Mass media refers to the major communication tools of our society, which include television, radio, newspapers/magazines, and the Internet. Mass media helps distribution of information and connects the people to government, hence it is one of the four linkage institutions, along with interest groups, political parties, and elections. For the purposes of this course, mass media refers to the news agencies who use these communication tools to convey information to the public.
Various politicians have utilized newspapers throughout America's political history, but the advent of radio, television, and the Internet throughout the 20th century have altered how we view information and affects the choices made by voters and government officials.
President Franklin Roosevelt used the mass media effectively, making frequent radio broadcasts called 'fireside chats' to inform citizens of the policies and programs being implemented. Moreover, Roosevelt instituted a tradition of meeting with news reporters twice a week, to provide the answers to questions asked by Americans.
During the Roosevelt administration, the media generally saw themselves as somewhat of an extension of the government, and were not as skeptical of the information given to them as today's members of the media are.
The level of skepticism heightened due to events such as the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal. Now, the presumption of the media is that they rarely get the entire truth from politicians. The relationship between the government and the media is undoubtedly adversarial.
In modern America, television is still the most widely used communication tool. When television began, only three networks were broadcasting news and other programming. These major networks are still visible today -- NBC, ABC, and CBS. They literally broadcast their signal through the air, making it available to anyone with a television.
Because the three networks broadcast their signals through the air, they are similar to radio broadcasts, meaning the government can create rules about what is broadcast over the air. This is done primarily through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which Congress has permitted to make regulations about this area. For instance, the FCC has placed bans on certain types of obscene words that are used over the air.
These three networks provided news coverage to America for nearly a half-century without much competition from other television stations. However, the development of cable television changed much about how information is delivered to people. Because cable television requires a subscription and the signal is transmitted through private cable lines, the FCC has little power over these television stations.
Cable television stations tend to be geared towards one specific interest. ESPN is primarily devoted towards showing sports events. The History Channel has programming based on history. The major networks never specifically targeted one area of entertainment, but their nightly news programs now find themselves in competition with stations that provide 24 hour news coverage, like CNN and Fox News.
The various news stations on major networks or cable shows typically have a political slant towards being more liberal or conservative, despite their insistence that they are objective in their reporting. While some media bias is based on political ideology, news outlets such as Fox News or CNN often have a bias that leans more towards reporting a story that will gather the largest audience. Often, the people who view certain news networks do so through selective exposure, meaning that they gravitate towards news outlets that fit their own political ideology.
Reporting the News
Prior to the middle of the 20th century, newspapers were the preeminent source of information for Americans. People read the newspaper in the morning and frequently would purchase an 'evening edition' for updated news that day. Advances in technology have allowed reporters to become faster in reporting the news, yet the speed with which the news reports information has a cost.
Since news outlets are in constant competition with others to be the first to report a story, they sacrifice accuracy of the story for simply being the first to report it. The news outlets who cover information shape the way we perceive world events because they have the ability to control what is or is not broadcast or published.
The fast pace and variety of stories circulating at any given moment make it difficult for the media to cover topics at length. As a result, the media covers most stories through what are referred to as sound bites, short video or sound clips of 10-20 seconds. People do not have nearly the attention span they once did, so this allows the media to cover what they deem to be important issues for longer periods of time.
Can you answer: What potential problems would exist when the media primarily uses mostly sound bites to report stories?
When news agencies report stories to the people, they are helping to set the public agenda, or the issues that attract the attention of people and government officials. When officials are elected or appointed, they have issues or problems they want to correct. However, the media helps to shape the public agenda by reporting on the issues they see as important and these issues do not always match with the president's agenda or Congress'. The media's reports can cause the public to pressure the government to reshape its agenda.
The media's ability to change or alter the public agenda pertains to not just issues, but elections as well. The way that a news agency covers an election can alter the race, and can help or hinder a candidate. The media's focus on a good story often overrides the importance of covering the election in the way that is beneficial to voters. Therefore, the voters have a misconstrued sense of what the candidates are all about. In most cases, especially presidential elections, the media engages in "horserace journalism," where the coverage is based mostly on which candidates are ahead in the polls and little emphasis is given to the issues of the candidates.
Examples of How the Media Affects Policy and Candidates
One of the great examples of how the media shaped a candidate's future came during the 2004 Democratic Presidential Primary race. Howard Dean was considered the front runner for the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbent President George W. Bush. After a third place finish in the Iowa Caucuses, Dean gave a stirring speech meant to rally his supporters in getting ready for the upcoming New Hampshire primary. However, at the end of his speech, Dean made an awkward screeching sound, which became known simply as "The Scream."
Dean's strange noise effectively killed his chances at winning the presidency and in part, it was due to the media's constant replaying of the incident. Dean's favorable polling numbers dropped dramatically in the days following "The Scream" and his campaign never recovered. The oddity here is that nothing about Howard Dean or his stances on the issues changed. Americans saw this small clip of no more than a minute and decided on that sound bite alone that Dean was not presidential material. The people who supported him one day fled the next.
How the media 'frames' an issue is also relevant to how the public will perceive it. During the Congressional debates over the Affordable Care Act, conservative news outlets reported on several incorrect issues, including so-called "death panels," or government officials who would decide if a senior citizen would receive health care or not. The coverage of this had created a bias in many viewers despite the fact that they were not aware of the actual provisions of the law.
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| FDR delivers one of his Fireside Chats |
President Franklin Roosevelt used the mass media effectively, making frequent radio broadcasts called 'fireside chats' to inform citizens of the policies and programs being implemented. Moreover, Roosevelt instituted a tradition of meeting with news reporters twice a week, to provide the answers to questions asked by Americans.
During the Roosevelt administration, the media generally saw themselves as somewhat of an extension of the government, and were not as skeptical of the information given to them as today's members of the media are.
The level of skepticism heightened due to events such as the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal. Now, the presumption of the media is that they rarely get the entire truth from politicians. The relationship between the government and the media is undoubtedly adversarial.
In modern America, television is still the most widely used communication tool. When television began, only three networks were broadcasting news and other programming. These major networks are still visible today -- NBC, ABC, and CBS. They literally broadcast their signal through the air, making it available to anyone with a television.
Because the three networks broadcast their signals through the air, they are similar to radio broadcasts, meaning the government can create rules about what is broadcast over the air. This is done primarily through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which Congress has permitted to make regulations about this area. For instance, the FCC has placed bans on certain types of obscene words that are used over the air.
These three networks provided news coverage to America for nearly a half-century without much competition from other television stations. However, the development of cable television changed much about how information is delivered to people. Because cable television requires a subscription and the signal is transmitted through private cable lines, the FCC has little power over these television stations.
Cable television stations tend to be geared towards one specific interest. ESPN is primarily devoted towards showing sports events. The History Channel has programming based on history. The major networks never specifically targeted one area of entertainment, but their nightly news programs now find themselves in competition with stations that provide 24 hour news coverage, like CNN and Fox News.
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| Examine the two headlines and see if one presents the news in a different way |
The various news stations on major networks or cable shows typically have a political slant towards being more liberal or conservative, despite their insistence that they are objective in their reporting. While some media bias is based on political ideology, news outlets such as Fox News or CNN often have a bias that leans more towards reporting a story that will gather the largest audience. Often, the people who view certain news networks do so through selective exposure, meaning that they gravitate towards news outlets that fit their own political ideology.
Reporting the News
Prior to the middle of the 20th century, newspapers were the preeminent source of information for Americans. People read the newspaper in the morning and frequently would purchase an 'evening edition' for updated news that day. Advances in technology have allowed reporters to become faster in reporting the news, yet the speed with which the news reports information has a cost.
Since news outlets are in constant competition with others to be the first to report a story, they sacrifice accuracy of the story for simply being the first to report it. The news outlets who cover information shape the way we perceive world events because they have the ability to control what is or is not broadcast or published.
The fast pace and variety of stories circulating at any given moment make it difficult for the media to cover topics at length. As a result, the media covers most stories through what are referred to as sound bites, short video or sound clips of 10-20 seconds. People do not have nearly the attention span they once did, so this allows the media to cover what they deem to be important issues for longer periods of time.
Can you answer: What potential problems would exist when the media primarily uses mostly sound bites to report stories?
When news agencies report stories to the people, they are helping to set the public agenda, or the issues that attract the attention of people and government officials. When officials are elected or appointed, they have issues or problems they want to correct. However, the media helps to shape the public agenda by reporting on the issues they see as important and these issues do not always match with the president's agenda or Congress'. The media's reports can cause the public to pressure the government to reshape its agenda.
The media's ability to change or alter the public agenda pertains to not just issues, but elections as well. The way that a news agency covers an election can alter the race, and can help or hinder a candidate. The media's focus on a good story often overrides the importance of covering the election in the way that is beneficial to voters. Therefore, the voters have a misconstrued sense of what the candidates are all about. In most cases, especially presidential elections, the media engages in "horserace journalism," where the coverage is based mostly on which candidates are ahead in the polls and little emphasis is given to the issues of the candidates.
Examples of How the Media Affects Policy and Candidates
One of the great examples of how the media shaped a candidate's future came during the 2004 Democratic Presidential Primary race. Howard Dean was considered the front runner for the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbent President George W. Bush. After a third place finish in the Iowa Caucuses, Dean gave a stirring speech meant to rally his supporters in getting ready for the upcoming New Hampshire primary. However, at the end of his speech, Dean made an awkward screeching sound, which became known simply as "The Scream."
Dean's strange noise effectively killed his chances at winning the presidency and in part, it was due to the media's constant replaying of the incident. Dean's favorable polling numbers dropped dramatically in the days following "The Scream" and his campaign never recovered. The oddity here is that nothing about Howard Dean or his stances on the issues changed. Americans saw this small clip of no more than a minute and decided on that sound bite alone that Dean was not presidential material. The people who supported him one day fled the next.
How the media 'frames' an issue is also relevant to how the public will perceive it. During the Congressional debates over the Affordable Care Act, conservative news outlets reported on several incorrect issues, including so-called "death panels," or government officials who would decide if a senior citizen would receive health care or not. The coverage of this had created a bias in many viewers despite the fact that they were not aware of the actual provisions of the law.
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