Unit 2: Chapter 6

Discuss how digital media have transformed how citizens learn about politics

Newspapers are the oldest medium in news, and the least used, but still remain important because political elites still gather information from newspaper articles. Television news reach more Americans than any other single news source. Politicians will often seek to manipulate the news by providing the media with sound bites that will dominate news coverage. Politicians generally consider local news more friendlier than national (question & criticize). Comedy talk shows use sarcasm to discuss issues. Radio is slowly increasing as a political source. Penny press increased the spread of literacy. Increase in digital media: news aggregators (Google) compile and repackage stories that were created by other stories and deliver them to consumers conveniently. However, digital media depends on a person's wealth or geography. Citizen's can control digital news sources and interact with each other than traditional media. Candidates are susceptible to attack false viral stories. Sometimes fake news is created to earn revenue or oppose the opposite party. Digital media may lead to more separated parties and a lower tolerance for diversity.

Describe the key roles the media play in American political life

The media is allowed to circulate information and opinions without restrictions by the government. The media helps inform the public about current political issues and events; provide a forum through which candidates, politicians, and the public can debate policies and issues; and to act as a watchdog on the actions of the gov. and political actors.Individuals learn about politics, current events, gov. policy, political candidates, and parties from the news media. Journalists seek to report news in the public interest: report truth, verification of sources, eyewitnesses at events, and credible institutions. For-profit media are motivated to write/cover news that audiences want (dramatic or conflicting issues). Because many powerful and popular media is controlled by one company, minority voices have trouble spreading their views.

right of rebuttal

a Federal Communications Commission regulation giving individuals the right to have the opportunity to respond to personal attacks made on a radio or television broadcast

digital citizen

a daily Internet user with high-speed home Internet access and the technology and literacy skills to go online for employment, news, politics, entertainment, commerce, and other activities

Analyze the ways the media can influence public opinion and politics

agenda-setting: power of the media to bring attention to certain topics. Media sources use words such as "problem" to gather attention. Framing: media's ability to influence how the American people interpret events and policies. Priming: calling attention to some matters while ignoring others. Leaked info can come from gov. officials or independent sources. Investigative journalism -uncovering things about political officials. The gov. has little to none restrictions on media coverage.

news aggregator

an application or feed that collects web content such as news headlines, blogs, podcasts, online videos, and more in one location for easy viewing

penny press

cheap, tabloid-style newspaper produced in the nineteenth century, when mass production of inexpensive newspapers first became possible due to the steam-powered printing press; a penny press newspaper cost one cent compared with other papers, which cost more than five cents

citizen journalism

news reported and distributed by citizens, rather than professional journalists and for-profit news organizations

niche journalism

news reporting devoted to a targeted portion (subset) of a journalism market sector or for a portion of readers or viewers based on content or ideological presentation

media

print and digital forms of communication, including television, newspapers, radio, and the Internet, intended to convey information to large audiences

priming

process of preparing the public to take a particular view of an event or political actor

broadcast media

television, radio, or other media that transmit audio and/or video content to the public

digital divide

the gap in access to the internet among demographic groups based on education, income, age, geographic location, and race/ethnicity

agenda-setting

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

framing

the power of the media to influence how events and issues are interpreted

equal time rule

the requirement that broadcasters provide candidates for the same political office equal opportunities to communicate their messages to the public

selection bias

the tendency to focus news coverage on only one aspect of an event or issue, avoiding coverage of other aspects

social media

web-based technologies that are used to turn communication into interactive dialogue between organizations, communities, and individuals; social media technologies take on many different forms including blogs, Wikis, podcasts, pictures, video, Facebook, and Twitter.