Mass Media and American Politics

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Mass Media and American Politics
PS 349 Winter 2008 Leif Hoffmann
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Outline

• Some personal info
• Office hours
• Syllabus
• structure of the course
• readings assignments
• expectations and requirements
• classroom etiquette
• Wickipedia
• News Media Democracy
• The Medium and the Message
• Outlook

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Personal Info

• Originally from Germany
• studied in Germany and France European Studies
  and International Management
• presently 5th-year doctoral student at the UO
  comparative politics and international relations
• know Oregon for now over 15 years
• Hobbies Neuvieme Art, traveling and taking
  photos
• married, two children

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Amélie
Tristan
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Office Hours
Edward (Ted) Duggan
Jeremy Strickler
Leif Hoffmann
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Syllabus

• Readings
• 3 required books
• Additional readings available on-line at
  Blaclboard or on librarys course reserve website
• Name spring08
• Password clouds

Classroom Etiquette Expectations
requirements Assignments - Op-ed style essay -
Midterm Final
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Wikipedia
Get Fuzzy April 20, 2007
Non Sequitur April 29, 2007
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Whats Media?
Oxford American College Dictionary The main
means of mass communication regarded
collectively Focus here on news media its
relationship and significance for democracy
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News Media Democracy
- Common complaints -

• Media hurting democracy
• News and debate programs being theater
• Failing its responsibility to public discourse
  partisan hackery
• Sensationalism
• Superficial

Anything you want to add to this list?
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News Media Democracy
- Common complaints -

• Some Examples
• Jon Steward on Crossfire, October 15, 2004
  leading to cancellation of show in 2005

Crossfire was a current events debate television
program that aired from 1982 to 2005 on CNN. Its
format was designed to present and challenge the
opinions of a politically liberal speaker and a
conservative speaker.
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vaFQFB5YpDZE
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News Media Democracy
- Common complaints -

• Examples (Cont.)
• The Register-Guard on March 8, 2008

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News Media Democracy

• Examples (Cont.)
• The Register-Guard on March 8, 2008

Letter to the editor News coverage often
superficial I notice there are many letters that
decry The Register-Guards liberal bias or that a
right-wing columnist gets some space. While these
criticisms may have merit, if only to provoke
thought, I would say we Americans settle for news
coverage that barely scratches the surface of
important issues. The press seems to have become
another victim of conglomerate myopia. Spin has
become usual. If I want to know whats really
going on, news in any medium is not likely to
tell it like it is. A prime example is the war in
Iraq. Sanitized and shallow. Filtered ad nauseam.
The tragedy may be too much to bear for the
populace, but that doesnt mean the press should
withhold the terrible costs this, or any war,
wreaks. I know the press corps cant be singled
out for failing, but democracy is a hollow word
without a free and robust press. Come on, news
people. Surely there are enough strong souls left
to infuse the return of a press worth reading,
listening to or watching. William G. Macdonald,
Eugene
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News Media Democracy
What do you think? Are these criticism justified?
What should the relationship between the news
media and democracy be in your opinion?
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Medium Message
Methods of Communication

• Oral
• judicial system, local governments, caucus
  voting, worth of mouth politics Two-Step
  Flow Process
• Written
• print journalism, laws, party platforms,
  petitions
• Video / TV
• TV ads, campaigns and news, congressional
  debates, trials
• Cyberspace / Internet

Thomas Jefferson The Textual Presidency
(Joseph Ellis)
The Great Debate 1960 first presidential debate
between Nixon and Kennedy Watch it at
http//www.museum.tv/debateweb/html/greatdebate/in
dex.htm
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Medium Message
Oral Political Culture

• Advantages
• Interactivity
• Low participation barriers
• Truth ascertaining

• Disadvantages
• Impermanent
• Low complexity
• Danger of demagoguery
• Limited scope

Speaker Corner, Hyde Park, London
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Medium Message
Written Political Culture

• Advantages
• Permanence
• Broad scope
• Complexity and rationality
• Blind to appearance

"The Illinois Baboon

• Disadvantages
• Access costs
• Danger of propaganda

William Taft
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Medium Message
Video Political Culture

• Advantages
• Immediacy
• Vividness scope
• Accessibility
• Sense of character
• Permanence

• Disadvantages
• Cost elite domination
• Manipulation
• Bias to simplicity
• Bias to looks
• Surveillance

Forrest Gump and JFK
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Outlook

• Triumph des Willens
• American Media before the 20th century
• American Media in the 20th century