POL 1133 - Chapter 8 Text

The Telegraph and Texas Register is remembered as the originator of what rallying cry?

"Remember the Alamo!"

At the time of the founding of the nation, journalists were called

"newsmongers."

What are the ways the media shape perceptions?

1. Gatekeeping - first, and then 2. Agenda setting 3. Priming 4. Framing

Potential problems with surveys

1. Los response rates - people don't have to respond 2. Biased sampling - those who do respond may not be representative of larger population 3. Leading questions/poor questionnaire design 4. Potential ignorance on issue being studied

What are the three broad functions the media serve within their communities?

1. Providing information 2. Acting as linkage institutions 3. Shaping perception

Models by which we might understand the mass media as political actors (according to Jan Leighley of A & M)?

1. Reporters of objective fact 2. Neutral adversaries: watchdogs 3. Public advocates 4. Profit seekers 5. Propagandists

As of 2016, only about _____ percent of the adult population in the United States subscribed to satellite radio.

19 minimal market penetration

More than _______ percent of adults using Facebook get their news from postings there

44

In 2017, a UT/Texas Tribune poll found that what percent of Texans favor legalization of marijuana for medical purposes?

80 percent

By the end of WWII, almost _____ percent of American households owned radios, but ________ had begun to affect the number of listeners

95 TV

What are the 5 broad categories of public opinion?

Aggregation Majoritarian Interest Group Conflict Media/Elite Opinion Fiction

Why is public opinion important?

Although democracy means "rule by the people," in practice in the US it is "majority rule" led by an elite. When conflict arises, public opinion is mobilized and affects the political elite (and media are the means by which this process happens) Example: Effect of public opinion (aggregate and majoritarian) as seen in polls over several years on expanded legalization of marijuana - evidence by the increasing number of dismissals for possession of small amounts.

What are the media?

At its most basic level, the media are a set of technological "mediums" by which information is transmitted But, when we speak about it, we mean something more complex: a complex system of messaging by private companies, journalists, citizens and public institutions, all motivated by particular interests (such as economic, ideological or professional) The questions and answers to them following Lasswell's model are part and parcel of what "the media" encompasses today

How are the media typically categorized?

By type of message and type of medium: Types of message: Entertainment, advertising, news Types of medium: print media (newspapers and magazines) and electronic, both analog and digital (including broadcast media such as tv and radio, and internet and social media)

The impact that round-the-clock news coverage has had on the media is called

CNN Effect

What type of survey counts individuals within a population?

Census survey

Three most popular social media sites:

Facebook Youtube Twitter

_____ are carefully planned discussions designed to obtain perceptions on a defined area of interest in a permissive, non-threatening environment.

Focus groups

How can public opinion be measured?

Formally, through voting Informally, through public opinion polls (surveys and focus groups) and the mass media

What was the name of Tex's first newspaper?

Gaceta de Texas (1813)

What is the most widely circulated newspaper in Texas today?

Houston Chronicle

Texas newspapers with largest daily circulation (as of 2016) - top 5

Houston Chronicle Dallas Morning News Fort Worth Star-Telegram San Antonio Express-News Austin American-Statesman

What category of public opinion is described as "groups constantly engaged in a struggle to define social problems and provide solutions to them"?

Interest group conflict

Which of the following is a problematic aspect of citizen journalism?

It may not be based upon facts.

Problems with focus groups

Less quantitatively measurable Used less than survey methods

Though over 10 billion tweets go out on Twitter every day, what did researchers at Carnegie Mellon University discover about people's opinions of many of those tweets?

Less than one-third of the tweets reflected information worth reading.

What category of public opinion is described as "the values and beliefs of the majority of citizens" or people paying attention to opinions of friends, coworkers, neighbors and tent to confirm to majority opinion among significant others?

Majoritarian

News source with greatest level of trust (per survey referenced in text)

More than half surveyed trust traditional news organizations for news - either via news alerts or directly from news organizations

The most popular podcasts reflect content hosted by

National Public Radio.

Generational divide with respect to print media and tv for news

Only 5% 18-29 year olds get news from print newspaper About half (48%) of those 65 and older read print newspapers Less than 1/3 twenty-somethings/college students regularly watch tv mews, but over half this group read and share online news stories

Which of the following contributed to changes in polling in the 1970s?

Politicians began taking polling more seriously. The relative complexity of political issues in the U.S. increased. cost of telephoning decreased

In 1948, Texas's first television station began operating and broadcast a speech by whom?

President Harry Truman

_____ provides a specific context and background through which audiences engage with a particular topic or story.

Priming

Texas's government is predominantly

Republican

_____ factors include things like income, education, race, and ethnicity; they can affect voter turnout.

Socioeconomic

In what language was Texas's first newspaper published?

Spanish

_____ are perhaps the greatest threat to traditional media's longevity.

Streaming services, such as Youtube Red, Pandora, Spotify, Netflix and Amazon Prime

In its 2017 polling, the UT/Tribune survey determined what about Texans' support for ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, as outlined by the Trump administration?

THere was significantly more Dem suipport to keep DACA than there was Republican consensus to end it. Texas Republicans were split over DACA.

_________________, even more than ___________________ , disrupted American's relationship with print media and our perception of political reality

TV radio

In its 2016 polling, the UT/Tribune survey determined what about support for Republican Governor Abbot?

Texas Republicans supported him overwhelmingly. Texas Democrats overwhelmingly disapproved shows that party affiliation a good indicator of how voters view major politicians

What do Matthew Baum and Philip Potter mean by "linkage mechanism"?

That the mass media, as an institution in our democracy, traditionally act as a conduit for information up and down between the political elite (politicians and govt. bureaucrats) and their constituents.

In which of the following ways have social media proven to be disruptive to the traditional forms of media?

They expose many to news outside of mainstream sources. They allow citizens to shape the news agenda. They have made people part of the news as it happens.

What role did Twitter play in the 2016 Dallas Black Lives Matter protest march shootings?

Tweets helped proved that a suspected shooter was actually innocent.

In its 2017 polling, the UT/Tribune survey determined what about Texans' approval of the U.S. Supreme Court?

United States Supreme Court (USSC) has a much higher rate of approval among Dems than among Republicans and Independents

What factors affect the meaning of the term "public opinion"?

Who is discussing it, who is trying to measure it and for what purpose its being used

According to Harold Lasswell's model, what questions should we ask in order to better understand "the media"?

Who, Says What, In Which Channel, To Whom, With What Effect? Essentially the same for all other models: Who is the audience? Who is the sender? What is the method? What is the message?

The era of the 1920s and 1930s saw a "convergence of change" that had a big effect on polling. Which of the following were factors in that "convergence"?

a growing concern over accuracy the founding of polling organizations (Gallup, Harris) that used more scientific methods the media pushing for more data (so they could sell to advertisers)

The power of the media to bring issues and problems to the public's attention is called

agenda setting

In the example of the news coverage of Texas's Child Protective Services and its severe problems, the issue finally received attention only after it was covered in the media. This is an example of

agenda setting.

What category of public opinion is "the simple sum of many individual opinions"?

aggregation

What factors are among the influences that affect individual Texans' opinions?

an individualistic and traditionalistic political culture Republican government conservatively biased media coverage

The collection, dissemination, and analysis of news and information by the general public, especially by means of the Internet, is called _____ journalism.

citizen

What was the location of the earliest radio stations in Texas?

college campuses

The general trend in the U.S. is that network television viewership is

declining. Even older Americans increasingly utilizing Internet for news

The purpose of mass media gatekeeping is

determining newsworthiness.

The echo chamber effect results in

diminished exposure to conflicting information. Problematic for a diverse democratic society because without shared experiences, a heterogeneous society will have more difficult time addressing social problems

Facebook, especially after it changed its algorithms, has _____ the echo chamber effect.

exacerbated the changes resulted in less likelihood users would see news from organizations with which they disagreed

The category of public opinion that is defined as "rhetorical construction used so freely in our newspapers and on television as to be meaningless" is called

fiction.

George Lakoff has pointed out that while deciding what is news has a huge impact on public perception of an issue, how it is _____ significantly influences public reaction to it.

framed

Research has shown that newspapers from counties near the U.S.-Mexico border tend to have an overall negative slant toward immigrants. This "slant" is an example of

framing

____________ is the media's attempts to focus attention on certain events and place them in context for meaning.

framing

Today, we use "press" and "media" somewhat interchangeably. At the founding of the nation,

freedom of the press meant, literally, freedom to use the printing press, the technology itself. Freedom of speech intended not just for journalists or newsmongers, but all citizens should be allowed to speak their mind Over time, the meanings of press and media have broadened and overlapped substantially

What did "freedom of the press" mean at the time of the founding of the U.S.?

freedom to use an actual printing press

Mass media filter down all of what is happening in a given community into a specific set of news that is then transmitted to an audience. This is called

gatekeeping. After the gatekeeper determines newsworthiness, it uses agenda setting, priming, and framing to transform the remaining information into news stories

Push polls are:

illegitimate, unscientific polling technique aimed at attacking a candidate or issue pollsters try to telephone as many people as possible and attack opposing candidates/ideas during the interview a reality of political life and typically used by candidates to target potential voters

Deeply researched stories that uncover serious crime, corruption, or corporate wrongdoing are called _____ journalism, something in which notable news magazines engage.

investigative

Which of the following best characterizes a "public"?

its communicative nature

Political socialization is

learning/developing political attitudes and opinions through agents of socialization

The Founders named the _____ as preeminent in American democracy.

legislature

What are potential benefits of citizen journalism?

may provide more or different perspectives or cover events traditional media has ignored

The category of public opinion that is defined as "a projection of what journalists, politicians, and 'elites' believe" is called

media/elite opinion.

As of 2013, approximately what percentage of Americans rely upon television broadcasts for their news?

more than 50 percent

According to Jan E. Leighley's research, when the mass media are watchdogs on government and on the political elite, they are following the _____ model.

neutral adversaries

As compared to newspapers, news magazines

offer more substantive coverage.

What type of survey re-interviews people to determine changes in opinion over time?

panel survey

A digital audio file made available on the Internet for downloading to a computer or portable media player, typically available as a series, is a

podcast

Individuals form political opinions through a process called

political socialization

The process through which we learn political attitudes and opinions is called

political socialization.

When the local newspaper and local television station repetitively cover a story about a new stadium opening, that repetition is an example of

priming.

What type of survey interviews a scientifically determined sampling of people within a population?

probability sample survey

According to Jan E. Leighley's research, when the mass media are pushers of a particular individual/politician, product, or idea, they are following the _____ model.

propagandist

The _____ is a community's arena. It allows individuals to freely discuss and identify societal problems and influence political action.

public sphere

Political scientist Thomas Patterson argues that the _____ that citizens can access affects their interest in the news.

quality of information

When media reinforce and magnify existing beliefs about the reality of an event, it is called

resonance

The reinforcement and magnification of existing beliefs about the reality and commonality of events due to the presentation of reality by the media is called

resonance.

What is the literal meaning of "democracy"?

rule by the people

What type of survey interviews a nonscientific sampling of people within a population?

sample survey

Push polls are considered outright illegitimate because

scientific sampling is not used. they attack opposing candidates and ideas.

The earliest form of public opinion polling (as we know it today), emerged in mid-1800s, and which consisted of newspapers setting up outside polling places and interviewing voters after they cast their ballots?

straw polls.

Recent research shows that _____________________ remains the most effective single medium available for the acquisition of political information

television [Not sure if this is currently true - research in book outdated?]

Focus groups usually include fewer than _____ individuals at a time.

ten

According to anthropologist Thomas de Zengotita, what 1963 event, which was widely covered in the media, changed people's perception of the news?

the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas

According to Baum and Potter, what is the traditional view of the media, especially in political science, as a mostly accommodating conduit for elite messages based on?

the assumption that the media serve primarily as a linkage mechanism, rather than an independent, strategic actor in the policy-making process (However it's apparent that mass media, particularly the news media, are more than information providers)

Agents of socialization include:

the media peer groups family teachers religious institutions education geographic location class gender race/ethnicity - they are the societal forces and institutions that surround individuals from early childhood

What is the point of a push poll?

to attack a candidate or issue

The purpose of soft news is

to entertain.

How many notable news magazines are published in Texas?

two

Approximately what portion of American adults use at least one form of social media to share information?

two-thirds

echo chamber effect

users often self-select information that is consistent with their existing beliefs