Comm 4373 Midterm - UARK

What explains the increasing tendency of journalists covering political campaigns to engage in ad watching?

1. Descriptive reporting ---> interpretive reporting 2. After this transition, campaign ads were no longer described exactly as they were 3. Instead journalist adopted a new genre of reporting- the 'ad watch' or 'reality check' 4. Ad watching- reporters dissect and enumerate errors, exaggerations, or undocumented allegations 5. Ad watching changed the behavior of advertisements, but sometime sin a counterintuitive direction

What occurred in the aftermath of the 1988 presidential campaign?

1. Modern journalism rest on two dominant values and autonomy 2. After the 1988 campaign, the press decided that merely reporting both candidates words compromised journalistic autonomy 3. Leading reporters argues that recycling the candidates message of the day was in inappropriate form of campaign journalism because it made reporters captive to the agenda of campaign consultants

What is meant by the golden triangle?

A term which is used to refer to the three premier beats of reporting, which are the White House, the State Department, and the Pentagon.

What's the public's evaluation of news credibility?

Considerably more Americans say the have "hardly any" confidence of the press as compared to those who say they have "a great deal" of confidence in the press.

What is the primary focus of local television news in the United States?

Crime reporting with a heavy focus on violent crimes.

Explain why news outlets often insert the analysis of "experts" and "pundits" into their coverage of political campaigns. This is an example of what phenomenon?

Idealogical Bias

Consider the idea of elite disagreement in terms of distinguishing between "open" and "closed" flows of foreign policy information.

In distinguishing between open and closed flows of foreign policy info, the most critical determinant of openness is the geographical location of the policy event that is in question.

How is indexing related to the media taking a less adversarial stance?

Indexing is related to the media taking a less adversarial stance because the Presidents opinion dominates during times of war, which means that the media will usually tend to try and limit the amount of criticism in their reporting in fear that if they were to criticize, this would make them look or seem unpatriotic.

Describe a fundamental change in the nature of campaign journalism.

Interpretive Journalism -- The most popular element of interpretive reporting is the horse race (ie framing the election as a race between two teams) 1. Market change: as commercial enterprises, news organizations are subject to the same logic that drives all other economic activity- minimizes costs and maximize revenues 2. Soft news attracts much larger audiences than does serious news, so producers are under pressure to make their programs more entertaining

Why does "horse race" news dominates coverage of presidential campaigns?

It satisfies the journalist's need for autonomy and objectivity, is easy to report, and it sells

In the wake of the turmoil that engulfed the 1968 presidential campaign, a commission to reform the delegate selection process was formed. What system was subsequently adopted to prevent such turbulence in the future?

Led the Democratic Party to establish a commission to reform the delegate selection process. This commission recommended primary elections as the means of selecting candidates.

What represents the most serious threat to network news today?

Local News

What genre of news programming has the largest daily audience?

Local news channels

In comparison with other democratic societies, what makes the American system distinctive?

More private ownership. Media entities in the United States, including broadcast media, are almost entirely privately owned and operated; most other democracies have at least one government-funded broadcast network. Less regulation. The regulatory structure governing the behavior of American media is considerably more lax than that in most other democracies.

Which system is most likely to ensure programming that enables citizens to exercise civic responsibility?

Public broadcasting systems (or public owned media) supply a greater quantity of news programming than commercial stations do. Rather than upholding their civic duty, owners of American media value ratings and the bottom line first.

What has been the trend in terms of audience share for the "Big Three" networks since 1990?

Ratings have declined nearly 60%

What does news coverage of political campaigns tend to emphasize?

Resisting simple regurgitation of the candidates ads spilled over into daily coverage of the campaign. The state of the "Horse Race"

What is meant by the "watchdog" role of the press?

Scrutinizing the actions of government officials on behalf of citizens - most of whom do not have the opportunity to closely follow the actions of politicians and the government.

Since 1960, the "character issue" has emerged as a major theme in campaign coverage. Describe one explanation for this trend.

The "character issue" was not big news in 1960 because the all-male press corps did not deem womanizing as especially unethical or immoral; 1960s reflected the culture of an all-male press corps, more recently the effects of an all-white newsroom

What is the Pentagon's current approach to reporting US military interventions?

The Pentagon's current approach to reporting US military interventions flows in this manner; a select group of correspondents are embedded with the armed invading forces to report and document. These select correspondents are then given limitations to what they could report, which ultimately means that the Pentagon is controlling all of the information that is being reported out to the masses.

What ad shaped the long-term effect of news coverage of American political campaigns?

The Willie Horton ad released from the George Bush campaign.

In contrast to its approach during the 1991 Gulf War, the Pentagon decided that it was no longer politically feasible to deny American reporters' first-hand access to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. What changes took place during the 2003 invasion in terms of the relationship between the press and the military?

The changes that took place during the 2003 invasion of Iraq in terms of the relationship between the press and the military was a select group of American and international correspondents were to be embedded with the invading forces in Iraq. They were subject to strict limitations on the content of their reports and guidelines were heavily enforced by the military.

What best predicts CNN's coverage of foreign nations?

The country's level of economic development. Wealthy countries received more attention from CNN than poor countries. (as measured by GDP)

What best predicts BBC coverage of foreign nations?

The country's population, suggesting a more broad-based allocation of attention to international affairs.

Do the media become more or less dependent on official spokespersons during times of military force? Why is this?

The media becomes more dependent on official spokespersons during times of military force because of potential opponents refusal to criticize the administration, the indexing system breaks down and the press becomes completely reliant on an official spokespersons for information.

Why do the media tend to be less adversarial with national security and foreign policy than in dealing with domestic issues? How does this relate to as coverage of the 2003 invasion of Iraq?

The media tends to be less adversarial with national security and foreign policy than in dealing with domestic issues because there is an extreme limit on information or oppositional voices available to be reported on. We are told that indexing reporter's coverage of issues mirrors the level and intensity of elite debate. The higher the level of elite dissent, the easier it is for the reporter to pit competing sources against one another. This relates to the coverage of the 2003 invasion of Iraq because we saw many false statements released during this time.

What factors are considered part of the organizational process model of news?

The news must often be tailored to the specific needs of news organizations

What is Indexing?

The process of adjusting coverage of an issue according to the level of disagreement and debate about that issue among policy elites.

What is meant by the "knowledge gap?"

The supply of news can contribute to civic competence. In other countries, citizens who are not especially interested in politics nonetheless find themselves in the path of news reports, thus allowing them to acquire information. In America there is a significant narrowing of this information being released to the public, causing a sufficient knowledge gap.

What is the consequence of American dependency on commercial broadcasts in terms of obtaining hard news?

There is a major knowledge gap and Americans tend to compete with Europeans only when it comes to domestic soft news. Lag behind in knowing about both international and domestic hard news (and international soft news)

Has deregulation of the broadcast industry increased, decreased or had no effect on the diversity of perspectives offered in the marketplace?

There is great concern about the supply and quality of news, and about the diversity of voices represented in media programming. The view is, the larger the company, the lower the quality. Deregulation has also weakened directives that aim to increase the diversity of perspective in news content. Broadcasters are not required to present opposing sides on controversial issues. It has significantly decreased the number of voices offered in the marketplace.

How do European and PBS broadcasters compare with respect to amounts of daily news programs?

They are typically required to provide minimal levels of public affairs content, whereas privately owned outlets are generally free to do as they please. Less news during prime time is aired on PBS than European broadcasters

What are the media expected to do in a democratic society?

To provide a forum for candidates and political parties to debate their qualifications for office before a national audience. To contribute to informed citizenship by providing a variety of perspectives on the important issues of the day. To be watchdogs , to contribute informed citizenship, to provide a forum for candidates and political parties.