In a media cornucopia, what is the relationship between freedom of choice and inequality?

Freedom of choice inevitably yields media inequality. When many people are free to choose between many options, a small subset of the whole will get a disproportionate amount of traffic.

("The Reasoning Voter" by Samuel Popkin) What is low information rationality?

Gut rationality. Best describes the practical reasoning about government and politics in which people actually engage. It is not devoid of substantive content. It is a process that has a lot to do with peoples past experiences. It draws on information shortcuts and rules of thumb.

(Morone and Kersh) Make sure that you understand the section titled "Competition and Partisanship Intensifies."

In the 20th century, members of the two party's would work together. Now, each side is organized around a clear set of ideals and principles and they do not sacrifice.

("A New Standard of News Quality: Burglar Alarms for the Monitorial Citizen" by John Zaller) Precisely, what is the standard of news coverage that Zaller advocates?

Journalists should routinely seek to cover non-emergency but important issues by means of coverage that is intensely focused, dramatic, and entertaining and that affords the parties and responsible interest groups, especially political parties, ample opportunity for expression of opposing views. Reporters may use simulated drama to engage public attention when the real thing is absent.

("The Age of Twitter" by Bryan Ott) What does the author mean when he notes that the "Age of Television" has given way to the "Age of Twitter"?

Like other communication revolutions, the rise of twitter transformed existing media. Twitter began to transform televisual landscape and public discourse.

(Lecture) Founding view of political parties

Many of the founders were afraid of the concentration of powers in any hands, thus, the government they designed fractured the power of political parties. Political parties are not even mentioned in the founding documents. George Washington warned of the troubles of parties and sought to avoid problems by including diverse interests in his administration.

(Lecture) Modern Political Sciences approach to political parties

Many political scientists are more optimistic about political parties. William Hudson argues that they provide the bridge to cross the Constitution and separation of powers.

("A New Standard of News Quality: Burglar Alarms for the Monitorial Citizen" by John Zaller) What is the "Full News" standard? Why does Zaller view it as unrealistic?

News should provide citizen with the basic information necessary to form and update opinions on all of the major issues of the day, including the performance of top public officials. The full news standard makes unrealistically heavy demands on many citizens. Less stringent standard for the bulk of mass news.

("Journalists Against Free Speech" by John Tierney) How does the story of Andy Ego support the thesis?

Ngo's coverage of Antifa's violence let to threats and harassment from the group's members over the last two years. In June, Ngo was attacked at a rally in Portland for men's rights that attracted two dozen supporters. They were opposed by 400 protestors who blocked streets and threw milk shakes handed out by organizers. As Ngo was reporting, masked Antifa protestors rushed him, stole his camera, showered him with milkshakes and eggs, kicked him, and pummeled his head, cutting his face and tearing his earlobe. He was hospitalized with a brain hemorrhage.

("Learn to Code" by Robby Soave) Does Section 230 stipulate that its protections are reserved for "neutral public platforms"?

No- no requirement for neutrality, political or otherwise

("The Toxins We Carry" by Whitney Phillips") What is the boomerang effect?

Occurs when a person who already believes that an information source is biased becomes more convinced of a claim after that source debunks it.

(Lecture) Difference between old and new media access

Old media: network TV, traditional newspapers; general interest intermediaries New media: partisan networks, social media, soft news

("Sex, Lies, and War: How Soft news Brings Policy Issues to the Inattentive Public" by Matthew Baum) What is piggybacking?

One means of minimizing the costs associated with paying attention to low-benefit political information might be to attach or "piggyback" it to low-cost entertainment-oriented information. This allows individuals to learn about politics passively even if they are neither interested in the subject matter nor motivated to learn about it.

("The Toxins We Carry" by Whitney Phillips") What is the "illusory-truth" effect?

People are repeatedly exposed to false statements. These statements start to feel true, even when countered with evidence. A fact check is no match for a repeated lie.

("The Assault on Empiricism" by Wilfred Reilly) What does Reilly say about the debate over COVID?

People thought that Covid affected many more people because their baseline assumptions are based on BS. This caused us to be unable to move on and instead we locked down when we didn't need to.

("Partyism" by Cass Sunstein) Sunstein discusses the research of Iyengar and Westwood. What did their research find?

Peoples' political biases are much larger than their racial biases

(Morone and Kersh) What is Duverger's law?

Plurality electoral rules tend strongly to produce two effective parties. He considered the corollary that proportional systems tend to produce more than two effective parties to be slightly less well-established, but still a regular empirical outcome.

("Negative Partisanship: Why Americans Dislike Parties But behave Like Rabid Partisans" by Alan Abramowitz and Steven Webster) Make sure you understand the section titled "The Growing Media Divide."

Polarized media present news with a distinct ideological bent, casting a negative light on the opposing party, and causing the party to maintain negative attitudes toward the other party. Media shapes voting behavior and political references from the source of the media. Chief goal = ideological persuasion and reinforcement of partisan identities

("Learn to Code" by Robby Soave) What was the difference between the "Prodigy" case and the "CompuServe" case?

Prodigy- sued by reasoning that tech company should be considered the publisher of false info, like a book publisher. They monitored their content and policed offensive language. Because of this, they were akin to publishing CompuSerce- sued for allowing someone to defame on their platform. Didn't moderate content at all

(Morone and Kersh) Make sure that you understand the section titled "Conclusion: A Party System Ripe for Reform?"

Regulating interest groups Reduce partisanship in government

("Learn to Code" by Robby Soave) What is section 230? Who does the author claim would be the "major beneficiary" of a scheme to weaken Section 230?

Section 230 states that no provider or user of any interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider. Major beneficiary would be traditional media

("Learn to Code" by Robby Soave) For online platforms and users, what is the benefit of Section 230 law?

Social media companies do not fear unreasonable legal liability for letting users post at will, users can post without needing approval, and there is a provision in federal law that gives specific protections to social media companies.

(Lecture) New Media vs Old Media

The biggest characteristic is choice. 50 years ago, the average household had 7 channels and three broadcast networks captured 80% of all viewing.

(Morone and Kersh) Infotainment

The blurred line between news and entertainment

("Negative Partisanship: Why Americans Dislike Parties But behave Like Rabid Partisans" by Alan Abramowitz and Steven Webster) What do the authors identify as "the single most important factor underlying the rise of negative partisanship?

The growing racial divide between supporters of the two parties

(Morone and Kersh) Party in the electorate

The largest (and least organized) component of a political party, drawn from the public at large: registered members and regular supporters.

(Morone and Kersh) Personal presidency

The idea that the president has a personal link the public. Made possible by twentieth century media.

(Morone and Kersh) Policy Agenda

The issues that media covers, the public considers important, and politicians address. Setting the agenda is the first step in political action.

("Negative Partisanship: Why Americans Dislike Parties But behave Like Rabid Partisans" by Alan Abramowitz and Steven Webster) What is negative partisanship?

The phenomenon in which Americans largely align against one party instead of affiliating with another

(Morone and Kersh) Party organization

The portion of a political party that includes activists, state/local leaders, and affiliated professionals such as fundraisers and public relations experts.

(Morone and Kersh) Party in government

The portion of a political party's organization that comprises elected officials and candidates for office

("Journalists Against Free Speech" by John Tierney) What does the "generational divide" refer to in this context?

The progressive activism of younger journalists often leaves their older colleagues exasperated. Progressive journalists make work hard on their "unwoke" colleagues

(Morone and Kersh) Framing

The way an issue is defined; every issue has many possible frames, each with a slightly different tilt in describing the problem and highlighting solutions

("Learn to Code" by Robby Soave) What does it mean to say that social media are not monopolies, but are "disruptive technologies"?

They shattered the monopoly on methods of delivering information to the public- one previously enjoyed by the mainstream media.

("Learn to Code" by Robby Soave) How do President Trump's experiences showcase the idea that Section 230 is important for protecting Conservative speech?

Trump has the greatest threat of censorship- his twitter relied on Section 230

("The Media Cornucopia and its Critics" by Brian Anderson and Adam Thierer) How do the authors argue that the left's criticism of today's media universe is contradictory?

We live in a world of unprecedented media abundance. We increasingly consume the media we want.

("Partyism" by Cass Sunstein) What does Sunstein argue in the section "Not Hiring? Partyism in the Employment Market."

When employers were asked to view high school students' resumes and pick an employee, they did pick based on race, but what was more prevalent was employees picking a student affiliated with their political party 80% of the time.

("The Reasoning Voter" by Samuel Popkin) Are information shortcuts an inescapable fact of life? Why?

Yes. Information shortcuts allow humans to store more data than textbook knowledge would suggest. Shortcuts are learned through activities such a planning for retirement. For campaigns, the voter will look at the candidates past to judge their possible future. New and personal information will be used more than impersonal information.

("The Assault on Empiricism" by Wilfred Reilly) In the conclusion of the piece, Reilly notes that citizens need to "keep a few baseline principles" in mind. What are these principles?

a. Logic and data are not discipline specific: if arguments on the left and right, or within a specific field such as education, seem nonsensical to you, they probably are. b. Academic credentials are useful as signals of probable IQ, but are often no more than that. c. Finally, most factually primary-source information is rather easy to find.

("The Age of Twitter" by Bryan Ott) What two factors does he believe are key in understanding Donald Trump's election?

a. The uncritical acceptance of social media platforms such as Twitter as the principal source of news and information concerning the public affairs b. The mainstream news media's treatment of Twitter itself as news.

("The Media Cornucopia and its Critics" by Brian Anderson and Adam Thierer) Why do the authors argue that the left's criticism of today's media universe is contradictory?

a. claim that media choices are still too limited and sources of information are too biased which hinders citizens from participating fully in democracy b. argue that an excess of media choices today makes it too hard to build a democratic community.

("The Media Cornucopia and its Critics" by Brian Anderson and Adam Thierer) What do the two differing schools of leftist media criticism have in common?

pure elitism. Media abundance has meant lots more room for right-of-center viewpoints that, while popular with many Americans, are unacceptable to the critics.

("The Daily Me" by Cass Sunstein) What is a general interest intermediary? Why are they valuable?

what: Newspapers, magazines, broadcasters People who rely on GIIs have a range of chance encounters, involving shared experiences with diverse others and exposure to materials and topics that they did not seek out in advance.

("Partyism" by Cass Sunstein) What does Sunstein argue are some of the solutions involved in countering partyism's effect?

· Solutions lie not in aiming at the causes of partyism (trying to get rid of it) but in working to counteract its effects. · Three possibilities: 1. Taking action in periods in which partyism is likely to be least acute and least damaging 2. Precommitment strategies 3. Delegation (under circumstances of partyism, good reason to be receptive to exercises of authority of the executive branch)

("A New Standard of News Quality: Burglar Alarms for the Monitorial Citizen" by John Zaller) What is the Burglar Alarm standard?

· The key idea is that news should provide information in the manner of attention- catching "burglar alarms" about acute problems, rather than "police patrols" over vast areas that pose no immediate problems · The Burglar Alarm standard addresses only a fraction of the problems that bedevil the news. o Among the problems it does not address are accuracy, sensationalism, negativity, and independence, standards for elite news, such as that provided by National Public Radion or NYT · What the Burglar alarm standard does not address is how much public affairs information the traditional mass news media should carry and how they should present this information o Local TV news, network news, and most daily newspapers