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The Struggle for Democracy

Twelfth Edition

Chapter 6

The News Media

Learning Objectives

6.1 Discuss the structure, function, and operation of the news media.

6.2 Evaluate the news organizations’ ideological and nonideological biases.

6.3 Analyze the impact of the media on public opinion and political behavior.

Learning Objective 6.1

Discuss the structure, function, and operation of the news media.

How News Organizations Operate

The Functions of the News Media in a Democracy

News Media Organizations

Profit Motives of the News Media

News-Gathering and Production Operations

Online News Media

In this first section we will explore the ways in which the various news media operate and how that affects the news delivered to citizens.

The Functions of News Media in a Democracy

Watchdog over government

Main role of a free press

First Amendment prohibits censorship

Help citizens keep government accountable

Providing policy information

Providing electoral information

Clarifying facts and information about policy

Do citizens get the information they need

In a democracy, who controls what the government does? That’s right—you do. The whole idea behind democracy is that ordinary citizens are in charge of their government. To make decisions about policy, citizens need good information. Where do citizens obtain most of their political information? Increasingly, it comes from the news media. So, in order for democracy to function optimally, the media must fulfill an important role. The success of democratic government is in large part dependent upon how well the media does its job.

After its watchdog role, the second duty of the news media in a democracy is to clarify electoral choices. Voters need information about what the parties stand for, and the character of the candidates, as well as their knowledge, experience, and positions on issues. Unfortunately, the media focuses less on useful and factual information than on distracting irrelevancies, such as digging up dirt on the candidates and who is ahead and behind in the race.

In additional to learning about candidates, the public needs to be kept apprised of emerging political problems and how well current policies are working. The pros and cons of possible policies also need to be reviewed and evaluated. Does the news media consistently provide this information?

News Media Organizations

Corporate ownership

News media sectors owned by just a few firms

Mergers have accelerated

Concentration of ownership

The role of the FCC

Increases efficiency and increases business presence

Uniformity and diversity

Growing number of news sources

Most media depend on the same sources

The U.S. media has a few public broadcasting networks, and a few family businesses, but the vast majority of networks are owned by a few corporate conglomerates. Each sector is dominated by a shrinking number of companies who each own a larger part of it. Time Warner dominates magazine publishing and cable television, and Clear Channel owns over 600 radio stations. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is the world’s biggest media empire, with ownership of every type of mass media, from Fox News to 20th Century Fox film company, to the Wall Street Journal.

Is this media monopoly detrimental to the quality of news coverage?

Most of the news that reaches us through a variety of media outlets comes from centralized sources. Stations buy content and video footage, meaning that the large number of media outlets does not equal a larger quantity of news. Since each outlet relies upon the same sources, you are unlikely to find a source with higher quality or more in-depth coverage of a given story.

There are efficiency gains but there is also a lack of competition and a reluctance for media outlets to speak negatively about their sponsors.

I Want More

Rupert Murdoch created a global entertainment and news operation that gives him influence with the public, opinion leaders, and government officials in a wide range of countries. Though revelations about reporters from several of his publications in Britain illegally tapping into cell phones damaged his reputation, his company, News Corp., continues to be among the biggest players in the world and in the United States.

Does the prevalence of media empires diminish the number of viewpoints that citizens get to consider when news is reported, or is there sufficient alternative information from other outlets?

Journal 6.2: I Want More

Does the prevalence of media empires diminish the number of viewpoints that citizens get to consider when news is reported, or is there sufficient alternative information from other outlets?

Profit Motives of the News Media

Infotainment

Market pressures to make news short, snappy, and sensational

Little substantive news

A source of success for Donald Trump

Conflict

Prioritize stories about conflict

”Horse-race” coverage of elections

Negativity and scandal

Media corporations must make a profit, just like any other business. To that end, they print or air what the public wants to hear, which is usually sensational and attention-grabbing stories, celebrity gossip, and other forms of infotainment rather than serious news about public policy issues and governance. The profit motive is in direct conflict with the media’s job of educating citizens for democracy.

The media responds to the market incentives of a public that would rather be entertained than informed by creating “infotainment” and instead of producing substantive news stories they make the news shorts, snappy, and sensational.

As part of this process, the media will prioritize stories about conflict as a way to keep audiences tuned in to the programming. This is illustrated by the cable news formats of having pundits from the left and the right on air “debating” issues.

In addition the media focus on stories that are negative or laden with scandal, such as the Clinton impeachment. While some argue that the focus on scandal is part of the watchdog function there are others who feel that this is role is now overplayed.

News-Gathering and Production Organizations

Limited geography

Dependence on official sources

Beats and routines

Government news management

Military actions

Newsworthiness

Templates

Episodic foreign coverage

Interpretation

Most national news organizations are based in New York City, the center of publishing and finance, or Washington, D.C., the seat of the federal government. Most news networks place their reporters in these two cities and most news comes from them. Stories outside the main media centers are either not covered, purchased from local networks, or covered by stringers.

Most political reporters cover a political beat—that is, a police station or government office where they check for news stories daily. Investigative reporting is rare today because it is expensive.

Most political news stories originate not with reporters but with official press conferences or press releases. The relationship between reporters and officials is mutually dependent. Stories often begin with a leak from an anonymous inside source. Occasionally such leaks are really unauthorized but increasingly they are stage-managed from inside.

What makes a story newsworthy? It is usually a combination of factors. Novelty helps a story get coverage, as does drama and high stakes. If a celebrity is involved, that makes even the most trivial story newsworthy. Stories must also be directly relevant to Americans’ lives and video footage or other visuals help a story make the news.

Stories must also fit into the prevailing narrative template. Stories about China, for example, were positive before Tiananmen Square, then they were negative until China became an important trading partner, then they swung around to being positive again. Stories that do not fit into the prevailing template generally do not make the news.

Foreign news bureaus are expensive so they are usually only maintained by a few major news networks in a few countries with strong ties to the United States, such as the UK and Israel. When major stories break in other places, news outlets send crews or utilize local stringers. Thus, foreign news tends to be episodic, appearing for a brief time when a war, natural disaster, famine, or other crisis strikes.

In theory, journalism is supposed to be objective, without interpretation by the reporter. Experts with known biases are invited to interpret news items so the interpretation can be presented without compromising journalistic objectivity. Experts who appear regularly on news programs are called pundits, and they often have no credentialed expertise on any subject, just an ability to perform for the camera.

WikiLeaks Founder in Trouble

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, says he is committed to ending secrecy in government. To that end, WikiLeaks released a massive library of raw American diplomatic cables that came into its possession, causing great embarrassment to American officials and officials in many other countries. When sexual assault charges against Assange surfaced in 2010, his followers claimed they were fabricated by government leaders to blunt the impact of WikiLeaks revelations.

To what extent should there be secrecy in government? Does a democracy require complete openness?

Journal 6.3: WikiLeaks Founder in Trouble

To what extent should there be secrecy in government? Does a democracy require complete openness?

Darned Reporters

Richard Nixon resigned his presidency in August 1974 rather than face a trial in the Senate following his impeachment in the House after investigative reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post uncovered evidence of the president’s close involvement in illegal spying on his political opponents. Nixon’s efforts to cover-up these activities—the political scandal that came to be known as Watergate—proved to be his undoing.

Did the news media play an important role in enhancing American democracy during Watergate, or did reporters like Woodward and Bernstein go too far?

Online News Media

Internet and social media now a significant source of news

Decline in traditional news sources

Mainstream media still set agenda

Most visited online sources are still hard news sources

News aggregator sites

Expansion in the distribution of news

Reporting from nontraditional news sources

The rise of the Internet and social media has provided a new, alternate source of news for many citizens. This new medium has put pressure on traditional news sources, especially print media, as they struggle to compete with these new sources of news. While the traditional media struggles it still is the main source of news stories that sets the agenda for the news that citizen reads. Most of the online sources that are visited for news consist of traditional hard news sources. Even popular news aggregator sites use traditional news sources to fill their stories.

In practice what looks like an expansion of news sources in effect is really an expansion in how news is distributed to citizens. Additionally, citizens are now getting news from nontraditional sources, such as comedy and satire programs like The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight: With John Oliver.

Figure 6.1 Where People Get Their News

NOTE: Respondents could cite up to two sources.

SOURCE: Pew Research Center, “Amid Criticism, Support for the Media Watchdog Role Stands Out,” August 8, 2013.

Surveys that ask respondents how they get most of their national and international news show that in recent years, people have turned increasingly to the Internet as a source of news, while decreasing somewhat in their reliance on television and newspapers. Although the Internet still trails television as people’s main source of news, it is closing the gap.

Blogging the Republican National Convention

Both the Republican and Democratic conventions allocate space not only to the mainstream media but also to digital journalists who produce content for the Web instantaneously.

To what extent does live reporting and instantaneous publishing enhance the quality of political information available to the public?

News With Laughs

Although they are billed as comedy shows, programs like The Daily Show (Comedy Central), Full Frontal (TBS), and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (pictured; HBO) have become an important source of news—particularly for younger Americans. Occasionally these programs bring attention to obscure or forgotten issues. As we illustrate in Figure 6.2, in some cases these shows appear to affect which policies the government implements.

What role should satirical news programs play in keeping the American public informed? Should we expect them to adhere to the journalistic standards we set for traditional journalists?

Figure 6.2 Applying the Framework: Net Neutrality

Other factors that contributed to the adoption by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of new net-neutrality rules are outlined in Figure 6.2, an application of our structural-linkage-government framework.

Bias in the News

Ideological Bias

Nonideological Bias

Many citizens worry about bias in the news. In the next slides we will explore different types of bias.

Ideological Bias

Liberal reporters

Not-so-liberal owners and corporations

Maintaining a reputation for quality

About 63 percent of Americans believe that the news has either a liberal conservative bias. Are they correct?

It is true that reporters tend to be more liberal than the average American, but there is no evidence that a reporter’s personal values are reflected in how the mainstream news media reports the news. Journalists are committed to objectivity but, even more significantly, they rely on sources, experts, and officials who are not at all liberal.

Owners of media companies are conservative and Republican. The shareholders and executives of multi-billion dollar media conglomerates are not interested in government regulations or raising taxes on the rich. Neither are they inclined to offend advertisers, who tend to share the conservative bias of most businesses. Reporters are unlikely to be able to report news with a liberal slant.

Related to the profit motive of the corporate news is the desire to create the image of producing high-quality news. One way that they can achieve this is by presenting stories that they believe will not challenge the existing views of their audience.

Stunned By Katrina

Many conservative commentators charged that the news media focused on poor African Americans in New Orleans as the main victims of Hurricane Katrina when, in fact, the range of victims was much more diverse and living across a broader swath of Gulf Coast states.

Is this photograph of Katrina’s victims a fair or biased representation of the disaster?

Nonideological Bias

Pro-American reporting in foreign affairs

Pronounced in news about conflicts involving U.S. troops

Also found in a wide range of foreign affairs news

Heavy reliance on official sources

News harmonizes with official positions

Government can control information

The biggest biases in news reporting come not from the liberal or conservative views of reporters and owners but from the profit motive and the reliance on official sources for information.

Effects of the News Media on Politics

Agenda Setting

Priming

Framing

Fueling Cynicism

Fragmenting Comprehension

We have established that the media seek to entertain the public rather than inform them about politics. How does this affect public opinion and policymaking?

Agenda Setting

News coverage affects what issues Americans think are important

Policy preferences affected

The CNN effect

Politicians compelled to act

Works both ways

Media report issues of concern to those in power

When Americans are asked to rank policy issues in order of importance they invariably rank them in the order of their prominence in the mainstream news. Not only that, but on policy issues about which Americans do not have set opinions, they are influenced to adopt the policy preference that the media tells them is what the American people want.

Of course, the media are in some cases reporting on real trends and crises, such as a war or economic recession, but there is scope for the media to set the policy agenda rather than respond to it.

When the media calls the public’s attention to an issue, it can influence politicians to act upon it. Similarly, when the media ignores an important issue, elected officials can often get away with ignoring it as well. Since the media is very attuned to who is in power, they tend to report on issues that are of concern to those currently in charge.

Priming

Media affects which issues matter to citizens when evaluating leaders

Priming phenomenon

The priming phenomenon can affect which issues matter the most to citizens when evaluating political leaders. If the media chooses to focus on the importance of defense spending they are in effect priming the issue in the minds of the citizens. When asked about the presidential job approval citizens may think of that issue first as they make their judgment about the president.

Framing

Issue framing

Affects how public thinks about problems

Affects how public assigns blame

How the media frames a political issue determines how the public thinks about it. It also determines how blame is assigned. During Hurricane Katrina, some people were offended by media coverage that spoke of white hurricane victims “finding” food and supplies but described blacks as “looting.”

A report on poverty can convince people that the poor are responsible for their plight or that they are victims of socioeconomic forces beyond their control. How the media frames the story helps determine whether the public supports or opposes public policies to aid the poor.

Fueling Cynicism

Adversarial journalism

Negative reporting

Failures, not triumphs, are newsworthy

American journalism feeds cynicism about government. Because the news focuses on the trivial, dramatic, scandalous, and superficial, Americans know more about the sex lives of their elected officials than about their votes on important legislation.

When officials hold press conferences to discuss important political activities, such as the signing of a major international agreement, the assembled press corps is likely to ask questions about current rumors of their personal lives. A government program that runs efficiently and accomplishes its policy goals is not news; a program beset by fraud, waste, embezzlement, or incompetence is.

Fragmenting Comprehension

News tends to be episodic and fragmented

May or may not be what citizens want

News tends not to be substantive

Information comes in bits and pieces

Information is often without context

There is still thorough investigative reporting

The characteristics of the media, including corporate ownership and the profit motive, mean that news, especially on television, tends to be episodic and fragmented rather than sustained, analytical, or dispassionate. While it may or may not be what citizens want, it is in fact what they get.

Substantive reporting and news still exists in some of the traditional print media sources but they still face the pressures to turn to infotainment.

Shared Writing

Most national political reporters are located in and file their stories from two main locations: (1) Washington, D.C., site of the federal government and most of the nation’s most influential think tanks and interest groups, and (2) New York City, the center of most media operations and key national and global financial institutions. For national news involving more than politics and governmental affairs or closely related economic issues, reporters tend to file stories from a broader range of geographical locations, although not equally from all areas around the United States. This situation is hardly surprising. Maintaining reporters is expensive, so news organizations concentrate their news gathering where they will get the most bang for the buck—where the most important news occurs.

Think about what you have learned about the principal challenges of the news media and the concerns levied against them regarding the underreporting of stories that might help American citizens better understand events and trends that affect their lives.

Now construct a short essay that addresses these questions: Do you agree with people who say that the news media are out of touch with the American people? What is the basis of your argument? Why might you argue that it is reasonable that news stories are concentrated in America’s centers of governance, communications, finance, and entertainment?