The Media
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Transcript of The Media
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.
In 2012, six companies control 90% of American media
Comcast (64.7 Billion) Google (59.8 Billion)Universal Pictures You TubeNBC Google +E! BloggerNBC Sports ZagatBravoFocus FeaturesUSATelemundoMSNBCHulu
Disney (45.0 Billion) News Corp (33.7 Billion)ABC Wall Street JournalESPN Harper CollinsMarvel Studios New York PostA & EPixar
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 RegularlyWatch/Read/Listen
to News via Various Outlets
Local Television News 49CNN 44Daily Newspaper 40Fox News 39Network Evening News 37MSNBC 27Yahoo News 24Google News 22NPR 20
Pew Research Center, 2014
Partisanship
2014
More Liberal More Conservative
Average
Yahoo NewsWall Street Journal
Fox News Drudge Report
Rush Limbaugh ShowSean Hannity ShowGlenn Beck Program
NBC NewsCNN
MSNBC
Daily ShowAl JazeeraNPRColbert ReportNew York Times
CBS NewsGoogle NewsABC NewsUSA Today
Washington PostPBSBBCHuffington Post
Media Sources for News
Television Internet Radio Newspapers0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
8068
0
535857
22
41 42
57
3934
29
199120042012
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
Age
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?
Campaign Advertising
Organization Spending (millions) Negative Ads (%)
Candidates Obama Campaign $ 333 82 Romney Campaign 147 91
Parties RNC 30 100 DNC 23 100
Republican American Crossroads 128 97 Groups Restore Our Future 77 81 Americans For Prosperity 35 100
Democratic Priorities USA 39 100 Groups Planned Parenthood 3 100 Service Employees Union 2 73
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)