VI. Understanding the Mass Media

A. The media are so crucial in today's society that they are often referred to as the "fourth branch of government" (a description that has also been applied to other institutions such as the bureaucracy).

1. **** In the United States, elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media are the key linkage institutions. Linkage institutions are the channels or access points through which issues and people's policy preferences get on the government's policy agenda.

2. The media have a profound impact on the political policy agenda.
B. The media and the scope of government

1. The watchdog function of the media helps to keep government small.

a. Many observers feel that the press is biased against whoever holds office and that reporters want to expose them in the media. With every new proposal being met with skepticism, regular constraints are placed on the growth of government.

b. The watchdog orientation of the press can be characterized as neither liberal nor conservative, but reformist.

2. When they focus on injustice in society, the media inevitably encourage the growth of government.

a. Once the media identify a problem in society, reporters usually begin to ask what the government is doing about the problem.

b. The media portray government as responsible for handling almost every major problem.

C. Individualism and the media

1. The rise of television has furthered individualism in the American political process.

a. Candidates are now much more capable of running for office on their own by appealing to people directly through television.

b. Congress is difficult to cover on television because there are 535 members, but there is only one president, so the presidency has increasingly received more exposure vis-a-vis the
Congress, as an institution. Members of the judicial branch, as a general rule, tend to shun the
media.

D. Democracy and the media

1. The rise of the "information society" and the "information highway" has not brought about the rise of the "informed society."

a. The media do a much better job of covering the "horse race" aspects of politics than of
covering substantive issues.

b. With the media's superficial treatment of important policy issues, it is not surprising that the incredible amount of information available to Americans today has not visibly increased
their political awareness or participation.

2. The media's defense is to say that this is what the people want. Network executives claim that they are in business to make a profit, and to do so they have to appeal to the maximum number of people.

Vocabulary Notes:

1) high-tech politics - the current American political system in which the behavior of citizens and policy makers, as well as the political agenda itself, is increasingly shaped by technology.

2) mass media - the mass media consists of television, radio, newspapers, magazines, on-line services, and other means of popular communication, also called "the press," because they reach out and profoundly influence not only the elites but the masses.

3) media events - an event that is staged primarily for the purpose of simply being covered.

4) soundbite -short video clips of approximately 15 to 30 seconds, which are typically all that is shown from a politician's speech or activities on the nightly television news.

5) "the press" - the media that includes television, radio, newspapers, magazines, wire services, and on-line services, among others.

6) press conferences - meetings with reporters.

7) investigative journalism - the use of detective-like reporting methods to unearth scandals.

8) print media - that portion of the mass media which include newspapers and magazines.

9) broadcast media - that portion of the mass media which consist of television and radio.

10) yellow journalism - the term used to describe sensational news reporting.

11) beats - those specific locations where news frequently emanates from, such as the courts, Congress, etc.

12) trial balloons - information leaked for the purpose of determining what the political reaction will be.

13) talking heads - a shot of a person's face talking directly to the camera.

14) policy entrepreneurs - people who invest their political "capital" in an issue and who depend heavily upon the media to get their ideas placed high on the governmental agenda.

15) linkage institutions - the channels or access points through which issues and people's policy preferences get on the government's policy agenda.

To reach out the masses

To influence profoundly

To represent the economic heart of the television industry

To contribute to the increasing costs of election campaigns

To guide the media’s focus

Clout – great political influence

To determine the American political agenda

To use the media effectively

To report on smth

To use detective-like reporting methods to unearth scandals

The print media and the broadcast media

The era of yellow journalism (sensational news reporting)

Governmental disinformation

A “v-chip” in new TV sets - a chip allowing parents to block programmes that they do not want their children to view

To be a newsworthy (about the news)

To be tailored to a fairly low level of audience sophistication

To pursue high ratings

An average viewer

To emanate from

To be compressed to a 30-second news segment (about the information found by journalists)

To be presented in a “point/counterpoint” format (about the bias in the news)

Political neutrality

Journalistic objectivity

To distort reality in its coverage

To focus public attention on specific problems

To shape public opinion

To take precedence over others

To use a leak – a carefully placed bit of inside information that is given to a friendly reporter

To handle a problem=to solve a problem

To appeal to people directly through television

Tasks:

1. Explain the following terms: High-tech politics

Investigative journalism

Media event

Press conference

Yellow journalism

Beat

Trial balloons

Crusading truth-seeker

2. Scan the text for answers to the following questions:

1. What have you learned about the impact of the Mass Media on the American political system today?
2. How did Franklin D. Roosevelt use the media?
3. What events soured the press on the American government and why?
4. Speak on the two types of the media: the print media and the broadcast media.

1) What are the most influential newspapers in America?

2) What president was the first one to hold a live, televised, presidential news conference?

3) What are the advantages of the cable TV over government networks?

4) What do you know about “v-chip”?

1. What are the peculiarities of news defining, finding and presenting?
2. What do you think about the bias in the news?
3. Define the impact of the mass media on public opinion.
4. Speak on the special role of the media.
5. Why are the media called the “fourth branch of government”?
6. What is the difference between the “information society” and “informed society”? Why is it nearly impossible to arrive to the latter?

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