The Media and Claims - due in 24 hours

Chapter 5

The Media and Claims

Media and the Claimsmaking Process Slide 1

Many claimsmakers seek media attention.

How can they get it?

Why might it be difficult to get?

Media and the Claimsmaking Process Slide 2

 Media coverage plays an important role in

how social problems are constructed.

 Activists, experts, and other claimsmakers

hope that the media will bring their claims to

wider audiences and policymakers.

 However, media coverage usually alters the

original claim.

Media and the Claimsmaking Process Slide 3

 There are constraints on media workers.

 Deadlines

 Space and time limits (the “newshole”)

 Audience desires entertainment

 As a result, primary claims are transformed

into secondary claims by the media.

Media and the Claimsmaking Process Slide 4

 Claimsmakers compete for media attention.

 Claimsmakers try to present their claims as

new, fresh material for the media.

 The marketplace for social problems can be

thought of as multiple arenas, each with a

limited carrying capacity.

 Media workers decide what claims are

presented in the arena they manage.

Media and the Claimsmaking Process Slide 5

 News work locates and presents the news.

 News work is constrained by economic

factors, deadlines, and cultural limitations

(such as professionalism).

 News work seeks claims with an

entertainment value (“brand-new” stories,

easily filmed events, or claims that have

compelling typifying stories).

Media and the Claimsmaking Process Slide 6

 News work follows professional standards.

 News workers may feel obligated to balance

coverage by reporting views from “both sides”

 News workers pay attention to rivals and the

stories they decide to cover.

 News workers try to avoid being manipulated

by claimsmakers seeking media coverage.

Media and the Claimsmaking Process Slide 7

 Geography influences what claims are heard.

 News workers are concentrated in large cities.

 Even claimsmakers who begin in distant

places tend to migrate to larger media centers.

 Ultimately, the news is a social construction

produced by news workers.

Media and the Claimsmaking Process Slide 8

 How do claimsmakers get media attention?

 Package claims in ways that help news

workers and parallel their constraints

 Give the media advanced notice of events

 Choose interesting individuals to represent

their cause (such as celebrity ambassadors)

 Make events visually interesting for TV

 Seek media that target the intended audience

Changes in the Media Slide 1

 Cable channels, especially 24-hour cable news

networks, which must fill the newshole on a daily

basis, have increased in number.

 Much of the media now target particular

audiences (audience segmentation).

Changes in the Media Slide 2

 The Internet has an unlimited carrying

capacity for claims.

 Claimsmakers can establish an online

presence at a minimal cost.

 The large volume of claims on the Internet can

make it hard to sift and sort claims.

 Social media draws attention to claims.

Packaging Social Problems Slide 1

 Claimsmakers package social problems for

the media and the general public.

 They seek ownership of social problems so

that the media reach out to them.

 They supply landmark narratives that

become synonymous with the social problem.

 They use familiar rhetoric,

 Rhetoric far outside the mainstream is often

ignored.

Packaging Social Problems Slide 2

 These packages are familiar, coherent

views of a particular social problem.

 Packages include condensing symbols.

 Landmark narratives, typifying examples, slogans

 Packages help the media by turning a large

amount of information into a recognizable story.

 Media packages help organize the audience’s

thinking about social problems.

News versus Entertainment

 Social problems appear in popular culture

as well as on the news.

 The way TV shows, books, and other

entertainment media construct social problems

are also affected by constraints.

 Time limits and the need for dramatization

 Entertainment media focus on individuals and

characters, rather than social forces.

Impact of the Media Slide 1

 The media are capable of agenda setting, but

there are constraints on media influence.

 No matter what events might be on the agenda, new

events such as disasters require immediate coverage.

 The media can be influenced to cover (or ignore)

particular topics.

 Of the many existing claims, the media only

highlight a select few.

Impact of the Media Slide 2

 The media play a visible role in the social

problems process, and that role is sometimes

exaggerated.

 The media constantly receive and respond to

feedback.

 They are connected to other actors in the social

problems process.

Impact of the Media Slide 3