Chapter 6 Public Opinion and the Media

sample

Within a population, the group of people surveyed in order to gauge the whole population's opinion. Researchers use samples because it would be impossible to interview the entire population

What is public opinion and why does public opinion matter in American politics?

Public opinion is what the population thinks about politics and government (what the government should be doing, evaluations of what they are doing, and judgements of elected officials). Public opinion matters in American politics for citizens political action (ex: voting); examining it helps explain the behavior of candidates, political parties etc. (what politicians want them to do); and key for understanding what motivates citizens and political officials.

filtering

The influence on public opinion that results from journalists' editors' decisions about which of many potential news stories to report

policy mood

The level of public support for expanding the government's role in society; whether the public wants government action on a specific issue

Explain how measuring public opinion works in theory (p. 172) and how it worked in practice with the 2016 elections (p. 173).

- Measuring public opinion: random sample size, sample size (major national surveys 1,000- 2,000), give the sampling error (should be within 2%), how was the question worded, reliable respondents (respondents usually give socially acceptable answers rather than truthful ones). - How it worked in practice with the 2016 elections; RR called landlines and not cellphones, so it is biased toward people that are more likely to answer the phone (older and more men); adjusting to partisanship assumes that party ID has changed since the last election (lower response rate making sensitive to short term events); Pew's results more reliable than RR and made more accurate prediction about the 2016 election.

What is the relationship between public opinion and what government does?

- government spends a lot of time trying to figure out the public opinion - public opinion has a great influence in widespread of government - politicians behave in line with their constituents; opinion because to do otherwise would place the politician in jeopardy of losing the next election

What has been the impact of media deregulation?

- many media companies own multiple media sources in a town or community. - cross-ownership, which involves one company owning several different kinds of media outlets, often in the same community

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

A government agency creates in 1934 to regulate American radio stations and later expanses to regulate television, wireless communications technologies, and other broadcast media

mass survey

A way to measure public opinion by interviewing a large sample of the population

equal time provision

An FCC regulation requiring broadcast media to provide equal air time on any non-news programming to all candidates running for an office

latent opinion

An opinion formed on the spot, when it is needed (as distinct from a deeply held opinion that is stable over time).

media conglomerates

Companies that control a large number of media sources across several types o media outlets

mass media

Sources that provide information to the average citizens such as newspapers, television networks, radio stations and websites.

ideological polarization

The effect on public opinion when many citizens move away from moderate positions and toward other end of the political spectrum, identifying themselves as either liberals or conservatives

media effects

The influence of media coverage on average citizens' opinions and actions

framing

The influence on public opinion caused by the way a story is presented or covered, including the details, explanations, and context offered in the report.

sampling error

The predicted difference between the average opinion expressed by survey respondents and the average opinion in the population, sometimes called the margin of error. Increasing the number of respondents lowers the sampling error.

political socialization

The process by which an individual's political opinions are shaped by other people and the surrounding culture.

hostile media

The tendency of people to see neutral media coverage of an event as biased against their point of view