Influencing GovernmentInfluencing Government

Part One – the MediaPart One – the Media

Formation of public opinion – how did we get here?

• Personal BackgroundPersonal Background

– Formative years, etc.Formative years, etc.

• Family politicsFamily politics

• Religious beliefsReligious beliefs

• Personal ethicsPersonal ethics

• Mass media Mass media

• Public officials/elitesPublic officials/elites

• Interest groupsInterest groups

Five Major Influences on Youth in AmericaFive Major Influences on Youth in America

Of the 5 influence factors listed below, which had the greatest influence on American youth’s beliefs, priorities, etc. in each of the decades listed on the chart?

schoolchurchhomepeersTV

Rank by degree of influence by decades: 1 being the most influential; 5 being the least. Do this in your notes – copy the chart and rank the items by decade.

50s 80s 90s 2000s

1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5

*church ranks #10

# includes: videos, video games, internet – including social media, computer apps., movies; network TV near bottom

#other items no longer significant enough to be listed

note lack of adult influence and control; youth see all persons as equal

1950s

Home

School

Church

Peers

TV

1980s

Home

Peers

TV

School

Church

1990s

Peers

TV [cable]

Home

School

*

2000s

# Media

Actual ranking [from various polling sources]

Every reason to believe the influence of media will only increase as others are replaced with new technologies

Mass Media includes…• Newspapers• News magazines, periodicals and

journals• Radio

– Regular news programming– Talk shows like Rush Limbaugh, etc.

• Television: both broadcast and cable

• Online sources: [the line gets fuzzy here]

– Internet news sources – domestic and international

– News and politics blogs– Topic specific websites– Organization websites– Social media, YouTube, etc.

The next several slides contain The next several slides contain graphs about different types of graphs about different types of media and their use. Look at them media and their use. Look at them and….and….

• What is the graph telling us?• What does it imply about media trends?• What social/political impact might such trends have on:

– Elections and campaigns– Formation of public opinion– People’s level and types of political activity

Where do people get their information?

• What are the implications of this trend?

Approval Ratings of Past PresidentsApproval Ratings of Past Presidents

What’s the trend? How much is the media responsible, or is it just reporting?How might that affect Congressional races? [we talked about this]Or relations between Congress and the President? [we talked about this, too.]

• “Dirty Laundry” - Don Henley

• lyrics

Fair and balanced?Fair and balanced?

In the USA, The Christian Science Monitor and C-SPAN are considered the least biased news sources. FOX News (conservative) and MSNBC (liberal) are thought to be the most biased news sources.

The Media’s Impact• Coverage

– The media makes it possible for people to run for office that normally wouldn’t

– Issues brought up that would otherwise escape notice

• Public Agenda– Issues considered most significant to government

officials

• Watchdog – investigative journalism– Journalists are eager to expose government

waste or corruption

– Muckrakers, Watergate, etc.

• Editorial power - can’t cover everything, so media picks what’s “important” E.g. war in Balkans v. genocide in Rwanda

• Framing issues - power to shape how events and issues are interpreted• E.g. - Episodic coverage of poverty – focusing on one family to tell the

whole story;

• Priming - affects public’s evaluation of leaders• E.g. - Reporting on campaigns like a horse race rather than issues and

records; focus on scandal or other specific aspect of personality that colors how their actions and words are perceived.

• Historically media covered what the executive branch fed to them.• E.g.. FDR

• Vietnam ended the somewhat friendly relationship between the executive branch and the media.

• Impact of media diluted when people go only to those sources with whose slant they agree, or go to multiple and varied sources

Downsides of Mass MediaDownsides of Mass Media

• Mass media has long lasting effect on public opinion

• It gives the impression that the media knows what everyone is thinking – the omniscient press

• Spiral of Silence – people often uncomfortable with a minority opinion

• Media can create public impressions, including false impressions. [E.g. the Tet offensive in Vietnam – coverage made things out of control, to the untrained eye, when in fact they weren’t so much]

Propaganda techniques• The Bandwagon

– “We’re sure to win”, “Polls show our candidate pulling ahead”

• Name-Calling– Do not vote for

(Insert Name Here)– “soft on crime”

• Endorsement– Oprah backs

Obama.– Bruce Willis

stumps for Bush

• Stacked Cards– Listing accomplishments– Listing failures

• Glittering Generality– Using emotions “Change”

“Yes we can!” “Hope!” – Big on impact – small on

content

• Just Plain Folks– I am just like you– “My parents were working

people”

• Transfer– Associating a patriotic

symbol or key event with a candidate

Advantages of Mass Media• The media is the primary source of

information to the public.• Offers different opinions and

viewpoints on issues and candidates.• People become more knowledgeable

on the issues and they become more educated voters .

• It makes it easy for the public to gain access to information

• Necessary to the life of a democracy, which requires an informed public. We don’t have the time and resources – the press does.

Freedom of the Press• Under the first amendment the media are free from

prior restraint, or government censorship of material before it is published.– New York Times v. United States (1971)

• Limits– No one is free to publish false information that will harm

someone’s reputation. (known as libel)

• Regulating the Media– FCC (Federal Communications Commission)

– They cannot censor broadcasts but they can penalize stations that violate their rules

» (anyone remember the 2004 Super Bowl?)