Political Science paper for 2 page

TheMediaandAmericanPoliticsBeckmannGuest.ppt

What Shapes Media Coverage?

Mass Media Practices

Two Sided Coverage: Climate Change

In spite of growing consensus in the scientific community that global warming is caused by man, reporters tend to cover global warming as a two sided issue.

In a thorough analysis of 636 articles, UCSC scientists found that:
• 52.7 percent gave “roughly equal attention” to the views that humans contribute to global warming and that climate change is exclusively the result of natural fluctuations.
• 35.3 percent emphasized the role of humans while presenting both sides of the debate.
• 6.2 percent emphasized the dubious nature of the claim that anthropogenic global warming exists.
• 5.8 percent contained exclusive coverage of human contributions to Earth’s temperature increases.

Liberal Bias?
National media favors progressive positions
NYT, NPR, Washington Post
Journalists and bureau chiefs are overwhelmingly liberal in preferences
Select and interpret stories with a liberal bent, presenting information that favors liberal positions.
Example: Media coverage of Trump Administration.
Conservative Bias?
Local news tend to be more conservative than national media
Business control of media (post consolidation) leads to pro-business bias.
National conservative pushback against perception of liberal bias
Fox News, WSJ, Limbaugh
Alternative Media and Bias on Steroids?
Trump impact on perceptions of the media.

Sensational Bias

Sensational Campaign Coverage

Horse Race Coverage
Politics is conveyed as a game of winners and losers rather than a serious debate over ideas and issues
Campaign strategies, tactics, victories and blinders are the focus of coverage
Early primary victories build “momentum”
Coverage of Iowa and New Hampshire is far out of line with their delegate share.
States are in competition to move primaries and caucuses earlier in the season to influence election.

Campaign Coverage Still Focuses On 'Horse Race,' Says Study

A new report from Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy analyzes news coverage during the 2016 general election, and concludes that both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump received coverage that was overwhelmingly negative in tone and extremely light on policy.

Horserace coverage today

How the Media shapes Public Opinion

Agenda Setting: Media attention to a problem means the public will focus on the problem and identify it as more important.
Priming: Media attention to an issue causes opinions on that issue to carry greater weight or influence in political considerations
Presidential election coverage
Candidate evaluations
Coverage of Trump economic performance leads voters to assess other decisions from an economic perceptions.
Framing: the content of the story shapes our perceptions, judgments, and opinions
Immigration as a labor issue, a security issue, a human rights issue, etc.

Priming

Selected information provided by elites or media shapes the ways voters are likely to evaluate a candidate or a problem.

Individuals are “primed,” or prepared to evaluate a problem or event in a certain way.

Media framing

Coverage of events tend to interpret information in a specific way, shaping public opinion.
Tobacco consumption as a matter of personal choice
Tobacco Consumption as a health risk to smoker
Tobacco consumption as a individual right.

Issue Framing

Individual preferences are shaped by the way issues are presented to them.
Framing is the process by which potentially relevant considerations are made available and influence how an individual thinks about an issue.
Issue framing occurs when elites/media selectively call attention to specific characteristics of an issue.
Highlighting these characteristics or considerations cause individuals to endorse or oppose a specific policy or opinion.

Examples. The Immigration Debate

Time Magazine Poll: March 29-30 Survey
Two different approaches have been suggested to deal with illegal immigrants. Please tell me which comes closest to your views:
Statement A: Make illegal immigration a crime and not allow anyone who entered the country illegally to work or stay in the United States under any circumstances.
Statement B: Allow illegal immigrants to get temporary work visas so the government can track them and allow them, to earn permanent residence after six years if they learn English, pay a fine, pay back any taxes, and have no criminal record.
Statement A: Illegal immigration is a crime--25%
Statemet B: Allow some immigrants to stay—72%

NBC News/Wall Street Journal Survey (March 2006)
In addition to improving security at our borders, Congress is considering a proposal that would impose a monetary fine on foreigners who are currently in the United States illegally and then grant them legal, temporary-worker status. Which of the following statements do you agree with more?
Statement A: We SHOULD grant temporary-worker status to foreigners who are here illegally. Most of them will stay in the United States anyway, and this plan would allow the government to keep track of them and their activities and require them to pay taxes while they are here.
Statement B: We should NOT grant temporary-worker status to foreigners who are here illegally, as this would make them and their families eligible for government services while they are here. We should not reward people who have broken the law, and this will encourage even more people to enter the United States illegally.
Statement A: Should Grant Temporary-Worker Status—39%
Statement B: Should Not Grant Temporary Worker Status—56%