The influence of government over the media

Government officials have a number of ways to influence

media content• The media are dependent upon officials for the

largest amount of source material• The US government provides a number of subsidies

to media companies• The government protects media companies from

foreign or domestic attack• Officials woo journalists who are compliant• Officials can withhold information• Officials can censor—especially during wartime

Government subsidies

• Newspaper delivery rules

• Third class postal rates

• Special merger rules

• Public broadcasting subsidies

• Spectrum allocation– HDTV bonanza

“According to official sources . . .”

• News organizations depend on official sources for their raw materials and interpretations of events– Must ‘fill in the white space between the ads’

Backgrounding

Quotes

“Exclusives”

White papers

Just being there is 90% of the battleGovernment controls access

• During war, who is in ‘embedded’?– Army control over where they go, who they talk to, what

they say, to some extent

• Press releases• Press conferences

– Who gets called on?– Who isn’t invited back?

• Press passes – Official meetings– Air Force One, etc.– What organizations are considered the ‘press’?

President v. Congress• The administration has much greater control over

sources of information than Congress does– Official secrets– Loyalty to the president

• Hand-picked assistants

– Can remove any leak from inner circle– President is ultimate news source

• No alternative for journalists to turn to

– Physical access of journalists controlled• White House, Pentagon, State, etc.

– Modern focus on, fascination with, president• National spokesperson, “nation’s leader”

Career motivation

• Journalists get ahead by getting “scoops” and inside information– Government officials can use this to control

press behavior• Trial balloons

• “off the record”

• Use press as a weapon against opposition

Media ownership

• Media owners tend to be more conservative than journalists

• Media owners are interested in the business climate of the country– “longer range” view

• Have at times been called upon to keep a story out of the public eye– National security– Inappropriate– Political favor