POLS EXAM 2
democracy and the media
"Information is the fuel of democracy," but news provides more entertainment than information; it is superficial. News is a business, giving people what they want.
Competing for Delegates
* Several candidates will run within the same party * goal --> get to 1 candidate per party competing for delegates at the national party convention
Sound-Bite Journalism
*Refers to tendency of broadcast media to cover most stories in a minute or two *Makes presentation of complex issues/problems difficult or impossible *Often most controversial quotes of newsmakers take out of context *studies show sound bite journalism is used to focus mainly on negative aspects of the campaign trial
Candidates must do the following in order to run an effective campaign
-Get a campaign manager -Get a fundraiser -Get a campaign counsel -Hire media and campaign consultants -Assemble a campaign staff -Plan logistics -Get a research staff of policy advisers -Hire a pollsters -Get a good press secretary -Establish a website
The media and the scope of government
-Media as watchdog restricts politicians -New proposals are met with skepticism which restricts scope of government, what it can do -If media identifies a problem, it forces government to address it, which expands the scope of government
Private control of the media
-Only a small number of TV stations are publicly owned in America -The media are totally dependent on advertising revenues -Chains consist of massive media conglomerates that control almost three-quarters of the nation's daily newspaper circulation as well as broadcast media
Why has the news become less thorough
-TV stations do not want to bore viewers and lose ratings, so they superficially present the story to be as interesting, not as accelerate, as possible -technology makes it possible to spread more news to more people -reporters have less time to unearth facts before reporting due to internet speed
How do policy entrepreneurs usher in policy change?
-They rely heavily on the media to get their agenda taken seriously -sometimes use dramatic and staged events to get more media attention of their agenda -protests attract major attention from media
High-tech media campaign
-direct mail used to generate support and money for candidate -get media attention through ad budget and free news coverage -the emphasis is on marketing a candidate because news stories focus more on the horse race than substantive policy issues -Method for raising money
Two basic ways to contribute money to campaigns
1. Campaign contributions 2. Independent expenditures
Federal Election Commission
A six-member bipartisan agency created by the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974. The federal Election Commission administers and enforces campaign finance laws.
Two factors defining media attention
1. How candidates use their advertising budgets 2. The free attention they get as news makers
Problems of frontloading
1. May be a rush to judgement before the public can adequately learn about candidates 2. States that have their elections later than the other will become irrelevant because the winner will have usually been decided
Three great waves of immigration to the US
1. Mid/early nineteenth century: Northwest Europeans 2. Late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries: immigrants were southern and eastern Europeans 3. Most recent wave (began in 1960s): immigrants have been Latinos and Asians
two types of campaigns in American politics
1. campaigns for party nominations (nomination campaigns) 2. campaigns between the two nominees (election campaigns)
First restrictions on immigration
1875 limited criminals and prostitutes' from staying in the US and soon people with mental disorders and people with serious disease were banned as well.
Bias in the news (%)
38% of journalists consider themselves liberal 13% of journalists consider themselves conservative 72% of journalists live in counties that vote democratic
GOTV
A campaign's efforts to "get out the vote" or make sure their supporters vote on Election Day, now means "get on TV"
The Mcgovern-fraser commission
A commission formed at the 1968 Democratic convention in response to demands for reform by minority groups and others who sought better representation.
Federal Election Campaign Act
A law passed in 1974 for reforming campaign finances. The act created the Federal Election Commission (FEC), provided public financing for presidential primaries and general elections, limited presidential campaign spending, required disclosure, and attempted to limit contributions.
national party convention
A national meeting of delegates elected in primaries, caucuses, or state conventions who assemble once every four years to nominate candidates for president and vice president, ratify the party platform, elect officers, and adopt rules.
Party platform
A political party's statement of its goals and policies for the next four years. The platform is drafted prior to the party convention by a committee whose members are chosen in rough proportion to each candidate's strength. It is the best formal statement of a party's beliefs.
The Hart-Celler Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
Abolished quotas from the Johnson-Reed immigration act made families integration the prevailing goal for US immigration policy
The study of American Public Opinion
Aims to understand the distribution of the populations beliefs about politics and policy issues
The immigrant society
All Americans except for native Americans are descendants of immigrants or real time immigrants The US allows around 1,000,000 immigrants in a year and 500,000 that immigrate without legal approval
Ideological content
All current news stations now present content completely based off of their own and their viewer's ideology and opinions
Common political culture
America has an overall set of values widely shared within its society The principle of treating all equally
The American Melting Pot
America is a place where people from all parts around the world come together and blend their identities into one
Effects on media and politics after the Vietnam war
Americans and media much less trusting of the government to tell the truth which led to investigative journalism
Fairness doctrine
An FCC requirement that broadcasters who air programs on controversial issues provide time for opposing views
Equal time rule
An FCC rule that if a broadcaster sells time to one candidate or party, it must sell equal time to other candidate or party
Concerns around campaign advertising
Based more off what is interesting versus what is important
First nationally televised presidential debate
Between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, Kennedy's sharp appearance compared to Nixon's sick manner affected the poll numbers in Kennedy's favor
What affects can the media have on the outcome of an election
Deciding on what the media chooses to report on can have dramatic effects on how the public evaluates specific events by emphasizing one event over another
Evaluating the Primary and Caucus systems
Disproportionate attention to both because too early Money plays too important of a role Participation within these early elections is low and unrepresentative System gives too much power to the media
Soft money
Campaign contributions unregulated by federal or state law, usually given to parties and party committees to help fund general party activities.
Money and campaigns
Campaigns are extremely expensive Much concern that wealthy campaign contributors are buying influence over public policy decisions
Individualism and the media
Candidates run on their own by appealing to people on television. Easier to focus on one person like the president, than groups, Congress, or the courts.
Why was net neutrality abolished
Conservatives abolished it in 2016 because they saw it as excessive big government regulation
Federal communications commission
Created in 1934, Federal agency that regulates the radio, television, wire, satellite and cable communications.
Narrowcasting
Dominated TV and media, media programming on cable TV or the Internet that is focused on one topic and aimed at a particular audience. Examples include MTV, ESPN, and C-SPAN.
Presidential primaries
Elections in which a state's voters go to the polls to express their preference for a party's nominee for president. Most delegates to the national party conventions are chosen this way
Media Events
Events that are purposely staged for the media and that are significant just because the media are there.
Independent expenditures
Expenses on behalf of a political message that are made by groups that are uncoordinated with any candidate's campaign
America's open door policy
First century of US history America had an open door policy for immigrants to come fill up the vast un explored regions of the US
The Iowa caucus
First state to hold a caucus or primary, therefore giving Iowa much attention during the campaign season System in which voters show up at a fixed time and place to attend hour long meeting and express political preference, effects the national voter turnout
Who was the first president to accept media politics
Franklin D. Roosevelt
How do rich individuals make million dollar contributions to candidates?
Give large amounts of money to candidates by giving large sums of money to groups that are independent of candidate or party
Loopholes in election financing
No restrictions on donating as much money to one's own campaign Until McCain-Feingold act no restriction on soft money
first geographically based immigration exclusion in the US
Imposed in 1882 when the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed
527 groups
Independent groups that seek to influence the political process but are not subject to contribution restrictions because they do not directly advocate the election of a particular candidate
Rise of the radio
Large rise in the 1930s radio ownership had become basically universal in America which displaced print media as main source of news
Humorous political media
Major way that younger people are exposed to politics, One of the only ways people not interested in politics can be reached
horse race coverage
Media coverage of electoral campaigns that concentrates on who is ahead and who is behind, and neglects the issues at stake.
How is the nomination for political candidates different now?
More open and democratic versus when the delegates were all the political elite, each party had bosses that controlled how the delegates voted
How has the attitude toward politicians through the media changed
Much more negative attitude towards politicians, changed reporting from "what candidates policy statements are" to "why focusing on campaign as a horse race"
Superdelegates
National party leaders who automatically get a delegate slot at the Democratic national party convention due to the office they currently hold (congress member or member of national party convention)
How has corporate profit seeking affected journalism
Negatively people are reporting in order to chase profits especially in political reporting this has caused many news networks to shut down overseas reporting because it attracted little interest and was expensive to operate
Presenting the news
Once the news has been discovered it must be compressed into a relatively brief news segment, " skimming off the cream" of a story to find what are the most interesting, controversial, and unusual aspects of an issue
What powers does the constitution grant newspapers
Only occupational group mentioned in the constitution, gives the press ability to cover the worst of government's actions without unfair repercussions which the press takes advantage of
New rules of the McGovern-Fraser commission
Party leaders couldn't hand pick nominees in secret All delegate selection procedures were required to be open to all (anyone could run) Delegates had to be selected via election or local meeting
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
Policy imposed by president Obama that grants a two-year period of deferred action from deportation and eligibility for a work permit to undocumented immigrants who arrived as children
The campaign game
Political campaign much more like a military campaign using limited resources to accomplish certain goal Campaign to attempt to paint characteristics of leadership competence and other traits Americans value on candidates
symbiotic relationship
Politicians relying on journalists to get their message out and journalists relying on politicians to keep them in the know
Rise of the televison
Post WWII the public began getting news from TV
Public ownership in media
Public funded broadcasting stations don't have to operate through advertising revenue, and aren't as likely to manipulate their coverage solely for the purpose of attracting more viewers
Reduction of quality
Quality of news has been reduced by the rise of social media, internet and TV stations, less informative and more divisive
Republican change due to McGovern-Fraser commission
Rules similarly changed regarding delegates Few changes have affected the American political process as much as these reforms
How has TV and other mass media poisoned the American political system
TV campaign ads attacking other political side
Electronic Media
Television, radio, and the Internet, as compared with print media.
Mass Media
Television, radio, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and other means of popular communication.
Controlling __________ is key to a successful political agenda
The Mass Media
Reporter bias
The environment and background could affect journalists bias and political views, reporters also have bias to what stories will give them more ratings
The rise of cable and cable news
The first major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) were all broadcasting networks, which meant they were viewed by a "broad" audience
Minimal effects hypothesis
The media can only have a certain minimal effect on how people end up voting
Census
The most valuable tool for understanding demographic changes in America, an actual enumeration of the population every 10 years
The invisible primary
The period before any votes are cast when candidates compete to win early support from the elite of the party and to create a positive first impression of their leadership skills.
Selective exposure
The process of Americans to view news sources that express views similar to their own
Frontloading
The recent tendency of states to hold primaries early in the calendar in order to capitalize on media attention (New Hampshire started the and gained 1/5 of the medias attention) As a result 2/3 of state delegates are elected in first 6 weeks of primary season
Demography
The science of human populations Way to look at the American Public
minority majority
The situation, likely beginning in the mid-twenty-first century, in which the non-Hispanic whites will represent a minority of the U.S. population and minority groups together will represent a majority.
The convention send-off
Winner of the primary has already been decided by the party conventions whole event is carefully scripted little news is produced for TV purposes
Why was the fairness doctrine abolished?
With the development of so many TV channels via cable, this rule was deemed unnecessary and was abolished in the 1980s
Is the image of politicians through the media important
Yes, extremely important to all politicians
joint fundraising committee
a coordinated fundraising effort of a number of candidates and committees Allowed people to donate over 100,000 dollars as long as the money doesn't go over the limited amount to one certain candidate
Infotainment
a mix of information and diversion oriented to personalities or celebrities, not linked to the day's events, and usually unrelated to public affairs or policy; often called "soft news"
Trial balloons
an intentional news leak for the purpose of assessing the political reaction Way to test if a policy will be favored or not
Campaign contributions
donations that are made directly to a candidate or a party and that must be reported to the FEC As of 2020, individuals were allowed to donate 2,800 per election to a candidate and 35,000 to a political party
Johnson-Reed Immigration Act
law passed in 1924 that limited annual immigration from any European country to 2% of the number of that country's immigrants counted in the 1890 U.S. census
1986 Simpson-Mazzoli Act
law requires that employers document the citizenship of their employees
what do nomination campaigns require
money, media attention, and momentum
Print Media
newspapers and magazines
Policy entrepreneurs
people who invest their political "capital" in an issue. Could be in or out of government, in elected or appointed positions, in interest groups or research organizations
1968 Democratic National Convention
significant event in presidential election of 1968; demonstrated the confusion and lack of unity among Democrats; outside, protests and police brutality
Policy Agenda
the list of subjects or problems to which government officials and people outside of government closely associated with those officials are paying some serious attention at any given time.
campaign strategy
the master game plan candidates lay out to guide their electoral campaign
nomination game
the official endorsement of a candidate for office by a political party
Net neutrality
the principle that all Internet traffic should be treated equally by Internet Service Providers
investigative journalism
the use of in-depth reporting to unearth scandals, scams, and schemes, at times putting reporters in adversarial relationships with political leaders
Public financing
using tax dollars to fund something, such as election-campaign expenses has become irrelevant
