Government 2

Does the media impact our public opinion / impact how we think about events?

· Picture Hurricane Katrina happening and everything only being on the radio.

· Picture 9/11 happening and only being on the radio.

People, Government and Communications

· There are TWO types of media to think about when you think about media – print media and broadcast media.

· Print Media – media in print – newspapers and magazines.

· Broadcast Media – electronic media – sound and images – radio and television and the internet. This is not just the news, news shows, televising presidential debates – think also about movies that make political statements. Examples of singers that sing about political ideas (Eminem, Natalie Maines speaking out against President Bush at a concert for military action in Iraq).

· Does the media play a role in communications from the government?

· Examples? Presidential election debates, press conference from President Obama, weekly radio address.

· Does the media shape your political views?

· Think about the type of government we live in and how the media effects us versus if you lived in a communist country media flows more freely in “one direction” – the government feeding information to its citizens versus the public responding to public opinion.

The Development of the Mass Media in the United States

Newspapers

· There is a big difference in the way newspapers were in 1775 in the colonies and newspapers today.

· In 1775 there were about 37 weekly newspapers that were read by the people that have land and money – newspapers were not independent but politically affiliated and published by parties to advance ideas of the party.

· In the 1830s newspapers started to be published daily and started private ownership.

· Daily papers by circulation as of January 2015 – print and electronic circulation:

· Wall Street Journal – 2.3 million every day

· USA Today – 3.2 million every day

· New York Times – 1.8 million every day

· Dallas Morning News – 400,000 every day

Magazines

· When you think about magazines think daily or monthly – less frequency.

· This is more specialized than newspapers – more analytical – they have more time to examine and do research on something than a daily newspaper does.

· Usually more specialized – not just an overview of all news – but some specific topic – from a magazine catering to Democrats to one on celebrities.

· Weekly magazines and their weekly circulation:

· Time – 3.3 million copies.

· National Enquirer – 1 million (at its height 6 million)

· People – 3.75 million – 46.4 million people are in their readership – when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had their baby Shiloh – People paid $4.1 million to them for the first photos and there were 26.5 MILLION page views on their internet page – the single largest daily internet traffic ever. Does People impact people and their viewpoints?

Radio

· Regularly scheduled and continuous broadcasting on the radio began in 1920 on two stations – KDRA in Pittsburg and WWJ in Detroit.

· They both broadcast the election returns in the 1920 election where President Warren Harding won.

· First radio network – NBC (National Broadcasting Company) – was formed in 1926.

· President Franklin D. Roosavelt did the first “fireside chat” on radio in 1933.

· There are over 13,000 licensed broadcast stations.

· Over 90% of Americans still listen to the traditional AM/FM frequency at least once each week.

Television

· By 1940 there were 23 television stations in the US.

· By 1950 there were 98 television stations in the US but only 9% of American households had a television.

· Today – 98% of American households have at least one television.

· Think about the way television can shape the information you receive from the government – news programs, the Sunday news debates, televising the thing the president is doing on a daily basis, CSPAN.

The Internet

· The internet began in 1969 when computers at 4 universities were connected to form ARPANET with the support of the US Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency.

· Early on the internet was used to transmit email among researchers.

· In 1991 a group of European physicists developed a way to transmit images and graphics over the internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) was born.

· In 1993 there were only 50 websites in existence.

· Today there are over 100 million websites and over 1 billion web users.

· Virtually every government agency, political group and person has a website.

· Think also about bloggers and how they impact our views and how the government and news agencies react to bloggers.

· Think about email chains and how they impact what we do and how we think.

· Over 70% of American use the WWW.

· Does the internet effect the way you communicate with your government and shape your political and social views?

Private Ownership of the Media

· Do not take private ownership of the media for granted.

· Most people in the US think if the government owned the media that would be a bad thing because that would interfere with what information was disseminated to us.

· We have freedom of speech and freedom of the press that other countries do not enjoy.

· China – the Chinese government employs thousands of “Internet police” to prevent “subversive content” from being disseminated about China on the internet. They search phrases like “human rights” every day.

· Google –

· Google resisted the US Government’s request for records for users who were searching for pornography when they were conducting pornography investigations.

· Google accepted the Chinese government’s limitations on blogging and email functions because they wanted to get into that fast growing market.

· Private ownership as opposed to government ownership gives the news media more political freedom to publish and say what they want.

· A consequence of private ownership? The media is dependent on ADVERTISING – depends on advertising revenues to pay the bills and cover their costs. Advertising rates are tied to the audience size (the more they reach the more they pay) – so news operations have to cater to the audiences they serve to get you to watch television and read their publications to attract advertisers.

· About 52 million newspapers are circulated daily – more than 60% of their content is advertising.

· Newsworthiness – the degree to which a story is important enough to be covered in the mass media.

· Judged by audience appeal.

· What impact will it have on listeners and readers.

· Degree of sensationalism (exemplified by violence, conflict, disaster, scandal)

· Timeliness

· “If it bleeds it leads.”

Government Regulation of the Media

· Even though most mass media is privately owned they do have to operate under some government regulation.

· Example: the Federal Communications Commission has regulations regarding the amount of air time provided to each political candidate.

· Government regulation of the media has three aspects:

· Technical and ownership considerations

· Ownership

· Content

· Technical and Ownership Considerations

· Federal Radio Act – in 1927 everyone was broadcasting in radio over each other so that no one could be understood – so the government came in and said everyone that wanted to broadcast had to register and get a license so that you got a specific signal and everyone could be heard.

· Federal Communications Act in 1934 – created the Federal Communications Commission.

· The FCC is an independent regulatory commission.

· Regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, telephone, telegraph, cable and satellite.

· In 1996 Congress revamped the Federal Communications Act in 1996.

· The new law relaxed ownership laws of the media.

· Prior to 1996 one company could only own 12 television stations and 40 radio stations – after 1996 the law said you could own as many as you wanted so long as you did not have over 35% of the market share nationwide.

· After 1996 telephone companies could compete with one another to sell television services.

· After 1996 there was arguably more competition for the public so hopefully cheaper services.

· Regulation of Content

· The First Amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits Congress from abridging the Freedom of the Press.

· The Press means all forms of media.

· The Courts have decided many cases that determine how far that will go.

· The courts struggle most with obscenity – what is obscene – the federal courts are split over this but federal courts have overturned claims of Freedom of the Press when someone is transmitting indecent images over the internet calling them “repugnant to First Amendment Principles.”

· The government overall has stood by the principle of not censoring the press.

· One major exception – during wartime – the government will ask the press not to publish certain information if it would endanger American soldiers – i.e. planned movements in a battle before the battle takes place.

· The FCC used to operate under three rules:

· The fairness doctrine – requiring a station had to provide fair coverage on all public issues.

· The equal opportunities rule – if you give or sell airtime to one candidate for public office you have to make equal time to the other candidate under the same conditions.

· The reasonable access rule – required that stations make their facilities available for all conflicting views on an issue.

· In 1987 under President Reagan the FCC repealed the fairness doctrine: people feared that the stations would then just go all conservative or all liberal because there was no need to provide equal airtime to both types of programs.

· But keep in mind that advertisers want to sell to everyone so they have a role in keeping the broadcast media “in check” – the stations do not want to lose their advertisers because they are too extreme so by in large they try to give off image they are not endorsing any one political view.

Functions of the Mass Media for the Political System

· When you think about the function of the media in our society and in our political system – think about the following as the roles of the media – think about if you are the station that does it the best you are likely to get more advertisers:

· Reporting the News

· When the news media is reporting the news keep in mind they do not create it – the news is a creation of media releases from companies, pr agencies, the White House.

· There is a daily briefing at the White House that tells what the White House wants to get across to the citizens each day – they set an agenda they want each day.

· Congressional offices issue press releases to the media in DC or back home to get across their messages.

· Interpreting and Presenting the News

· The media executives, news editors, and reports are the gatekeepers in directing the news flow – they decide which events to report on and how much time to give them.

· If you have over 5,000 press releases on desk at the New York Times you cannot report on each of those each day – you decide which ones are most newsworthy.

· The rise of the Internet has made more news available more quickly.

· Horse Race Journalism – this is the term that describes how the media will cover the political candidate that is ahead in the polls versus covering the national issues because that is what people are most interested in hearing about.

· Overall – the American public knows more about entertainment news than political facts and figures.

· Influencing Public Opinion

· 9 out of 10 Americans believe the media strongly influences public opinion.

· Measuring the absolute extent of the media’s influence can be difficult.

· When you think about how the media influences public opinion – imagine if Hurricane Katrina had happened with no photographs or images being projected to the rest of the United States – but you only heard about it on the radio.

· Setting the Political Agenda

· Most political scholars believe that the media plays a role in setting the political agenda – which is a list of issues that need government attention.

· The media wants advertisers to pay them, advertisers pay higher rates to media with larger viewership or larger listener base – so the media responds to what you want to hear.

· If that is true then the government will look to the media to see what people are caring about right now.

· Watchdog Journalism – Journalism that scrutinizes public and business institutions and publicizes perceived misconduct – the media can break scandals and serve as a check on wrongdoers.

Evaluating the Media in Government

· As a citizen it is your responsibility to evaluate the media source you are reading – whether they are more conservative or more liberal – and take what they say and evaluate it.

· There are certain media outlets that are known to be more conservative or known to be more liberal – although they may provide coverage to both political candidates because it appeals to the advertisers or general audience – be aware that not all media outlets are totally unbiased.

· Watchdog Journalism

· Journalism that scrutinizes public and business institutions and publicizes perceived misconduct.

· Consider as final point in studying the media whether this would be allowed in another country – would the media be allowed to criticize the government – it our democracy IT CAN!

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