CHAPTER 07

The Media & Political

Information

© 2023 W. W. Norton & Co., Inc.

The Media: Formats
The importance of the media is evident in the First Amendment.

• Media are print and digital forms of communication that convey

information to large audiences.

• Formats include:
• Print: newspapers, magazines, and books
• Broadcast: radio and television
• Digital: websites, social media, and other online sources

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The Media: Democracy, 1 of 2
The media are essential to democracy.

• Role in American democracy:

• Informing the public about current political issues and events
• Providing a forum for candidates, politicians, and the public to
debate policies and issues
• Acting as a watchdog on the actions of politicians and
government

• Without the media, we would have to rely entirely on information

provided by the government. 3
The Media: Democracy, 2 of 2
The news media help level the playing field between political elites who
have high levels of political knowledge and “the people.”

• Without the news media, the public would not know as much about
the actions of political leaders and corporations.
• As such, the public would have less opportunity to challenge those
with power in the face of corruption.

• In their third role, the media serve as a watchdog for the public.
• The media scrutinize the actions of elected officials on behalf of
citizens.
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The Media on Alleged Misconduct

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The Media: Journalism
Journalists are guided by professional standards in reporting the news in
the public interest, including:
• fact checking
• verifying sources as legitimate and credible
• engaging in investigative journalism

Traditional news media aim to balance coverage of current events

through principled journalism.
• Reporting that involves being as accurate, fair, and balanced, relying
on original sources, and presenting multiple viewpoints.

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Adversarial Journalism, 1 of 2
The media practice adversarial journalism more than ever before.
• Journalists may adopt a stance of opposition or combative style
towards the government or public officials.

Growth of adversarial journalism in the 1960s and 1970s is a reversal of

more cordial relationship between presidents and media .
• Examples: the Vietnam War, the Watergate break-in, Donald Trump’s
federal income taxes
It is easy to criticize the media for their aggressive tactics, but adversarial
journalism is critical to democratic government.
Adversarial Journalism, 2 of 2
Political journalists sometimes rely on leaks.

• Leaks are the disclosure of confidential government information to

the news media.
• Leaks may originate from a variety of sources.
• These include “whistleblowers,” lower-level officials who hope to
publicize what they view as improper activities.

• Most leaks, though, originate with senior government officials,

prominent politicians, and political activists.
Citizen Journalism
Journalism is no longer exclusive to professional journalists.

Citizen journalism: news reported and political commentary

distributed by citizens, advocacy groups, and eyewitnesses to crises,
often by cell phone images or video and distributed via social media.
• Cameras on cell phones make it easy for millions of Americans to
photograph or record events.
• Social media permit users to upload content that can be shared or
relayed by the mainstream media.
• Example includes Darnella Frazier recording the murder of George
Floyd by Minneapolis police office Derek Chauvin in May 2020.
Opinion-Driven Journalism
Digital media has given rise to an increase in political commentators.
Opinion-driven journalism: political blogs and talk shows where the
writer or host provides highly opinionated personal commentary.
• Open-driven journalism blurs the boundaries between objective
journalism and subjective reporting.
Many cable television shows engage in journalism of assertion.
• This is the publishing or broadcasting of information or opinion as
quickly as possible, with minimal fact-checking.
Journalism of affirmation puts forth opinion and information that is
consistent with consumer’s preexisting beliefs.
The Media: Profit Motive
Media are concentrated within privately owned companies and have a
motive to make a profit.
• Public broadcasting plays a major role in most other democratic
countries, but has a very small role in the United States.
• Media companies earn revenue through advertising and need to reach
a wide audience.
• More focused on soft news (e.g., entertainment stories)
• Political news more focused on sensational events
• The media industry’s profit motive may have contributed to Donald
Trump’s victory in 2016.
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Media’s Profit Motive: Presidential Debates

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Mass Media Ownership
Concentration of ownership in traditional media

• Media monopolies: ownership and control of media by a few

large corporations
• More than three-fourths of daily print newspapers are owned by
media conglomerates (e.g., Hearst, Gannett).

• Media monopolies are a concern to some people.

• Those who express less popular viewpoints will have difficulty
finding a public forum.
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Media Consolidation

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How the Media Shape News and Information
The media can shape and modify, if not fully form, the public’s perception
of events, issues, institutions, and individuals.

• At the same time, the media are influenced by the individuals or

groups who are subjects of the news.
• The president, in particular, has the power to set the news agenda
through speeches, actions, and tweets.
• All politicians seek to shape their media images via good relations
with reporters, and by leaking news and staging news events.

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Agenda Setting
The power of the media to bring public attention to a particular problem
or issue is agenda setting.
• The mass media acts as a gatekeeper.
If the media are persuaded that an idea is newsworthy, they may declare
it an “issue” or “problem” that needs to be confronted and solved.
• The media have two modes: “alarm mode” for breaking stories and
“patrol mode” for greater depth.
• Alarm mode is often triggered in a search for a bigger audience, with
patrol mode coming after.
Civil Rights and Television

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Framing
Framing is the process of presenting information from a certain
perspective to shape the audience’s comprehension of that information.
• Framing includes the media’s power to include or exclude
information.
• It also includes the media’s power to shape the meaning that people
perceive from specific words or phrases, photographs, or video.

Politicians are careful to choose certain words in media coverage.

• Example: When Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022, liberal-leaning
media framed President Biden as a strong leader while conservative-
media framed him as a weak leader.
Priming
Priming is the process of calling attention to some issues and not others
when reporting on political events and officials.
The media can prepare the public to bring specific criteria to mind when
evaluating politicians or issues.
• The media can thus alter how voters make choices.
• Example: During the 2020 presidential campaign, the coronavirus
pandemic was in the national media spotlight.
• This primed voters to evaluate the two candidates, Trump and
Biden, through the lens of the pandemic.
Sources of Political News
Mainstream news organizations adhere to principles of journalism.
• Mainstream news:
• Do original, balanced, and factual reporting
• Use unpaid, credible sources
• Conduct interviews ethically
• Avoid personal bias by editors or reporters

Partisan media are news organizations that mix opinion with factual
reporting to appeal to ideological consumers.
• Partisan media can be identified by ideological agenda setting,
priming, and framing.
Mainstream Media: Republicans and Democrats Agree

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How News is Delivered
The platforms we use to view, read, or listen to for political news and
information is an important factor in how we consume the news.

Broadcast media are traditional sources such as television and radio.

• They tend to take the form of one publisher (e.g., television station) to
many (viewers).

News websites are digital sites that are owned and managed by
newspapers.
• They follow the principles of journalism and deliver content similar
to print newspapers.
Who Are
Americans?: How
Do Americans Get
Their Political
News? 1 of 2

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Who Are
Americans?: How Do
Americans Get Their
Political News? 2 of 2

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Advertising Revenue

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News Aggregators
News aggregators organize content from diverse digital news
organizations.
• Stories that appear at the top of news aggregators are those that tend
to be the most read or watched.

Google News and Reddit are examples of “news aggregators.”

• News aggregators can be used as a way to avoid partisan for filtered
media.
• Particularly effective for learning about politics and the world from
an international perspective.
Social Media
Social media sites are diverse, interactive, and convenient for breaking
news.
• They also deliver posts from friends, opinions, citizen journalism,
and many more different content.
Social media differ from traditional media through the use of algorithms.
• Algorithms are software programs that analyze the viewing, likes,
and commenting data of all of a platform’s users.
• Algorithms also analyze an individual user’s prior data, to present
users with additional content tailored to their individual interests.
Social media also has the potential to spread misinformation.
Television News, 1 of 3
Television news still commands larger audiences than other sources.
• Television news serves the important function of alerting viewers to
issues and events—headline news.
• It generally covers fewer topics and provides less depth of coverage
than newspapers and news websites.
• Furthermore, television stations don’t do as much of their own
reporting, instead relying on leading newspapers or digital media.

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Television News, 2 of 3
Comedy talk shows with political content, such as The Daily Show and
The Late Show, attract millions of television viewers.
• These shows use humor and sarcasm to discuss serious topics and
provide social criticism.
• Pew surveys have shown that they are important sources of political
news, especially for young people and liberals.
• Frequent viewers are well informed about politics.
• It is also likely, though, that people who watch comedy news shows
are already quite well informed in the first place.

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Television News, 3 of 3
Media monopolies also affect television news.
• Since 2016, just five large companies (Sinclair, Nexstar, Gray, Tegna,
and Tribune) owned 37 percent of all local U.S. television stations.
• Conglomerate ownership is causing local stations to focus more on
national politics than local politics.
• Local TV continues to be a major source of news, especially for older
Americans, African Americans, and people with less education.
• However, its importance is declining overall, especially among younger
people.
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Radio and Podcasts, 1 of 2
Radio is a less common source of news, compared with television, social
media, and news websites.

• According to the Pew Research Center, 16 percent of people use radio

for news “often” and 32 percent use it “sometimes.”
• The audio news sector in the United States is divided by delivery
formats: traditional terrestrial (AM/FM) radio, and digital.
• Nationwide, nearly one-quarter of Americans prefer to get the news by
listening to it on radio or from podcasts.

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Radio and Podcasts, 2 of 2
In the 1990s, talk radio became an important source of political
commentary as well as entertainment.
• Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity gained huge audiences and helped
to mobilize support for conservative political causes and candidates.
Today it is conservative radio podcasts that bring in large audiences (e.g.,
Joe Rogan and Ben Shapiro).
• Public broadcasting is also an important source for in-depth political
reporting and in the top 10 mainstream news outlets.
• Listeners of public radio have been found to have higher levels of
political knowledge than consumers of other media sources.
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Newspapers
Newspapers are the oldest medium for dissemination of the news.

• Today most Americans read digital rather than print versions, as

previously discussed.
• Just 5 percent of Americans frequently read print newspapers now,
while two-thirds read newspapers online.

• Newspapers are businesses operated primarily for profit.

• Standardized reporting and writing practices emphasizing objectivity
in political news coverage was motivated largely by financial factors.
• Owners of large newspaper companies determined that the best way to
make a profit was to appeal to as broad an audience as possible.
Media Conglomerates

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The Rise of Media Technology Companies
In recent years, big technology companies have become major players in
the business of journalism, creating media technology companies.
• Using computer algorithms and market research, they push specific
news alerts to specific people.
• Digital ad revenue has become one of the most important forms of
advertising.
• Nearly $356 billion was spent on digital advertising in 2020.
• 54 percent of all advertising revenue in the United States was for
digital ads.
The Effect of Big Tech on the Media, 1 of 4
Interdependence of technology and media companies continues to grow.
• In one of the latest trends, technology companies and their CEOs are
developing or buying major news media companies.
• Examples: Disney buying FiveThirtyEight and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos
purchasing the Washington Post.

• High-tech collaborations are changing how Americans learn about

current events in the United States and globally.
• A growing number of Americans read or watch the news using
social media platforms such as You-Tube, Twitter, or Facebook.
The Effect of Big Tech on the Media, 2 of 4
One of the costs of the transformation of the media to digital and citizen
journalism has been less rigorous fact-checking and editorial standards.
• Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg came under fire for allowing
politicians to lie in 2020 political campaign ads.

• While Facebook cracked down on made-up news flooding its platforms

after the 2016 presidential election, politicians were exempt.
The Effect of Big Tech on the Media, 3 of 4
The algorithms used in social media have a profound effect on what
constitutes the news and political information.
• In 2021, a former Facebook employee, revealed to the world how the
company’s software engineers used algorithms.
• News articles and posts likely to make readers angry were scored
5 points; those likely to make readers happy were scored with a 1.
• This formula was intended to drive traffic, encouraging readers to
come back to the platform and thereby earn revenue for Facebook.
• The algorithms, however, did more than drive revenue—they also
fostered public anger, divisiveness, and polarization.
The Effect of Big Tech on the Media, 4 of 4
Social media companies finally took a firm and unified stance against the
dangers of misinformation following the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
• On this day, Donald Trump held a rally in Washington, D.C., where he
called for the election result to be overturned
• After his speech ended, the large mob broke through a police barricade
and into the Capitol building, destroying property and injuring many.
• Trump posted mixed messages on social media calling the mob “great
patriots” and eventually tweeting to “go home with love & in peace.”
• Following this event, Trump was banned from Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter, and other platforms for instigating the mob violence.
What Americans Think of the Media, 1 of 2
Views about the influence of the media in American politics have shifted
dramatically since Joe Biden was elected president.
• Today 41 percent of Americans believe news organizations are gaining
influence, while 33 percent believe their influence is declining.
• A year before, 48 percent of Americans said news organizations were
less important and about 30 percent said their influence was growing.
• These patterns are found for Republicans and Democrats alike.
• Overall, Republicans are more likely to say the news media are
losing their influence.
What Americans Think of the Media, 2 of 2
Trust in the news media is linked to views about its influence.
• People who have greater trust in national news organizations tend to
be more likely to see the news media as gaining influence.
• Those with low levels of trust are generally more likely to see it
waning.
• There are partisan differences in trust when it comes to the news
media’s watchdog role and perceived fairness in political coverage.
• Democrats, for example, are much more likely than Republicans to
think information from national news organizations is
trustworthy.
Trust in Media

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Polarized Information Environments and Media Bias, 1 of 2
People tend to select news sources that conform with their political
beliefs.
Confirmation bias: the tendency to favor information that confirms a
person’s existing beliefs and discounting evidence that could challenge
those beliefs.
Filter bubble: partisan media environments in which users are exposed
to opinions and information that conforms to existing beliefs.
Media echo chambers: closed communication systems in which
individual beliefs are amplified or reinforced by repetition.
Polarized Information Environments and Media Bias, 2 of 2
The vast majority of Americans get information from sources that reflect
moderate and/or diverse political viewpoints.
• With the exception of Fox News, many mainstream news sources are
not explicitly ideologically biased in one direction or another.
• Most have been found to be centrist.
• Of course, many people perceive particular news stories to be biased.
• This perception may be what drives ideological self-selection of
news sources.
Misinformation, 1 of 2
Misleading content, hate speech, and factual errors can overwhelm
factually based voices.
Misinformation: false, inaccurate, or misleading information in the
media, especially social media.
• Can include manipulated or fabricated content or satire.

Four in ten Americans report “often” coming across made-up news and
another half say they “sometimes” do.
• Websites such as FactCheck.org, Snopes.com, and PolitiFact.com are
devoted to checking the truthfulness of political claims.
Misinformation, 2 of 2
In the 2016 presidential election, circulation of the top 10 fake news
stories on Facebook was more widespread than the top real news stories.
• A study found that fake news stories on social media about the election
disproportionately favored Trump.
• The Russian government was also involved in generating many of the
fake news stories to discredit Hillary Clinton and her campaign.
• Social media platforms clamped down on misinformation in the 2020
election, but it was still widespread.
Media: Media Personalities

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Fact-Checking and the Media

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Who Participates?: Who
Sees Fake News . . .
and Who Does
Something about It?

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Who Sees, and Shares, Fake News?

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What Do People Do about Fake News?

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Broadcast Media Regulation, 1 of 3
In the United States, print and online media are essentially free from
government regulation.
• Broadcast radio and television, however, are regulated by the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC), an agency established in 1934.
• Radio and TV stations must have FCC licenses, which must be renewed
every five years.
• The FCC has sought to prohibit radio and television stations from
airing explicit material between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
• This time is when the audience is most likely to include children..

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Broadcast Media Regulation, 2 of 3
In 1996, Congress passed the Telecommunications Act.
• The legislation loosened restrictions on media ownership.
• It allowed telephone companies, cable television providers, and
broadcasters to compete with one another.
• Following the passage of this act, mergers followed, creating media
tech giants and media conglomerates.
• The result was a greater concentration of media ownership than had
been possible previously.

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Broadcast Media Regulation, 3 of 3
Specific regulations:
• Equal time rule
• Broadcasters must provide candidates for political office with equal
opportunities to communicate their messages.
• Right of rebuttal
• Individuals must have the opportunity to respond to personal
attacks made on radio or television broadcasts.
• Fairness doctrine ensured that broadcasters gave equal time to both
sides of an issue; however, the FCC revoked the doctrine in 1987.
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How To: Evaluate a
News Source

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Effects of Tolerance and Knowledge, 1 of 2
The diversity of digital media may lower tolerance for social, religious,
and political diversity, leading to more partisan polarization and conflict.
• Fully 85 percent of Americans believe that the tone and nature of
political debate in the United States has become more negative.

• This is partly attributable to the fact that digital media often do not
abide by traditional media’s practice of objective journalism.

• Search engines and social media algorithms cater to our individual

preferences.
• This makes it increasingly easy to select news that conforms with
our own beliefs. 56
Effects of Tolerance and Knowledge, 2 of 2
Despite the dramatic rise in available political information, average levels
of political knowledge in the population have not increased.

• The failure to increase levels of knowledge reflects information

environments shifting to be more entertaining and less informative.
• If digital media are to create a more informed democratic process, they
must produce more substantive political information.
• Citizens need “information literacy”—the ability to find and evaluate
that information.

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Public Opinion Poll: Q1
Where do you get most of your information about news and current
events?
a) online news website
b) Facebook or Twitter
c) television
d) radio
e) newspaper

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Public Opinion Poll: Q2
Is news bias a problem on broadcast television news?

a) Yes, it is a problem. Legitimate news stories should present

multiple points of view.
b) No, it is not a problem. People who are truly interested will find
more information and perspectives online.
c) There is no bias.

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Public Opinion Poll: Q3
Your generation has unprecedented access to information, fluency
with technology, and connections via social media. What impact will
this have on voter participation in decades to come?

a) more voters who are better informed than ever

b) more voters who feel direct connection to candidates
c) fewer voters; information made them distrustful
d) fewer voters; they are too busy updating their profiles to vote

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Public Opinion Poll: Q4
WikiLeaks posted private government documents online. Does the
public have a right to have this information since the public funds
government? Or should publishing state secrets be a crime?

a) The public has a right to government information.

b) Publishing state secrets should be penalized.
c) There is no such thing as a secret anymore, so there is no point in
trying to keep one or punish the publishers.

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Public Opinion Poll: Q5
Some nations restrict foreign ownership of major media outlets.
Should the United States adopt such a policy?

a) yes
b) no

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Additional
Additional Information
Information
Following this slide, you will find additional images, figures, and
tables from the textbook.

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Student Journalism

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Photojournalism

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Leaks

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Citizen Journalism and the Media

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Andrew Cuomo

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Party Identification of Media Consumers

DEMOCRATIC/ REPUBLICAN/
ALL U.S. ADULTS LEANDEMOCRATIC LEANREPUBLICAN
Fox News 39% 23% 60%

ABC News 33 37 30

CBS News 30 33 26

NBC News 34 40 28

CNN 39 53 24

NPR 20 30 11

New York 20 31 9
Times
Washingto 17 26 8
n Post

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America Side by
Side:
Global Freedom of
the Press
Internet Use and
Political News

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The Media & Political Information

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