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Mass Media
POSC 121
Braunwarth

Ideal Media Functions in
Democracies
 Provide accounts to
the public of political
events
 Contribute to the
enactment of policy
 Guard against the
abuse of
governmental power

Alienated From Reality
 99.5% of homes w/
electricity have TVs
 95% watch some TV every
day
 Ave Home: TV on 8 hrs/day
 Ave Adult: watches 5
hrs/day
 By age 6: more time
watching TV than will speak
to father for rest of your life

Importance of Television
 “Television news is news that
matters”
 This is the primary source of
political information in the U.S.
 For 60% -70% of the population it is
the sole source
 Shapes the public’s conception of
political life in pervasive ways
 Primary source of political
information
 Incredible power to shape public
thinking
 Are a number of “gatekeeping”
concerns that determine what will
become news

Mediated Reality
 People are increasingly alienated from a
direct experience of reality
 Especially social and political reality
 Live in a mediated reality
 Social and Political reality are social
constructions which become the objective
reality of political action
 Almost entirely occurs through the mass
media

Information and a Democratic
Citizenry
Why important for Political Information?
 In order for democracy to function well
masses require access to both accurate
information as well as some context of the
larger social forces within which this
information makes sense

The Business of the News
 News is a business, a big business.
 The demands and limitations that arise from the drive to
make money have a major effect on the content of the
news.
 The subtle ways that business imperatives shape
content are very important to the construction of our
mediated political reality.
 What are they selling?
 Not space, but you - the audience
 If you wanted to maximize the audience for a news
broadcast, what would the news look like?

Commercial Concerns
 Lengthy explanations of the complexity of politics or
visuals and sound bites?
 Government at work or scandal and negativity?
 Enlightening or Entertaining?
 Event-Driven spontaneous news with good pictures
or more substantive political analysis?
 The news is going to be Sensational, Superficial,
and Controversial
 In sum, the Spectacle > the Substance of politics

Ownership and Control
 In the U.S., we pride ourselves on our “free” media; free
from what?
 Free from government control
 But not free from the requirements of the market
 News marketplace today is shaped by what will
maximize an audience
 Ratings are the ultimate in democracy; people get what
they want
 Is this the same as the public interest?
 Gives people what they want to hear, not what they need
to know
 Marketing the News drives news to the lowest common
denominator

Homogenized Content
Jefferson wrote that he
would rather live in a
country with lots of
newspapers and no
government than a
country with
government but no
newspapers, why?
Fear of concentrated
power and a lack of
diversity

Homogenized News
Market forces have lead to an increased
consolidation of news media outlets
 Facilitated by weakening of FCC rules
 Leads to less diversity and more
homogenization
 Don’t hear a variety of perspectives
 Exacerbated by “pack journalism” so no one
gets “scooped” or stands alone

Homogenized Content
 This decreases diversity in the mainstream news
 Present essentially the same information in an
effort to non-partisan and objective
 In order to compete for the largest audience, are
you going to challenge viewers’ understandings
or give the information that confirms their
possible erroneous expectations and
stereotypes?

John Stuart Mill
 Government is needed to create the conditions that
enable people to create happiness and avoid pain
 Preference is given to the pleasures of the cultivated
mind over base animal appetites
 Liberty is key: the only purpose for which power can be
rightfully exercised over another…is to prevent harm to
others
 Critical of racism and sexism
 Advocated worker protections and control
 Also concerned about the tyranny of tastes and opinions

John Stuart Mill: On Conformity,
Individuality, and Liberty
Mill worries about the tyranny of public
opinion
 For J.S. Mill, very important to be exposed to
a variety of opinions and a diversity of ideas
 “Marketplace of Ideas”
What would Mill think of our “free” private
news media?

Private “Free” Media
 Does the mass media
contribute to or short-circuit
the democratic
process?
 Do we have the
information necessary to
make well-informed
decisions?
 How does our discussion
of the mass news media
relate to the course
theme of power v.
freedom?

“News Media and Democracy”
(ch. 9 reader)
 Do “news spectators” get accurate
contextualized information?
 It turns out the news is central to the creation
of a narrow, stereotyped political reality.
 Do news stories change specific beliefs?
 It may not change specific beliefs but it will
tell you what to think about (agenda setting)
and how to think about it (Iyengar and
Kinder). Examples? What’s the big issue
now?

“News Media and Democracy”
 Similarly, the media’s emphasis on episodic framing
leads spectators to attribute blame and responsibility on
individual actors rather than larger social forces
(Iyengar). Examples?
 The media tends to cover the strategy of political actors
rather than the substance of policy. How does this make
news spectators feel?
 Manipulated and, consequently, cynical
 Also, because it is so fragmented and superficial it is
very difficult to learn meaningful political relationships
(Bennett).

The Media Makes Us Stupid?
 A study given soon after we invaded Iraq asked if
respondents agreed to any of three statements:
 Saddam Hussein has been directly linked with the
09/11/01 attacks
 Weapons of Mass Destruction have been found in
Iraq
 World Opinion Favored the U.S. led Invasion of Iraq
 Which are true?
 All are “egregious misperceptions”

Who agreed with at least one
statement?
 All Americans
 NPR/PBS
 Fox
 CBS
 ABC
 NBC
 CNN
 Print
 60%
 23%
 80%
 71%
 61%
 55%
 55%
 47%

Homogenized Content
What about Cyberspace? The “Information
Superhighway?
Will it foster democratic communication and
information sharing?
 Or, will it go the way of other media: toward
corporate concentration and control?
While both are occurring, the latter seems to
be predominate

Norm of Objectivity
 Don’t want to appear biased
1. So present “both” sides of an issue
1. 3rd perspectives are excluded
2. Gives equal weight to minor perspectives
2. Limit to “Objective” Sources
1. Other/non-elite sources excluded
2. Bias toward the perspectives of the elite
1. Gives greater power to official sources to
construct/”spin” public opinion
2. Don’t want to appear bias so won’t point out
efforts to manipulate

Norm of Objectivity
In elections, hear about strategy and the
“horse race”, not candidates’ positions
Don’t hear a variety of perspectives
Do we have all the information necessary
to make good decisions?
Enough to develop emotions but not well-informed
opinions

Media Bias
 There are many who claim that the mass
news media is biased toward either the left or
the right
 One of the problems with claims based on
observation is that observation is based on
one’s own perspective
 Like planetary motion, a theory of media bias
should be based on logic and facts

Elite Bias
What facts would support the argument that
the news is biased toward the views of the
corporate and economic elite?
 If those who controlled the media (owners
and advertisers) were members of the
economic elite
 Is this the case?
Why would the views of the owners and
advertisers affect the news?
 Any accepted theory of human nature

Elite Bias
What kind of evidence
would dispute this
argument?
 If we found messages
critical of the elite
perspective
 Do we find these?
 Reporters may be
liberal but work in an
environment controlled
by corporate
conservatives and
perform accordingly

Elite Bias
 In short, a few number of large corporations
own almost all mass news media outlets
 If not outright bias toward the worldview of
the corporate and economic elite, it would be
odd to find messages critical of this position
on these media
 This is further unsurprising as this world view
is widely shared by the population
 Not a bias toward either party but a bias
toward both mainstream parties

Elite Bias
We might find criticism of specific companies
if it meets the demand for spectacle: plane
crashes, tobacco, etc.
 The lack of criticism of a corporate
perspective would not affect the news
media’s emphasis on spectacle and
sensation

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