The Media and Politics

1
The Media and Politics

• Politics in the Age of Mass Media

2
Mass Media

• Print Media
• Radio
• Television
• New Media
• Internet
• Social Media

3
Print Media

• 1690 first newspaper published in colonies
• Partisan Press (Federalists/Anti-federalists)
• Penny Press (1833)
• Yellow Journalism (Turn of the 20th Century)
• Hearst Pulitzer
• Oversimplification
• Muckraking ( 1920s)
• Exposing misconduct
• Manufacturing news

4
Radio

• Early twentieth Century
• Center of the home
• FDR Fire side chats.
• Talk Radio 1980s

5
Television

• 1939 Introduced at Worlds Fair
• In most homes by 1960s
• 1963 Television Network News
• 15 minutes per day (2 networks 30 minutes)
• By 1980s 30 minutes 3X day
• Today 24/7 News Networks
• CNN, CSPAN, FoxNews
• Foreign media Al-jezeera, BBC

6
Television in Politics

• Presidential Commercials 1952
• Presidential Televised Debates 1960

7
New Media

• Internet 1980s
• World Wide Web 1989
• Web 2.0 2006
• News Presence
• Social Media
• Twitter
• Facebook

8
Media and Elections

• Politicians and media have a symbiotic
  relationship
• Media focus on conflict and negative
  advertisements
• Media focus on frontrunners and the horserace
• Campaigns focus on spin and soundbites

9
Media and Politics

• Theories of Media and Politics
• Patterson
• Sabato
• Zaller
• Media and Elections
• Debates
• Conventions
• Ads

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Pattersons Out of Order

• Trends in media coverage of elections
• Tone of coverage ? Positive to negative
• Style ? Descriptive to interpretive
• Issues ? Policy issues to reporters issues

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Pattersons Out of Order

• Consequences
• Tone of coverage ? Positive to negative
• Consequence Voters distrust candidates,
  government, media
• Style ? Descriptive to interpretive
• Consequence Voters less informed
• Issues ? Policy issues to reporters issues
• Consequence Voters adopt media frames/primes

12
Sabatos Feeding Frenzy

• Lapdog journalism (1941-1966)
• Reporting that served and reinforced the
  political establishment.
• Watchdog (1966-1974)
• Scrutinized and checked the behavior of political
  elites by undertaking independent investigations
  into statements made by public officials.
• Junkyard dog (1974 to present)
• Reporting that is often and harsh, aggressive
  intrusive, where feeding frenzies flourish and
  gossip reaches print.

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Causes of the Feeding Frenzy

• Advances in media technology
• Competitive pressure
• Political events

14
Zallers Theory of Media Politics

• Theory of campaign coverage needs to take into
  account the different interests of voters, media,
  and candidates
• Voters "Dont waste my time" "Tell me only what
  I need to know"
• Candidates Use journalists to "Get Our Story
  Out"
• Journalists Maximize their "voice" in the news

15
Media and Elections Debates

• 1960 First Televised Debate
• 1984 Reagans Age
• "I will not make age an issue in this campaign. I
  am not going to exploit, for political purposes,
  my opponent's youth and inexperience."
• 1988 - Youre no Jack Kennedy
• 1988 - Death Penalty
• 1992 - Price of milk?
• 2000 - Gore (sighing)

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Media and Elections Conventions

• In the past, party conventions were much more
  important
• Today, they are media events
• Nothing new happens
• Scripted events, speeches
• Today, conventions usually give candidates a
  positive bump in the horserace
• These bumps are short-lived

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Media and Elections Ads

• Political advertising positive vs. negative
• Positive advertising
• Seek to define yourself before your opponent does
  it for you
• Negative advertising
• Does it work?
• Yes ? Voters remember negative ads longer than
  positive ads
• Negative ads provide information to voters

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1964 Daisy Spot
1988 Willie Horton
2000 - Meatball