By Loren Miller

The Early Days

Long before there was a United States, the news media were active in colonial America.

Ben Franklin, in 1729, published one of the earliest newspapers, the Pennsylvania Gazette. Newspapers had relatively low circulation, due partly to cost and partly because they were available only in major cities.

The Penny Press

Beginning in the 1830s, the New York Sun began selling newspapers for a penny copy rather than the standard price of six cents—thus earning the label the penny press.

The price reduction was made possible by cheaper, faster printing presses and it made the newspaper available to the mass public.

The increase in circulation made it possible to hire larger staffs of reporters.

The telegraph also aided newspapers by enabling reporters throughout the country to quickly send stories home for publication.

Yellow Journalism

The period after the Civil War saw the beginning of yellow journalism.

This new type of newspaper reporting appealed to a wider audience by using bold headlines, illustrations, and sensational stories.

William Randolph Hearst helped to precipitate the Spanish-American War by influencing public opinion in favor of war.

“You furnish the pictures, I’ll furnish the war”

The FCC

The FCC was created in 1934 to regulate broadcast media. At that time this meant radio stations and subsequently included television stations, cable TV, and other communication technologies.

A central concern was that one company might buy enough stations to dominate the airways in an area. This led the FCC to limit the number of radio and television stations a company could own in a community.

The FCC

In the late 1940s the FCC developed the “fairness doctrine” which required TV and radio stations to offer a variety of political views in their programming.

Sunday morning talk shows and interviews

The FCC also created the “equal time” provision which states that if a radio or television station gives air time to a candidate outside its news coverage, then it has to give equal time to other candidates running for the same office.

Deregulation

After the development of cable TV, satellite TV and the Internet many sources of information became available to citizens. Hence, there was pressure to deregulate.

Since 1996, the FCC has abolished most ownership restrictions.

The trend now is concentration of media sources and cross ownership where one company owns several different kinds of media outlets in a community.

News Corporation

Fox Television Stations Film Companies Books and Magazines 27 U.S. stations 20th Century Fox The Weekly Standard Fox Searchlight Pictures TV Guide Fox Television Studios 3 Other Magazines

Blue Sky Studios 45 Book Publishers 11 Other Film Companies

Satellite and Cable Newspapers Other DirecTV New York Post L.A. Kings Fox News Channel Wall Street Journal L.A. Lakers46 Other Cable Channels 4 UK newspapers Hulu.com 20 Australian Newspapers 18 websites

24 local U.S. newspapers 15 other businesses

The Media and the Electoral Process

Running a campaign for office is unthinkable today without strong presence on the Internet, including heavy use of social networking media.

At the same time, traditional media such as daily newspapers and broadcast television and radio remain vitally important to political parties and their candidates for public office.

The Source of Your Political Information

How many candidates for president did you see (face to face) in 2012? For U.S. senator? For the U.S. House of Representatives?

-- If you didn’t see these people to form an opinion about them and their views, then how did you learn about them?

-- where did your political information come from?-- 100 years ago people did not know much about candidates for office, but they did know about political parties

-- today, candidates have greater control over their campaigns

Election of 1900

Note the prominent position of the party label

Let’s Check Out Some Television Ads From 2012

http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2012

The first is for Mitt Romney (“5 Trillion”)

The second is for Barak Obama (“Always”)

What’s missing from each commercial?

The Media

Sixty years ago, newspapers dominated the mass media that affected American politics

-- people learned the new of the day through their daily newspapers and in major cities multiple newspapers competed with each other and morning and afternoon newspapers were standard

Thirty years ago, three major networks dominated television broadcasting

-- in 1980 42% of all television households in the United States were tuned into the nightly news broadcasts

-- in 2009 only 15% were tuned into the nightly news

The Media

While television remains the most important media source in the political world, it is also true that the Internet is assuming a greater role in American politics

-- in 2010, 46% of Americans went online for news three or more times a week

-- in 2010, 41% of Americans used the Internet as their primary source for news

The web has passed newspapers as a main source of news for Americans

-- this development is more pronounced among the young and those with a college education

Percentage of Americans Who Regularly Watch/Read/Listento News via Various Outlets

Local Television News 50Dailey Newspaper 40Search Engine 33Community Newspaper 30Network Evening News 28Fox News 23Network Morning Shows 20CNN 18Social Networking Sites 16Network Sunday Morning Shows 16National Public Radio 11MSNBC 11Online Blogs 11The O’Reilly Factor 10The Daily Show 7Rush Limbaugh Radio Show 5

Pew Research Center, 2010

Partisanship and Credibility

Believe All or Most of Republicans Democrats GapWhat Organization Says

Fox News 41% 21% +20

USA Today 16 20 -4

Network News 17 30 -13

New York Times 14 31 -17

60 Minutes 25 42 -17

CNN 19 40 -21

National Public Radio 16 37 -21

MSNBC 13 34 -21

2010

Media Sources for News

Local T

V

Newsp

aper

s

Radio

Inte

rnet

Cable

TV

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

20002008

The Media

The number of blogs, where anyone can post political commentary increases every day as does their readership

Almost any individual can produce and disseminate video across the web

Almost everyone has a cell phone with a digital camera and politicians know that they are never truly off the record (Mitt Romney and the 47%)

Social networking sites have made it easier than ever for individuals to disseminate information to potentially large audiences

There is no doubt that the Internet has changed politics in important and dramatic ways

“All my life, developing credentials to covermy field of work, and now I’m up against a

guy named Vinny in an efficiency apartmentin the Bronx who hasn’t left the efficiency

apartment in two years.”

Brian Williams, NBC News

Not all bloggers are like “Vinny”.

Many bloggers have backgroundsvery similar to traditional journalists,

and have a wide following.

538.com

The Daily Kos

Hugh Hewitt

(Liberal)

(Conservative)

The Impact of the Internet

It is more difficult for politicians to control their message and content

Twenty years ago, politicians had a pretty good idea of what sources their constituents would turn to for news

-- national politicians were concerned about the major networks

-- statewide politicians concentrated on local outlets, television stations and major newspapers

-- local politicians hoped for television coverage but tried to ensure that the local press covered them adequately

The Impact of the Internet

Today’s politicians try to find an audience wherever it might appear

Candidates appear on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report

Candidates have elaborate websites and produce video and other content specifically for websites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter

Candidates participate in conference calls with popular bloggers

The media environment is so fragmented that media consultants worry about where to communicate a message just as much as they worry about what the message is to communicate

18-29 30-44 45-64 65+0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

% Who Learn About CampaignsFrom Comedy Shows

AgeColbert Report

The Media

Prior to the 1970s, reporters covered the news. Today, candidates for office take actions in order to be covered by the media—and preferably covered in their own terms.

Politicians try to structure the ways in which they appear on “free media” outlets.

-- Saturday Night Live; The Colbert Report; Leno, Letterman or O’Brien (Bill Clinton on Arsenio Hall Show, 1992)-- there is some evidence that politicians raise more money after appearing on these shows

“Paid media” is used to present the message as they define it in a way most likely to impact the intended audience.

Paid Media

Paid commercials for political campaigns come from three sources:

-- candidates and their campaigns

-- the political parties-- interest groups

Two categories of television advertisements:-- spot advertisements

-- under one minute in length; colorful and polished-- longer advertisements

-- often thirty minutes in length (infomercials) -- many consultants believe that the attention span of people is too short for these to be effective

Purpose of Advertisements

Once a candidate has achieved viability, advertisements are used for one of two purposes:

-- either they are intended to convince people to vote for the candidate

-- positive ads

-- or they are designed to denigrate an opponent-- negative ads

Why use negative or attack ads?-- candidates believe that these techniques are

effective-- do negative campaigns keep qualified people from seeking elective office?

-- do negative campaigns turn off voters?

Politicians View of the Media

“You can’t live with ‘em’ . . . .

Politicians complain frequently about:-- how unfairly they are treated by the media-- how difficult it is to talk about issues-- how paid advertising presents distorted images-- how they wish they could talk about issues at

length, not in sound bites

Their actions tell a different story:-- every politician has a press secretary whose job is to guarantee that the politician is seen frequently in

the media

Politicians View of the Media

Every campaign has a press secretary who is charged with the care and feeding of journalists covering the campaign.

-- candidates treat the press well so that journalists are inclined to treat them favorably

-- press secretaries want to influence the substance of the stories that are reported (the proper “spin”)

Every campaign hires political consultants to design and place effective advertisements.

None of this sounds like politicians who cannot stand the media.

Politicians View of the Media

“ . . . . you can’t live without ‘em’

Elected officials need to communicate with large numbers of people

-- mass media (free and paid) are the only effective means of doing this

The problem is one of balance:-- should private matters from their past be raised in a campaign?

-- alleged instances of infidelity (Clinton, 1996)-- tax returns (Romney, 2012)-- medical records (McCain, 2008)

Managing the News

Campaign organizations attempt to manage the news to present their candidates in the most positive light.

-- campaign managers choose a single theme to emphasize each campaign day (taxes, the environment, crime)

-- if the candidate and the members of the candidate’s team address the same issue and only that issue, the news media will likely focus on that issue

The campaign selects an eye-catching visual backdrop to emphasize the theme of the day.

Managing the News

Campaign managers carefully brief the candidates to stick to the campaign script.

-- each speech includes one or two carefully worded phrases that can be used as sound bites

-- “Read my lips, no new taxes” (G.H.W. Bush, 1988)-- “Obamacare” (Romney, 2012)