{"id":221,"date":"2017-08-08T16:41:59","date_gmt":"2017-08-08T16:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/openstax-americangovernment\/chapter\/the-impact-of-the-media\/"},"modified":"2019-06-12T17:40:49","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T17:40:49","slug":"the-impact-of-the-media","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-osamgovernment\/chapter\/the-impact-of-the-media\/","title":{"raw":"The Impact of the Media","rendered":"The Impact of the Media"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\nBy the end of this section, you will be able to:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Identify forms of bias that exist in news coverage and ways the media can present biased coverage<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Explain how the media cover politics and issues<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Evaluate the impact of the media on politics and policymaking<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472273044\">In what ways can the media affect society and government? The media\u2019s primary duty is to present us with information and alert us when important events occur. This information may affect what we think and the actions we take. The media can also place pressure on government to act by signaling a need for intervention or showing that citizens want change. For these reasons, the quality of the media\u2019s coverage matters.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472104896\" class=\"bc-section section\">\r\n<h2>MEDIA EFFECTS AND BIAS<\/h2>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171470300182\">Concerns about the effects of media on consumers and the existence and extent of media bias go back to the 1920s. Reporter and commentator Walter <strong><span class=\"no-emphasis\">Lippmann<\/span><\/strong> noted that citizens have limited personal experience with government and the world and posited that the media, through their stories, place ideas in citizens\u2019 minds. These ideas become part of the citizens\u2019 frame of reference and affect their decisions. Lippmann\u2019s statements led to the <strong>hypodermic theory<\/strong>, which argues that information is \u201cshot\u201d into the receiver\u2019s mind and readily accepted.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nWalter Lippmann. 1922. <em>Public Opinion.<\/em> http:\/\/xroads.virginia.edu\/~hyper\/Lippman\/contents.html (August 29, 2015).\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nYet studies in the 1930s and 1940s found that information was transmitted in two steps, with one person reading the news and then sharing the information with friends. People listened to their friends, but not to those with whom they disagreed. The newspaper\u2019s effect was thus diminished through conversation. This discovery led to the <strong>minimal effects theory,<\/strong> which argues the media have little effect on citizens and voters.\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">Bernard Berelson, Paul Lazarsfeld, and William McPhee. 1954. <em>Voting<\/em>. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nBy the 1970s, a new idea, the <strong>cultivation theory<\/strong>, hypothesized that media develop a person\u2019s view of the world by presenting a perceived reality.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nGeorge Gerbner, Larry Gross, Michael Morgan, Nancy Signorielli, and Marilyn Jackson-Beeck. 1979. \u201cThe Demonstration of Power: Violence Profile,\u201d <em>Journal of Communication 29, No.<\/em>10: 177\u2013196.<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nWhat we see on a regular basis is our reality. Media can then set norms for readers and viewers by choosing what is covered or discussed.\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474409639\">In the end, the consensus among observers is that media have some effect, even if the effect is subtle. This raises the question of how the media, even general newscasts, can affect citizens. One of the ways is through <strong>framing:<\/strong> the creation of a narrative, or context, for a news story. The news often uses frames to place a story in a context so the reader understands its importance or relevance. Yet, at the same time, framing affects the way the reader or viewer processes the story.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474442166\"><em>Episodic framing<\/em> occurs when a story focuses on isolated details or specifics rather than looking broadly at a whole issue. <em>Thematic framing<\/em> takes a broad look at an issue and skips numbers or details. It looks at how the issue has changed over a long period of time and what has led to it. For example, a large, urban city is dealing with the problem of an increasing homeless population, and the city has suggested ways to improve the situation. If journalists focus on the immediate statistics, report the current percentage of homeless people, interview a few, and look at the city\u2019s current investment in a homeless shelter, the coverage is episodic. If they look at homelessness as a problem increasing everywhere, examine the reasons people become homeless, and discuss the trends in cities\u2019 attempts to solve the problem, the coverage is thematic. Episodic frames may create more sympathy, while a thematic frame may leave the reader or viewer emotionally disconnected and less sympathetic (<a class=\"autogenerated-content\" href=\"#OSC_AmGov_08_04_SyrRef\">Figure<\/a>).<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div id=\"OSC_AmGov_08_04_SyrRef\" class=\"bc-figure figure\">\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"825\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2292\/2017\/08\/08164135\/OSC_AmGov_08_04_SyrRef.jpg\" alt=\"An image of an old person. In the background are an adult and a child in a tent.\" width=\"825\" height=\"550\" \/> <strong>Figure 1.\u00a0<\/strong>Civil war in Syria has led many to flee the country, including this woman living in a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan in September 2015. Episodic framing of the stories of Syrian refugees, and their deaths, turned government inaction into action. (credit: Enes Reyhan)[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472419896\" class=\"note american government link-to-learning\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nFor a closer look at framing and how it influences voters, read <a href=\"https:\/\/openstaxcollege.org\/l\/29scotlondoness\">\u201cHow the Media Frames Political Issues\u201d<\/a>, a review essay by Scott London.<\/div>\r\n<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;text-align: initial\">Framing can also affect the way we see race, socioeconomics, or other generalizations. For this reason, it is linked to <\/span><strong style=\"font-size: 1rem;text-align: initial\">priming<\/strong><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;text-align: initial\">: when media coverage predisposes the viewer or reader to a particular perspective on a subject or issue. If a newspaper article focuses on unemployment, struggling industries, and jobs moving overseas, the reader will have a negative opinion about the economy. If then asked whether he or she approves of the president\u2019s job performance, the reader is primed to say no. Readers and viewers are able to fight priming effects if they are aware of them or have prior information about the subject.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"bc-section section\">\r\n<h2>COVERAGE EFFECTS ON GOVERNANCE AND CAMPAIGNS<\/h2>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474428735\">When it is spotty, the media\u2019s coverage of campaigns and government can sometimes affect the way government operates and the success of candidates. In 1972, for instance, the McGovern-Fraser reforms created a voter-controlled primary system, so party leaders no longer pick the presidential candidates. Now the media are seen as kingmakers and play a strong role in influencing who will become the Democratic and Republican nominees in presidential elections. They can discuss the candidates\u2019 messages, vet their credentials, carry sound bites of their speeches, and conduct interviews. The candidates with the most media coverage build momentum and do well in the first few primaries and caucuses. This, in turn, leads to more media coverage, more momentum, and eventually a winning candidate. Thus, candidates need the media.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474404365\">In the 1980s, campaigns learned that tight control on candidate information created more favorable media coverage. In the presidential election of 1984, candidates Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush began using an issue-of-the-day strategy, providing quotes and material on only one topic each day. This strategy limited what journalists could cover because they had only limited quotes and sound bites to use in their reports. In 1992, both Bush\u2019s and Bill Clinton\u2019s campaigns maintained their carefully drawn candidate images by also limiting photographers and television journalists to photo opportunities at rallies and campaign venues. The constant control of the media became known as the \u201cbubble,\u201d and journalists were less effective when they were in the campaign\u2019s bubble. Reporters complained this coverage was campaign advertising rather than journalism, and a new model emerged with the 1996 election.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nElizabeth A. Skewes. 2007. <em>Message Control: How News Is Made on the Presidential Campaign Trail<\/em>. Maryland: Rowman &amp; Littlefield, 79.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474441732\">Campaign coverage now focuses on the spectacle of the season, rather than providing information about the candidates. Colorful personalities, strange comments, lapse of memories, and embarrassing revelations are more likely to get air time than the candidates\u2019 issue positions. Donald <strong><span class=\"no-emphasis\">Trump<\/span><\/strong> may be the best example of shallower press coverage of a presidential election. Some argue that newspapers and news programs are limiting the space they allot to discussion of the campaigns.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nStephen Farnsworth and S. Robert Lichter. 2012. \u201cAuthors\u2019 Response: Improving News Coverage in the 2012 Presidential Campaign and Beyond,\u201d <em>Politics &amp; Policy<\/em> 40, No. 4: 547\u2013556.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nOthers argue that citizens want to see updates on the race and electoral drama, not boring issue positions or substantive reporting.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n\u201cEarly Media Coverage Focuses on Horse Race,\u201d <em>PBS News Hour<\/em>, 12 June 2007.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nIt may also be that journalists have tired of the information games played by politicians and have taken back control of the news cycles.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nStephen Ansolabehere, Roy Behr, and Shanto Iyengar. 1992. <em>The Media Game: American Politics in the Television Age<\/em>. New York: Macmillan.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nAll these factors have likely led to the shallow press coverage we see today, sometimes dubbed <em>pack journalism<\/em> because journalists follow one another rather than digging for their own stories. Television news discusses the strategies and blunders of the election, with colorful examples. Newspapers focus on polls. In an analysis of the 2012 election, Pew Research found that 64 percent of stories and coverage focused on campaign strategy. Only 9 percent covered domestic issue positions; 6 percent covered the candidates\u2019 public records; and, 1 percent covered their foreign policy positions.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n\u201cFrames of Campaign Coverage,\u201d <em>Pew Research Center<\/em>, 23 April 2012, http:\/\/www.journalism.org\/2012\/04\/23\/frames-campaign-coverage.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171470262261\">For better or worse, coverage of the candidates\u2019 statements get less air time on radio and television, and sound bites, or clips, of their speeches have become even shorter. In 1968, the average sound bite from Richard Nixon was 42.3 seconds, while a recent study of television coverage found that sound bites had decreased to only eight seconds in the 2004 election.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nKiku Adatto. May 28, 1990. \u201cThe Incredible Shrinking Sound Bite,\u201d <em>New Republic<\/em> 202, No. 22: 20\u201323.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nThe clips chosen to air were attacks on opponents 40 percent of the time. Only 30 percent contained information about the candidate\u2019s issues or events. The study also found the news showed images of the candidates, but for an average of only twenty-five seconds while the newscaster discussed the stories.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nErik Bucy and Maria Elizabeth Grabe. 2007. \u201cTaking Television Seriously: A Sound and Image Bite Analysis of Presidential Campaign Coverage, 1992\u20132004,\u201d<em> Journal of Communication<\/em> 57, No. 4: 652\u2013675.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;text-align: initial\">This study supports the argument that shrinking sound bites are a way for journalists to control the story and add their own analysis rather than just report on it.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nCraig Fehrman, \u201cThe Incredible Shrinking Sound Bite,\u201d <em>Boston Globe<\/em>, 2 January 2011, http:\/\/www.boston.com\/bostonglobe\/ideas\/articles\/2011\/01\/02\/the_incredible_shrinking_sound_bite\/.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nCandidates are given a few minutes to try to argue their side of an issue, but some say television focuses on the argument rather than on information. In 2004, Jon <strong><span class=\"no-emphasis\">Stewart<\/span> <\/strong>of Comedy Central\u2019s <em>The Daily Show<\/em> began attacking the CNN program <em>Crossfire<\/em> for being theater, saying the hosts engaged in reactionary and partisan arguing rather than true debating.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n\u201cCrossfire: Jon Stewart\u2019s America,\u201d <em>CNN<\/em>, 15 October 2004, http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/TRANSCRIPTS\/0410\/15\/cf.01.html.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nSome of Stewart\u2019s criticisms resonated, even with host Paul Begala, and <em>Crossfire<\/em> was later pulled from the air.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nPaul Begala, \u201cBegala: The day Jon Stewart blew up my show,\u201d <em>CNN<\/em>, 12 February 2015.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474317465\">The media\u2019s discussion of campaigns has also grown negative. Although biased campaign coverage dates back to the period of the partisan press, the increase in the number of cable news stations has made the problem more visible. Stations like FOX News and MSNBC are overt in their use of bias in framing stories. During the 2012 campaign, seventy-one of seventy-four MSNBC stories about Mitt Romney were highly negative, while FOX News\u2019 coverage of Obama had forty-six out of fifty-two stories with negative information (<a class=\"autogenerated-content\" href=\"#OSC_AmGov_08_04_Bias\">Figure<\/a>). The major networks\u2014ABC, CBS, and NBC\u2014were somewhat more balanced, yet the overall coverage of both candidates tended to be negative.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nPew Research Center: Journalism &amp; Media Staff, \u201cCoverage of the Candidates by Media Sector and Cable Outlet,\u201d 1 November 2012.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"OSC_AmGov_08_04_Bias\" class=\"bc-figure figure\">\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"975\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2292\/2017\/08\/08164141\/OSC_AmGov_08_04_Bias.jpg\" alt=\"A bar graph titled \u201cBias in cable News coverage of Presidential Candidates, 2012\u201d. The legend lists two categories, \u201cstories with negative tone\u201d and \u201cstories with positive tone\u201d. Under \u201cCNN\u201d, stories about Obama were 18% positive and 21% negative, and stories about Romney were 11% positive and 36% negative. Under \u201cMSNBC\u201d, stories about Obama were 39% positive and 15% negative, and stories about Romney were 3% positive and 71% negative. Under \u201cFOX\u201d, stories about Obama were 6% positive and 46% negative, and stories about Romney were 28% positive and 12% negative. At the bottom of the graph, a source is cited: \u201cPew Research Center. \u201cTone of Coverage on Cable News.\u201d August 27-October 21, 2012.\u201d.\" width=\"975\" height=\"597\" \/> <strong>Figure 2.\u00a0<\/strong>Media coverage of campaigns is increasingly negative, with cable news stations demonstrating more bias in their framing of stories during the 2012 campaign.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474407496\">Due in part to the lack of substantive media coverage, campaigns increasingly use social media to relay their message. Candidates can create their own sites and pages and try to spread news through supporters to the undecided. In 2012, both Romney and Obama maintained Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts to provide information to voters. Yet, on social media, candidates still need to combat negativity, from both the opposition and supporters. Stories about Romney that appeared in the mainstream media were negative 38 percent of the time, while his coverage in Facebook news was negative 62 percent of the time and 58 percent of the time on Twitter.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n\u201cWinning the Media Campaign 2012,\u201d <em>Pew Research <\/em>Center, 2 November 2012.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nIn the 2016 election cycle, both party nominees heavily used social media. Donald Trump\u2019s scores of tweets became very prominent as he tweeted during Clinton\u2019s convention acceptance speech and sometimes at all hours of the night. Clinton also used Twitter, but less so than Trump, though arguably staying better on message. Trump tended to rail on about topics and at one point was even drawn into a Twitter battle with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Hillary Clinton also used Facebook for longer messages and imaging.\r\n\r\nOnce candidates are in office, the chore of governing begins, with the added weight of media attention. Historically, if presidents were unhappy with their press coverage, they used personal and professional means to change its tone. Franklin D. Roosevelt, for example, was able to keep journalists from printing stories through gentleman\u2019s agreements, loyalty, and the provision of additional information, sometimes off the record. The journalists then wrote positive stories, hoping to keep the president as a source. John F. Kennedy hosted press conferences twice a month and opened the floor for questions from journalists, in an effort to keep press coverage positive.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nFred Greenstein. 2009. <em>The Presidential Difference<\/em>. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474311082\">When presidents and other members of the White House are not forthcoming with information, journalists must press for answers. Dan Rather, a journalist for CBS, regularly sparred with presidents in an effort to get information. When Rather interviewed Richard Nixon about Vietnam and Watergate, Nixon was hostile and uncomfortable.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n\u201cDan Rather versus Richard Nixon, 1974,\u201d YouTube video, :46, from the National Association of Broadcasters annual convention in Houston on March 19,1974, posted by \u201cthecelebratedmisterk,\u201d https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZGBLAKq8xwc (November 30, 2015); \u201c\u2018A Conversation With the President,\u2019 Interview With Dan Rather of the Columbia Broadcasting System,\u201d <em>The American Presidency Project<\/em>, 2 January 1972, http:\/\/www.presidency.ucsb.edu\/ws\/?pid=3351.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nIn a 1988 interview with then-vice president George H. W. Bush, Bush accused Rather of being argumentative about the possible cover-up of a secret arms sale with Iran:\r\n<blockquote id=\"fs-id1171474560951\">Rather: I don\u2019t want to be argumentative, Mr. Vice President.\r\n<div><\/div>\r\nBush: You do, Dan.\r\n<div><\/div>\r\nRather: No\u2014no, sir, I don\u2019t.\r\n<div><\/div>\r\nBush: This is not a great night, because I want to talk about why I want to be president, why those 41 percent of the people are supporting me. And I don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair to judge my whole career by a rehash of Iran. How would you like it if I judged your career by those seven minutes when you walked off the set in New York?<\/blockquote>\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nWolf Blitzer, \u201cDan Rather\u2019s Stand,\u201d <em>CNN<\/em>, 10 September 2004.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nCabinet secretaries and other appointees also talk with the press, sometimes making for conflicting messages. The creation of the position of press secretary and the White House Office of Communications both stemmed from the need to send a cohesive message from the executive branch. Currently, the White House controls the information coming from the executive branch through the Office of Communications and decides who will meet with the press and what information will be given.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472256138\">But stories about the president often examine personality, or the president\u2019s ability to lead the country, deal with Congress, or respond to national and international events. They are less likely to cover the president\u2019s policies or agendas without a lot of effort on the president\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nMatthew Eshbaugh-Soha and Jeffrey Peake. 2011. <em>Breaking Through the Noise: Presidential Leadership, Public Opinion, and the News Media<\/em>. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nWhen Obama first entered office in 2009, journalists focused on his battles with Congress, critiquing his leadership style and inability to work with Representative Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the House. To gain attention for his policies, specifically the <strong><span class=\"no-emphasis\">American Recovery and Reinvestment Act<\/span> (ARRA)<\/strong>, Obama began traveling the United States to draw the media away from Congress and encourage discussion of his economic stimulus package. Once the ARRA had been passed, Obama began travelling again, speaking locally about why the country needed the <strong><span class=\"no-emphasis\">Affordable Care Act<\/span> <\/strong>and guiding media coverage to promote support for the act.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nIbid.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472262931\">Congressional representatives have a harder time attracting media attention for their policies. House and Senate members who use the media well, either to help their party or to show expertise in an area, may increase their power within Congress, which helps them bargain for fellow legislators\u2019 votes. Senators and high-ranking House members may also be invited to appear on cable news programs as guests, where they may gain some media support for their policies. Yet, overall, because there are so many members of Congress, and therefore so many agendas, it is harder for individual representatives to draw media coverage.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nGary Lee Malecha and Daniel J. Reagan. 2011. <em>The Public Congress: Congressional Deliberation in a New Media Age<\/em>. New York: Routledge.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474310583\">It is less clear, however, whether media coverage of an issue leads Congress to make policy, or whether congressional policymaking leads the media to cover policy. In the 1970s, Congress investigated ways to stem the number of drug-induced deaths and crimes. As congressional meetings dramatically increased, the press was slow to cover the topic. The number of hearings was at its highest from 1970 to 1982, yet media coverage did not rise to the same level until 1984.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nFrank R. Baumgartner, Bryan D. Jones, and Beth L. Leech. 1997. \u201cMedia Attention and Congressional Agendas,\u201d In <em>Do The Media Govern? Politicians, Voters, and Reporters in America<\/em>, eds. Shanto Iyengar and Richard Reeves. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nSubsequent hearings and coverage led to national policies like DARE and First Lady Nancy Reagan\u2019s \u201cJust Say No\u201d campaign (<a class=\"autogenerated-content\" href=\"#OSC_AmGov_08_04_JustSayNo\">[Figure]<\/a>).\r\n<div id=\"OSC_AmGov_08_04_JustSayNo\" class=\"bc-figure figure\">\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"825\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2292\/2017\/08\/08164147\/OSC_AmGov_08_04_JustSayNo.jpg\" alt=\"Image A is of Nancy Reagan standing behind a podium. A sign on the podium reads \u201cJust say no\u201d. Image B is of a poster that reads \u201cD.A.R.E. to resist drugs and violence. Drug Abuse Resistance Education\u201d.\" width=\"825\" height=\"382\" \/> <strong>Figure 3<\/strong> First Lady Nancy Reagan speaks at a \u201cJust Say No\u201d rally in Los Angeles on May 13, 1987 (a). The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) is an anti-drug, anti-gang program founded in 1983 by a joint initiative of the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472272770\">Later studies of the media\u2019s effect on both the president and Congress report that the media has a stronger agenda-setting effect on the president than on Congress. What the media choose to cover affects what the president thinks is important to voters, and these issues were often of national importance. The media\u2019s effect on Congress was limited, however, and mostly extended to local issues like education or child and elder abuse.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nGeorge Edwards and Dan Wood. 1999. \u201cWho Influences Whom? The President, Congress, and the Media,\u201d <em>American Political Science Review<\/em> 93, No 2: 327\u2013344; Yue Tan and David Weaver. 2007. \u201cAgenda-Setting Effects Among the Media, the Public, and Congress, 1946\u20132004,\u201d <em>Journalism &amp; Mass Communication Quarterly<\/em> 84, No. 4: 729\u2013745.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nIf the media are discussing a topic, chances are a member of Congress has already submitted a relevant bill, and it is waiting in committee.\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474420951\" class=\"bc-section section\">\r\n<h2>COVERAGE EFFECTS ON SOCIETY<\/h2>\r\nThe media choose what they want to discuss. This agenda setting creates a reality for voters and politicians that affects the way people think, act, and vote. Even if the crime rate is going down, for instance, citizens accustomed to reading stories about assault and other offenses still perceive crime to be an issue.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nAlly Fogg, \u201cCrime Is Falling. Now Let\u2019s Reduce Fear of Crime,\u201d <em>Guardian<\/em>, 24 April 24 2013.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nStudies have also found that the media\u2019s portrayal of race is flawed, especially in coverage of crime and poverty. One study revealed that local news shows were more likely to show pictures of criminals when they were African American, so they overrepresented blacks as perpetrators and whites as victims.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nTravis L. Dixon. 2008. \u201cCrime News and Racialized Beliefs: Understanding the Relationship between Local News Viewing and Perceptions of African Americans and Crime,\u201d <em>Journal of Communication<\/em> 58, No. 1: 106\u2013125.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nA second study found a similar pattern in which Latinos were underrepresented as victims of crime and as police officers, while whites were overrepresented as both.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nTravis Dixon. 2015. \u201cGood Guys Are Still Always in White? Positive Change and Continued Misrepresentation of Race and Crime on Local Television News,\u201d <em>Communication Research<\/em>, doi:10.1177\/0093650215579223.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nVoters were thus more likely to assume that most criminals are black and most victims and police officers are white, even though the numbers do not support those assumptions.\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472197170\">Network news similarly misrepresents the victims of poverty by using more images of blacks than whites in its segments. Viewers in a study were left believing African Americans were the majority of the unemployed and poor, rather than seeing the problem as one faced by many races.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nTravis L. Dixon. 2008. \u201cNetwork News and Racial Beliefs: Exploring the Connection between National Television News Exposure and Stereotypical Perceptions of African Americans,\u201d <em>Journal of Communication <\/em>58, No. 2: 321\u2013337.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nThe misrepresentation of race is not limited to news coverage, however. A study of images printed in national magazines, like <em>Time <\/em>and <em>Newsweek<\/em>, found they also misrepresented race and poverty. The magazines were more likely to show images of young African Americans when discussing poverty and excluded the elderly and the young, as well as whites and Latinos, which is the true picture of poverty.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nMartin Gilens. 1996. \u201cRace and Poverty in America: Public Misperceptions and the American News Media,\u201d <em>Public Opinion Quarterly <\/em>60, No. 4: 515\u2013541.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nRacial framing, even if unintentional, affects perceptions and policies. If viewers are continually presented with images of African Americans as criminals, there is an increased chance they will perceive members of this group as violent or aggressive.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nDixon. \u201cCrime News and Racialized Beliefs.\u201d\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nThe perception that most recipients of welfare are working-age African Americans may have led some citizens to vote for candidates who promised to reduce welfare benefits.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nGilens. \u201cRace and Poverty in America.\u201d\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nWhen survey respondents were shown a story of a white unemployed individual, 71 percent listed unemployment as one of the top three problems facing the United States, while only 53 percent did so if the story was about an unemployed African American.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nShanto Iyengar and Donald R. Kinder. 1987. <em>News That Matters<\/em>. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nWord choice may also have a priming effect. News organizations like the <em>Los Angeles Times <\/em>and the Associated Press no longer use the phrase \u201cillegal immigrant\u201d to describe undocumented residents. This may be due to the desire to create a \u201csympathetic\u201d frame for the immigration situation rather than a \u201cthreat\u201d frame.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nDaniel C. Hallin. 2015. \u201cThe Dynamics of Immigration Coverage in Comparative Perspective,\u201d <em>American Behavioral Scientist<\/em> 59, No. 7: 876\u2013885.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472159833\">Media coverage of women has been similarly biased. Most journalists in the early 1900s were male, and women\u2019s issues were not part of the newsroom discussion. As journalist Kay <strong><span class=\"no-emphasis\">Mills<\/span><\/strong> put it, the women\u2019s movement of the 1960s and 1970s was about raising awareness of the problems of equality, but writing about rallies \u201cwas like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nKay Mills. 1996. \u201cWhat Difference Do Women Journalists Make?\u201d In <em>Women, the Media and Politics<\/em>, ed. Pippa Norris. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 43.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nMost politicians, business leaders, and other authority figures were male, and editors\u2019 reactions to the stories were lukewarm. The lack of women in the newsroom, politics, and corporate leadership encouraged silence.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nKim Fridkin Kahn and Edie N. Goldenberg. 1997. \u201cThe Media: Obstacle or Ally of Feminists?\u201d In <em>Do the Media Govern?<\/em> eds. Shanto Iyengar and Richard Reeves. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474246826\">In 1976, journalist Barbara <strong><span class=\"no-emphasis\">Walters<\/span><\/strong> became the first female coanchor on a network news show, <em>The ABC Evening News<\/em>. She was met with great hostility from her coanchor Harry Reasoner and received critical coverage from the press.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nBarbara Walters, \u201cMs. Walters Reflects,\u201d <em>Vanity Fair<\/em>, 31 May 2008,\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nOn newspaper staffs, women reported having to fight for assignments to well-published <strong>beats<\/strong>, or to be assigned areas or topics, such as the economy or politics, that were normally reserved for male journalists. Once female journalists held these assignments, they feared writing about women\u2019s issues. Would it make them appear weak? Would they be taken from their coveted beats?\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nMills. \u201cWhat Difference Do Women Journalists Make?\u201d\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nThis apprehension allowed poor coverage of women and the women\u2019s movement to continue until women were better represented as journalists and as editors. Strength of numbers allowed them to be confident when covering issues like health care, childcare, and education.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nMills. \u201cWhat Difference Do Women Journalists Make?\u201d<span id=\"fs-id1171472275912\">\r\n<\/span>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nThe <a href=\"https:\/\/openstaxcollege.org\/l\/29cawprutgers\">Center for American Women in Politics<\/a> researches the treatment women receive from both government and the media, and they share the data with the public.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nThe media\u2019s historically uneven coverage of women continues in its treatment of female candidates. Early coverage was sparse. The stories that did appear often discussed the candidate\u2019s viability, or ability to win, rather than her stand on the issues.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nKahn and Goldenberg, \u201cThe Media: Obstacle or Ally of Feminists?\u201d\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nWomen were seen as a novelty rather than as serious contenders who needed to be vetted and discussed. Modern media coverage has changed slightly. One study found that female candidates receive more favorable coverage than in prior generations, especially if they are incumbents.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nKim Fridkin Kahn. 1994. \u201cDoes Gender Make a Difference? An Experimental Examination of Sex Stereotypes and Press Patterns in Statewide Campaigns,\u201d <em>American Journal of Political Science <\/em>38, No. 1: 162\u2013195.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nYet a different study found that while there was increased coverage for female candidates, it was often negative.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nJohn David Rausch, Mark Rozell, and Harry L. Wilson. 1999. \u201cWhen Women Lose: A Study of Media Coverage of Two Gubernatorial Campaigns,\u201d <em>Women &amp; Politics<\/em> 20, No. 4: 1\u201322.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;text-align: initial\">And it did not include Latina candidates.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nSarah Allen Gershon. 2013. \u201cMedia Coverage of Minority Congresswomen and Voter Evaluations: Evidence from an Online Experimental Study,\u201d <em>Political Research Quarterly <\/em>66, No. 3: 702\u2013714.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nWithout coverage, they are less likely to win.\r\n\r\nThe historically negative media coverage of female candidates has had another concrete effect: Women are less likely than men to run for office. One common reason is the effect negative media coverage has on families.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nJennifer Lawless and Richard Logan Fox. 2005. <em>It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don\u2019t Run for Office<\/em>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nMany women do not wish to expose their children or spouses to criticism.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nBrittany L. Stalsburg, \u201cRunning with Strollers: The Impact of Family Life on Political Ambition,\u201d <em>Eagleton Institute of Politics<\/em>, Spring 2012, Unpublished Paper, http:\/\/www.eagleton.rutgers.edu\/research\/documents\/Stalsburg-FamilyLife-Political-Ambition.pdf (August 28, 2015).\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nIn 2008, the nomination of Sarah <strong><span class=\"no-emphasis\">Palin<\/span><\/strong> as Republican candidate John McCain\u2019s running mate validated this concern (<a class=\"autogenerated-content\" href=\"#OSC_AmGov_08_04_Palin\">Figure<\/a>). Some articles focused on her qualifications to be a potential future president or her record on the issues. But others questioned whether she had the right to run for office, given she had young children, one of whom has developmental disabilities.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nChristina Walker, \u201cIs Sarah Palin Being Held to an Unfair Standard?\u201d <em>CNN<\/em>, 8 September 2008.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;text-align: initial\">Her daughter, Bristol, was criticized for becoming pregnant while unmarried.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nDana Bash, \u201cPalin\u2019s Teen Daughter is Pregnant,\u201d <em>CNN<\/em>, 1 September 2008.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nHer husband was called cheap for failing to buy her a high-priced wedding ring.\r\n<div class=\"note reference\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\nJimmy Orr, \u201cPalin Wardrobe Controversy Heightens - Todd is a Cheapo!\u201d <em>Christian Science Monitor<\/em>, 26 October 2008.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nEven when candidates ask that children and families be off-limits, the press rarely honors the requests. So women with young children may wait until their children are grown before running for office, if they choose to run at all.\r\n<div id=\"OSC_AmGov_08_04_Palin\" class=\"bc-figure figure\">\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"825\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2292\/2017\/08\/08164157\/OSC_AmGov_08_04_Palin.jpg\" alt=\"An image of Sarah Palin on a stage with John McCain and several other people.\" width=\"825\" height=\"550\" \/> <strong>Figure 4.\u00a0<\/strong>When Sarah Palin found herself on the national stage at the Republican Convention in September 2008, media coverage about her selection as John McCain\u2019s running mate included numerous questions about her ability to serve based on personal family history. Attacks on candidates\u2019 families lead many women to postpone or avoid running for office. (credit: Carol Highsmith)[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472394507\" class=\"summary\">\r\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474427308\">Writers began to formally study media bias in the 1920s. Initially, the press was seen as being able to place information in our minds, but later research found that the media have a minimal effect on recipients. A more recent theory is that the media cultivates our reality by presenting information that creates our perceptions of the world. The media does have the ability to frame what it presents, and it can also prime citizens to think a particular way, which changes how they react to new information.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474442665\">The media\u2019s coverage of electoral candidates has increasingly become analysis rather than reporting. Sound bites from candidates are shorter. The press now provides horse-race coverage on the campaigns rather than in-depth coverage on candidates and their positions, forcing voters to look for other sources, like social media, for information. Current coverage of the government focuses more on what the president does than on presidential policies. Congress, on the other hand, is rarely affected by the media. Most topics discussed by the media are already being discussed by members of Congress or its committees.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472395147\">The media frame discussions and choose pictures, information, and video to support stories, which may affect the way people vote on social policy and in elections.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472131007\" class=\"review-questions\">\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474414662\" class=\"exercise\">\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474344176\" class=\"problem\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472131007\" class=\"review-questions\">\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474414662\" class=\"exercise\">\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474344176\" class=\"problem\">\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472423647\">Which of the following is an example of episodic framing?<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ol id=\"fs-id1171472283636\">\r\n \t<li>a story on drug abuse that interviews addicts and discusses reasons for addiction and government responses to help addicts<\/li>\r\n \t<li>a story on how drug abuse policy has changed since 1984<\/li>\r\n \t<li>a story on candidates\u2019 answers to a drug question in a debate<\/li>\r\n \t<li>a story detailing arguments against needle exchange programs<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474561629\" class=\"solution\">\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474423535\">[reveal-answer q=\"466409\"]Show Answer[\/reveal-answer]\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"466409\"]A[\/hidden-answer]<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474464746\" class=\"exercise\">\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474423721\" class=\"problem\">\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472157378\">According to research, why might a woman decide not to run for office?<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ol id=\"fs-id1171470627653\">\r\n \t<li>She feels the work is too hard.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>She fears her positions will be covered too closely by the press.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>She fears the media will criticize her family.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>She fears the campaign will be too expensive.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472157755\" class=\"exercise\">\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474435274\" class=\"problem\">\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472120768\">Media coverage of a race tends to ________.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ol id=\"fs-id1171472325378\">\r\n \t<li>accurately portray all races equally<\/li>\r\n \t<li>accurately portray whites and blacks as victims<\/li>\r\n \t<li>overrepresent whites and the elderly as poor<\/li>\r\n \t<li>overrepresent African Americans as poor<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472406127\" class=\"solution\">\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474349852\">[reveal-answer q=\"844524\"]Show Answer[\/reveal-answer]\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"844524\"]D[\/hidden-answer]<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474498252\" class=\"exercise\">\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472269142\" class=\"problem\">\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472099972\">How might framing or priming affect the way a reader or viewer thinks about an issue?<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472164192\" class=\"exercise\">\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472069429\" class=\"problem\">\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171471908013\">Why would inaccurate coverage of race and gender affect policy or elections?<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472362044\" class=\"solution\">\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472126324\">[reveal-answer q=\"459917\"]Show Answer[\/reveal-answer]\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"459917\"]If we are presented with a reality, it affects the way we vote and the policies we support.[\/hidden-answer]<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472189399\" class=\"critical-thinking\">\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474414314\" class=\"exercise\">\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474696514\" class=\"problem\">\r\n\r\nIn what ways can the media change the way a citizen thinks about government?\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472091220\" class=\"exercise\">\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472423573\" class=\"problem\">\r\n\r\nIn what ways do the media protect people from a tyrannical government?\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472000492\" class=\"exercise\">\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171470297994\" class=\"problem\">\r\n\r\nShould all activities of the government be open to media coverage? Why or why not? In what circumstances do you think it would be appropriate for the government to operate without transparency?\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472249149\" class=\"exercise\">\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472173019\" class=\"problem\">\r\n\r\nHave changes in media formats created a more accurate, less biased media? Why or why not?\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472116948\" class=\"exercise\">\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472126149\" class=\"problem\">\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472289434\">How does citizen journalism use social media to increase coverage of world events?<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h3>References<\/h3>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472412206\" class=\"suggested-reading\">\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171470308515\">Baum, Matthew A. 2003. <em>Soft News Goes to War: Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy in the New Media Age<\/em>. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474432857\">Baum, Matthew A., and Philip B. K. Potter. 2015. <em>War and Democratic Constraint: How the Public Influences Foreign Policy<\/em>. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171471916427\">Cohen, Jeffrey. 2008. <em>The Presidency in the Era of 24-Hour News<\/em>. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474522976\">Eshbaugh-Soha, Matthew, and Jeffrey Peake. 2011. <em>Breaking through the Noise: Presidential Leadership, Public Opinion, and the News<\/em>. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.<\/p>\r\nFellow, Anthony R. 2013. <em>American Media History<\/em>. Boston: Cengage.\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171471916669\">Graber, Doris A., and Johanna L. Dunaway. 2014. <em>Mass Media and American Politics<\/em>. Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472092180\">PIyengar, Shanto. 2016. <em>Media Politics: A Citizen\u2019s Guide<\/em>, 3rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474338571\">Iyengar, Shanto, and Donald R. Kinder. 2010.<em> News That Matters: Television and American Opinion<\/em>. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474423005\">Lawless, Jennifer L., and Richard L. Fox. 2010. <em>It Still Takes A Candidate: Why Women Don\u2019t Run for Office<\/em>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472289941\">Malecha, Gary, and Daniel J. Reagan. 2011. <em>The Public Congress: Congressional Deliberation in a New Media Age<\/em>. New York: Routledge.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472289626\">Media Matters (http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/).<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474498472\">Media Research Center (http:\/\/www.mrc.org\/).<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171470264750\">Patterson, Thomas. 2013. <em>Informing the News: The Need for Knowledge-Based Journalism<\/em>. New York: Vintage.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474428194\">Politifact (http:\/\/www.politifact.com\/).<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171470260499\">Rozell, Mark, and Jeremy Mayer. 2008. <em>Media Power, Media Politics<\/em>. Lanham, MD: Rowman &amp; Littlefield.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474302284\">West, Darrell M. 2013. <em>Air Wars<\/em>. Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n<h2>Glossary<\/h2>\r\n<dl id=\"fs-id1171474252732\" class=\"definition\">\r\n \t<dt>beat<\/dt>\r\n \t<dd id=\"fs-id1171472206020\">the coverage area assigned to journalists for news or stories<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n<dl id=\"fs-id1171472134205\" class=\"definition\">\r\n \t<dt>cultivation theory<\/dt>\r\n \t<dd id=\"fs-id1171472075056\">the idea that media affect a citizen\u2019s worldview through the information presented<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n<dl id=\"fs-id1171474431909\" class=\"definition\">\r\n \t<dt>framing<\/dt>\r\n \t<dd id=\"fs-id1171474561653\">the process of giving a news story a specific context or background<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n<dl id=\"fs-id1171472113862\" class=\"definition\">\r\n \t<dt>hypodermic theory<\/dt>\r\n \t<dd id=\"fs-id1171472127328\">the idea that information is placed in a citizen\u2019s brain and accepted<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n<dl id=\"fs-id1171474476941\" class=\"definition\">\r\n \t<dt>minimal effects theory<\/dt>\r\n \t<dd id=\"fs-id1171472200645\">the idea that the media have little effect on citizens<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n<dl id=\"fs-id1171474464818\" class=\"definition\">\r\n \t<dt>priming<\/dt>\r\n \t<dd id=\"fs-id1171470262352\">the process of predisposing readers or viewers to think a particular way<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<p>By the end of this section, you will be able to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Identify forms of bias that exist in news coverage and ways the media can present biased coverage<\/li>\n<li>Explain how the media cover politics and issues<\/li>\n<li>Evaluate the impact of the media on politics and policymaking<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472273044\">In what ways can the media affect society and government? The media\u2019s primary duty is to present us with information and alert us when important events occur. This information may affect what we think and the actions we take. The media can also place pressure on government to act by signaling a need for intervention or showing that citizens want change. For these reasons, the quality of the media\u2019s coverage matters.<\/p>\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472104896\" class=\"bc-section section\">\n<h2>MEDIA EFFECTS AND BIAS<\/h2>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171470300182\">Concerns about the effects of media on consumers and the existence and extent of media bias go back to the 1920s. Reporter and commentator Walter <strong><span class=\"no-emphasis\">Lippmann<\/span><\/strong> noted that citizens have limited personal experience with government and the world and posited that the media, through their stories, place ideas in citizens\u2019 minds. These ideas become part of the citizens\u2019 frame of reference and affect their decisions. Lippmann\u2019s statements led to the <strong>hypodermic theory<\/strong>, which argues that information is \u201cshot\u201d into the receiver\u2019s mind and readily accepted.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Walter Lippmann. 1922. <em>Public Opinion.<\/em> http:\/\/xroads.virginia.edu\/~hyper\/Lippman\/contents.html (August 29, 2015).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Yet studies in the 1930s and 1940s found that information was transmitted in two steps, with one person reading the news and then sharing the information with friends. People listened to their friends, but not to those with whom they disagreed. The newspaper\u2019s effect was thus diminished through conversation. This discovery led to the <strong>minimal effects theory,<\/strong> which argues the media have little effect on citizens and voters.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<div class=\"note reference\">Bernard Berelson, Paul Lazarsfeld, and William McPhee. 1954. <em>Voting<\/em>. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>By the 1970s, a new idea, the <strong>cultivation theory<\/strong>, hypothesized that media develop a person\u2019s view of the world by presenting a perceived reality.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>George Gerbner, Larry Gross, Michael Morgan, Nancy Signorielli, and Marilyn Jackson-Beeck. 1979. \u201cThe Demonstration of Power: Violence Profile,\u201d <em>Journal of Communication 29, No.<\/em>10: 177\u2013196.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>What we see on a regular basis is our reality. Media can then set norms for readers and viewers by choosing what is covered or discussed.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474409639\">In the end, the consensus among observers is that media have some effect, even if the effect is subtle. This raises the question of how the media, even general newscasts, can affect citizens. One of the ways is through <strong>framing:<\/strong> the creation of a narrative, or context, for a news story. The news often uses frames to place a story in a context so the reader understands its importance or relevance. Yet, at the same time, framing affects the way the reader or viewer processes the story.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474442166\"><em>Episodic framing<\/em> occurs when a story focuses on isolated details or specifics rather than looking broadly at a whole issue. <em>Thematic framing<\/em> takes a broad look at an issue and skips numbers or details. It looks at how the issue has changed over a long period of time and what has led to it. For example, a large, urban city is dealing with the problem of an increasing homeless population, and the city has suggested ways to improve the situation. If journalists focus on the immediate statistics, report the current percentage of homeless people, interview a few, and look at the city\u2019s current investment in a homeless shelter, the coverage is episodic. If they look at homelessness as a problem increasing everywhere, examine the reasons people become homeless, and discuss the trends in cities\u2019 attempts to solve the problem, the coverage is thematic. Episodic frames may create more sympathy, while a thematic frame may leave the reader or viewer emotionally disconnected and less sympathetic (<a class=\"autogenerated-content\" href=\"#OSC_AmGov_08_04_SyrRef\">Figure<\/a>).<\/p>\n<div id=\"OSC_AmGov_08_04_SyrRef\" class=\"bc-figure figure\">\n<div style=\"width: 835px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2292\/2017\/08\/08164135\/OSC_AmGov_08_04_SyrRef.jpg\" alt=\"An image of an old person. In the background are an adult and a child in a tent.\" width=\"825\" height=\"550\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 1.\u00a0<\/strong>Civil war in Syria has led many to flee the country, including this woman living in a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan in September 2015. Episodic framing of the stories of Syrian refugees, and their deaths, turned government inaction into action. (credit: Enes Reyhan)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472419896\" class=\"note american government link-to-learning\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>For a closer look at framing and how it influences voters, read <a href=\"https:\/\/openstaxcollege.org\/l\/29scotlondoness\">\u201cHow the Media Frames Political Issues\u201d<\/a>, a review essay by Scott London.<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;text-align: initial\">Framing can also affect the way we see race, socioeconomics, or other generalizations. For this reason, it is linked to <\/span><strong style=\"font-size: 1rem;text-align: initial\">priming<\/strong><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;text-align: initial\">: when media coverage predisposes the viewer or reader to a particular perspective on a subject or issue. If a newspaper article focuses on unemployment, struggling industries, and jobs moving overseas, the reader will have a negative opinion about the economy. If then asked whether he or she approves of the president\u2019s job performance, the reader is primed to say no. Readers and viewers are able to fight priming effects if they are aware of them or have prior information about the subject.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bc-section section\">\n<h2>COVERAGE EFFECTS ON GOVERNANCE AND CAMPAIGNS<\/h2>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474428735\">When it is spotty, the media\u2019s coverage of campaigns and government can sometimes affect the way government operates and the success of candidates. In 1972, for instance, the McGovern-Fraser reforms created a voter-controlled primary system, so party leaders no longer pick the presidential candidates. Now the media are seen as kingmakers and play a strong role in influencing who will become the Democratic and Republican nominees in presidential elections. They can discuss the candidates\u2019 messages, vet their credentials, carry sound bites of their speeches, and conduct interviews. The candidates with the most media coverage build momentum and do well in the first few primaries and caucuses. This, in turn, leads to more media coverage, more momentum, and eventually a winning candidate. Thus, candidates need the media.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474404365\">In the 1980s, campaigns learned that tight control on candidate information created more favorable media coverage. In the presidential election of 1984, candidates Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush began using an issue-of-the-day strategy, providing quotes and material on only one topic each day. This strategy limited what journalists could cover because they had only limited quotes and sound bites to use in their reports. In 1992, both Bush\u2019s and Bill Clinton\u2019s campaigns maintained their carefully drawn candidate images by also limiting photographers and television journalists to photo opportunities at rallies and campaign venues. The constant control of the media became known as the \u201cbubble,\u201d and journalists were less effective when they were in the campaign\u2019s bubble. Reporters complained this coverage was campaign advertising rather than journalism, and a new model emerged with the 1996 election.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Elizabeth A. Skewes. 2007. <em>Message Control: How News Is Made on the Presidential Campaign Trail<\/em>. Maryland: Rowman &amp; Littlefield, 79.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474441732\">Campaign coverage now focuses on the spectacle of the season, rather than providing information about the candidates. Colorful personalities, strange comments, lapse of memories, and embarrassing revelations are more likely to get air time than the candidates\u2019 issue positions. Donald <strong><span class=\"no-emphasis\">Trump<\/span><\/strong> may be the best example of shallower press coverage of a presidential election. Some argue that newspapers and news programs are limiting the space they allot to discussion of the campaigns.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Stephen Farnsworth and S. Robert Lichter. 2012. \u201cAuthors\u2019 Response: Improving News Coverage in the 2012 Presidential Campaign and Beyond,\u201d <em>Politics &amp; Policy<\/em> 40, No. 4: 547\u2013556.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Others argue that citizens want to see updates on the race and electoral drama, not boring issue positions or substantive reporting.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>\u201cEarly Media Coverage Focuses on Horse Race,\u201d <em>PBS News Hour<\/em>, 12 June 2007.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It may also be that journalists have tired of the information games played by politicians and have taken back control of the news cycles.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Stephen Ansolabehere, Roy Behr, and Shanto Iyengar. 1992. <em>The Media Game: American Politics in the Television Age<\/em>. New York: Macmillan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>All these factors have likely led to the shallow press coverage we see today, sometimes dubbed <em>pack journalism<\/em> because journalists follow one another rather than digging for their own stories. Television news discusses the strategies and blunders of the election, with colorful examples. Newspapers focus on polls. In an analysis of the 2012 election, Pew Research found that 64 percent of stories and coverage focused on campaign strategy. Only 9 percent covered domestic issue positions; 6 percent covered the candidates\u2019 public records; and, 1 percent covered their foreign policy positions.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>\u201cFrames of Campaign Coverage,\u201d <em>Pew Research Center<\/em>, 23 April 2012, http:\/\/www.journalism.org\/2012\/04\/23\/frames-campaign-coverage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171470262261\">For better or worse, coverage of the candidates\u2019 statements get less air time on radio and television, and sound bites, or clips, of their speeches have become even shorter. In 1968, the average sound bite from Richard Nixon was 42.3 seconds, while a recent study of television coverage found that sound bites had decreased to only eight seconds in the 2004 election.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Kiku Adatto. May 28, 1990. \u201cThe Incredible Shrinking Sound Bite,\u201d <em>New Republic<\/em> 202, No. 22: 20\u201323.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The clips chosen to air were attacks on opponents 40 percent of the time. Only 30 percent contained information about the candidate\u2019s issues or events. The study also found the news showed images of the candidates, but for an average of only twenty-five seconds while the newscaster discussed the stories.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Erik Bucy and Maria Elizabeth Grabe. 2007. \u201cTaking Television Seriously: A Sound and Image Bite Analysis of Presidential Campaign Coverage, 1992\u20132004,\u201d<em> Journal of Communication<\/em> 57, No. 4: 652\u2013675.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;text-align: initial\">This study supports the argument that shrinking sound bites are a way for journalists to control the story and add their own analysis rather than just report on it.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Craig Fehrman, \u201cThe Incredible Shrinking Sound Bite,\u201d <em>Boston Globe<\/em>, 2 January 2011, http:\/\/www.boston.com\/bostonglobe\/ideas\/articles\/2011\/01\/02\/the_incredible_shrinking_sound_bite\/.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Candidates are given a few minutes to try to argue their side of an issue, but some say television focuses on the argument rather than on information. In 2004, Jon <strong><span class=\"no-emphasis\">Stewart<\/span> <\/strong>of Comedy Central\u2019s <em>The Daily Show<\/em> began attacking the CNN program <em>Crossfire<\/em> for being theater, saying the hosts engaged in reactionary and partisan arguing rather than true debating.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>\u201cCrossfire: Jon Stewart\u2019s America,\u201d <em>CNN<\/em>, 15 October 2004, http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/TRANSCRIPTS\/0410\/15\/cf.01.html.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Some of Stewart\u2019s criticisms resonated, even with host Paul Begala, and <em>Crossfire<\/em> was later pulled from the air.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Paul Begala, \u201cBegala: The day Jon Stewart blew up my show,\u201d <em>CNN<\/em>, 12 February 2015.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474317465\">The media\u2019s discussion of campaigns has also grown negative. Although biased campaign coverage dates back to the period of the partisan press, the increase in the number of cable news stations has made the problem more visible. Stations like FOX News and MSNBC are overt in their use of bias in framing stories. During the 2012 campaign, seventy-one of seventy-four MSNBC stories about Mitt Romney were highly negative, while FOX News\u2019 coverage of Obama had forty-six out of fifty-two stories with negative information (<a class=\"autogenerated-content\" href=\"#OSC_AmGov_08_04_Bias\">Figure<\/a>). The major networks\u2014ABC, CBS, and NBC\u2014were somewhat more balanced, yet the overall coverage of both candidates tended to be negative.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Pew Research Center: Journalism &amp; Media Staff, \u201cCoverage of the Candidates by Media Sector and Cable Outlet,\u201d 1 November 2012.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"OSC_AmGov_08_04_Bias\" class=\"bc-figure figure\">\n<div style=\"width: 985px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2292\/2017\/08\/08164141\/OSC_AmGov_08_04_Bias.jpg\" alt=\"A bar graph titled \u201cBias in cable News coverage of Presidential Candidates, 2012\u201d. The legend lists two categories, \u201cstories with negative tone\u201d and \u201cstories with positive tone\u201d. Under \u201cCNN\u201d, stories about Obama were 18% positive and 21% negative, and stories about Romney were 11% positive and 36% negative. Under \u201cMSNBC\u201d, stories about Obama were 39% positive and 15% negative, and stories about Romney were 3% positive and 71% negative. Under \u201cFOX\u201d, stories about Obama were 6% positive and 46% negative, and stories about Romney were 28% positive and 12% negative. At the bottom of the graph, a source is cited: \u201cPew Research Center. \u201cTone of Coverage on Cable News.\u201d August 27-October 21, 2012.\u201d.\" width=\"975\" height=\"597\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 2.\u00a0<\/strong>Media coverage of campaigns is increasingly negative, with cable news stations demonstrating more bias in their framing of stories during the 2012 campaign.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474407496\">Due in part to the lack of substantive media coverage, campaigns increasingly use social media to relay their message. Candidates can create their own sites and pages and try to spread news through supporters to the undecided. In 2012, both Romney and Obama maintained Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts to provide information to voters. Yet, on social media, candidates still need to combat negativity, from both the opposition and supporters. Stories about Romney that appeared in the mainstream media were negative 38 percent of the time, while his coverage in Facebook news was negative 62 percent of the time and 58 percent of the time on Twitter.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>\u201cWinning the Media Campaign 2012,\u201d <em>Pew Research <\/em>Center, 2 November 2012.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In the 2016 election cycle, both party nominees heavily used social media. Donald Trump\u2019s scores of tweets became very prominent as he tweeted during Clinton\u2019s convention acceptance speech and sometimes at all hours of the night. Clinton also used Twitter, but less so than Trump, though arguably staying better on message. Trump tended to rail on about topics and at one point was even drawn into a Twitter battle with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Hillary Clinton also used Facebook for longer messages and imaging.<\/p>\n<p>Once candidates are in office, the chore of governing begins, with the added weight of media attention. Historically, if presidents were unhappy with their press coverage, they used personal and professional means to change its tone. Franklin D. Roosevelt, for example, was able to keep journalists from printing stories through gentleman\u2019s agreements, loyalty, and the provision of additional information, sometimes off the record. The journalists then wrote positive stories, hoping to keep the president as a source. John F. Kennedy hosted press conferences twice a month and opened the floor for questions from journalists, in an effort to keep press coverage positive.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Fred Greenstein. 2009. <em>The Presidential Difference<\/em>. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474311082\">When presidents and other members of the White House are not forthcoming with information, journalists must press for answers. Dan Rather, a journalist for CBS, regularly sparred with presidents in an effort to get information. When Rather interviewed Richard Nixon about Vietnam and Watergate, Nixon was hostile and uncomfortable.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>\u201cDan Rather versus Richard Nixon, 1974,\u201d YouTube video, :46, from the National Association of Broadcasters annual convention in Houston on March 19,1974, posted by \u201cthecelebratedmisterk,\u201d https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZGBLAKq8xwc (November 30, 2015); \u201c\u2018A Conversation With the President,\u2019 Interview With Dan Rather of the Columbia Broadcasting System,\u201d <em>The American Presidency Project<\/em>, 2 January 1972, http:\/\/www.presidency.ucsb.edu\/ws\/?pid=3351.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In a 1988 interview with then-vice president George H. W. Bush, Bush accused Rather of being argumentative about the possible cover-up of a secret arms sale with Iran:<\/p>\n<blockquote id=\"fs-id1171474560951\"><p>Rather: I don\u2019t want to be argumentative, Mr. Vice President.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Bush: You do, Dan.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Rather: No\u2014no, sir, I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Bush: This is not a great night, because I want to talk about why I want to be president, why those 41 percent of the people are supporting me. And I don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair to judge my whole career by a rehash of Iran. How would you like it if I judged your career by those seven minutes when you walked off the set in New York?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Wolf Blitzer, \u201cDan Rather\u2019s Stand,\u201d <em>CNN<\/em>, 10 September 2004.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Cabinet secretaries and other appointees also talk with the press, sometimes making for conflicting messages. The creation of the position of press secretary and the White House Office of Communications both stemmed from the need to send a cohesive message from the executive branch. Currently, the White House controls the information coming from the executive branch through the Office of Communications and decides who will meet with the press and what information will be given.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472256138\">But stories about the president often examine personality, or the president\u2019s ability to lead the country, deal with Congress, or respond to national and international events. They are less likely to cover the president\u2019s policies or agendas without a lot of effort on the president\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha and Jeffrey Peake. 2011. <em>Breaking Through the Noise: Presidential Leadership, Public Opinion, and the News Media<\/em>. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>When Obama first entered office in 2009, journalists focused on his battles with Congress, critiquing his leadership style and inability to work with Representative Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the House. To gain attention for his policies, specifically the <strong><span class=\"no-emphasis\">American Recovery and Reinvestment Act<\/span> (ARRA)<\/strong>, Obama began traveling the United States to draw the media away from Congress and encourage discussion of his economic stimulus package. Once the ARRA had been passed, Obama began travelling again, speaking locally about why the country needed the <strong><span class=\"no-emphasis\">Affordable Care Act<\/span> <\/strong>and guiding media coverage to promote support for the act.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Ibid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472262931\">Congressional representatives have a harder time attracting media attention for their policies. House and Senate members who use the media well, either to help their party or to show expertise in an area, may increase their power within Congress, which helps them bargain for fellow legislators\u2019 votes. Senators and high-ranking House members may also be invited to appear on cable news programs as guests, where they may gain some media support for their policies. Yet, overall, because there are so many members of Congress, and therefore so many agendas, it is harder for individual representatives to draw media coverage.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Gary Lee Malecha and Daniel J. Reagan. 2011. <em>The Public Congress: Congressional Deliberation in a New Media Age<\/em>. New York: Routledge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474310583\">It is less clear, however, whether media coverage of an issue leads Congress to make policy, or whether congressional policymaking leads the media to cover policy. In the 1970s, Congress investigated ways to stem the number of drug-induced deaths and crimes. As congressional meetings dramatically increased, the press was slow to cover the topic. The number of hearings was at its highest from 1970 to 1982, yet media coverage did not rise to the same level until 1984.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Frank R. Baumgartner, Bryan D. Jones, and Beth L. Leech. 1997. \u201cMedia Attention and Congressional Agendas,\u201d In <em>Do The Media Govern? Politicians, Voters, and Reporters in America<\/em>, eds. Shanto Iyengar and Richard Reeves. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Subsequent hearings and coverage led to national policies like DARE and First Lady Nancy Reagan\u2019s \u201cJust Say No\u201d campaign (<a class=\"autogenerated-content\" href=\"#OSC_AmGov_08_04_JustSayNo\">[Figure]<\/a>).<\/p>\n<div id=\"OSC_AmGov_08_04_JustSayNo\" class=\"bc-figure figure\">\n<div style=\"width: 835px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2292\/2017\/08\/08164147\/OSC_AmGov_08_04_JustSayNo.jpg\" alt=\"Image A is of Nancy Reagan standing behind a podium. A sign on the podium reads \u201cJust say no\u201d. Image B is of a poster that reads \u201cD.A.R.E. to resist drugs and violence. Drug Abuse Resistance Education\u201d.\" width=\"825\" height=\"382\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 3<\/strong> First Lady Nancy Reagan speaks at a \u201cJust Say No\u201d rally in Los Angeles on May 13, 1987 (a). The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) is an anti-drug, anti-gang program founded in 1983 by a joint initiative of the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472272770\">Later studies of the media\u2019s effect on both the president and Congress report that the media has a stronger agenda-setting effect on the president than on Congress. What the media choose to cover affects what the president thinks is important to voters, and these issues were often of national importance. The media\u2019s effect on Congress was limited, however, and mostly extended to local issues like education or child and elder abuse.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>George Edwards and Dan Wood. 1999. \u201cWho Influences Whom? The President, Congress, and the Media,\u201d <em>American Political Science Review<\/em> 93, No 2: 327\u2013344; Yue Tan and David Weaver. 2007. \u201cAgenda-Setting Effects Among the Media, the Public, and Congress, 1946\u20132004,\u201d <em>Journalism &amp; Mass Communication Quarterly<\/em> 84, No. 4: 729\u2013745.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>If the media are discussing a topic, chances are a member of Congress has already submitted a relevant bill, and it is waiting in committee.<\/p>\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474420951\" class=\"bc-section section\">\n<h2>COVERAGE EFFECTS ON SOCIETY<\/h2>\n<p>The media choose what they want to discuss. This agenda setting creates a reality for voters and politicians that affects the way people think, act, and vote. Even if the crime rate is going down, for instance, citizens accustomed to reading stories about assault and other offenses still perceive crime to be an issue.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Ally Fogg, \u201cCrime Is Falling. Now Let\u2019s Reduce Fear of Crime,\u201d <em>Guardian<\/em>, 24 April 24 2013.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Studies have also found that the media\u2019s portrayal of race is flawed, especially in coverage of crime and poverty. One study revealed that local news shows were more likely to show pictures of criminals when they were African American, so they overrepresented blacks as perpetrators and whites as victims.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Travis L. Dixon. 2008. \u201cCrime News and Racialized Beliefs: Understanding the Relationship between Local News Viewing and Perceptions of African Americans and Crime,\u201d <em>Journal of Communication<\/em> 58, No. 1: 106\u2013125.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>A second study found a similar pattern in which Latinos were underrepresented as victims of crime and as police officers, while whites were overrepresented as both.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Travis Dixon. 2015. \u201cGood Guys Are Still Always in White? Positive Change and Continued Misrepresentation of Race and Crime on Local Television News,\u201d <em>Communication Research<\/em>, doi:10.1177\/0093650215579223.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Voters were thus more likely to assume that most criminals are black and most victims and police officers are white, even though the numbers do not support those assumptions.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472197170\">Network news similarly misrepresents the victims of poverty by using more images of blacks than whites in its segments. Viewers in a study were left believing African Americans were the majority of the unemployed and poor, rather than seeing the problem as one faced by many races.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Travis L. Dixon. 2008. \u201cNetwork News and Racial Beliefs: Exploring the Connection between National Television News Exposure and Stereotypical Perceptions of African Americans,\u201d <em>Journal of Communication <\/em>58, No. 2: 321\u2013337.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The misrepresentation of race is not limited to news coverage, however. A study of images printed in national magazines, like <em>Time <\/em>and <em>Newsweek<\/em>, found they also misrepresented race and poverty. The magazines were more likely to show images of young African Americans when discussing poverty and excluded the elderly and the young, as well as whites and Latinos, which is the true picture of poverty.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Martin Gilens. 1996. \u201cRace and Poverty in America: Public Misperceptions and the American News Media,\u201d <em>Public Opinion Quarterly <\/em>60, No. 4: 515\u2013541.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Racial framing, even if unintentional, affects perceptions and policies. If viewers are continually presented with images of African Americans as criminals, there is an increased chance they will perceive members of this group as violent or aggressive.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Dixon. \u201cCrime News and Racialized Beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The perception that most recipients of welfare are working-age African Americans may have led some citizens to vote for candidates who promised to reduce welfare benefits.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Gilens. \u201cRace and Poverty in America.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>When survey respondents were shown a story of a white unemployed individual, 71 percent listed unemployment as one of the top three problems facing the United States, while only 53 percent did so if the story was about an unemployed African American.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Shanto Iyengar and Donald R. Kinder. 1987. <em>News That Matters<\/em>. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Word choice may also have a priming effect. News organizations like the <em>Los Angeles Times <\/em>and the Associated Press no longer use the phrase \u201cillegal immigrant\u201d to describe undocumented residents. This may be due to the desire to create a \u201csympathetic\u201d frame for the immigration situation rather than a \u201cthreat\u201d frame.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Daniel C. Hallin. 2015. \u201cThe Dynamics of Immigration Coverage in Comparative Perspective,\u201d <em>American Behavioral Scientist<\/em> 59, No. 7: 876\u2013885.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472159833\">Media coverage of women has been similarly biased. Most journalists in the early 1900s were male, and women\u2019s issues were not part of the newsroom discussion. As journalist Kay <strong><span class=\"no-emphasis\">Mills<\/span><\/strong> put it, the women\u2019s movement of the 1960s and 1970s was about raising awareness of the problems of equality, but writing about rallies \u201cwas like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Kay Mills. 1996. \u201cWhat Difference Do Women Journalists Make?\u201d In <em>Women, the Media and Politics<\/em>, ed. Pippa Norris. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 43.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Most politicians, business leaders, and other authority figures were male, and editors\u2019 reactions to the stories were lukewarm. The lack of women in the newsroom, politics, and corporate leadership encouraged silence.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Kim Fridkin Kahn and Edie N. Goldenberg. 1997. \u201cThe Media: Obstacle or Ally of Feminists?\u201d In <em>Do the Media Govern?<\/em> eds. Shanto Iyengar and Richard Reeves. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474246826\">In 1976, journalist Barbara <strong><span class=\"no-emphasis\">Walters<\/span><\/strong> became the first female coanchor on a network news show, <em>The ABC Evening News<\/em>. She was met with great hostility from her coanchor Harry Reasoner and received critical coverage from the press.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Barbara Walters, \u201cMs. Walters Reflects,\u201d <em>Vanity Fair<\/em>, 31 May 2008,<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>On newspaper staffs, women reported having to fight for assignments to well-published <strong>beats<\/strong>, or to be assigned areas or topics, such as the economy or politics, that were normally reserved for male journalists. Once female journalists held these assignments, they feared writing about women\u2019s issues. Would it make them appear weak? Would they be taken from their coveted beats?<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Mills. \u201cWhat Difference Do Women Journalists Make?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>This apprehension allowed poor coverage of women and the women\u2019s movement to continue until women were better represented as journalists and as editors. Strength of numbers allowed them to be confident when covering issues like health care, childcare, and education.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Mills. \u201cWhat Difference Do Women Journalists Make?\u201d<span id=\"fs-id1171472275912\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/openstaxcollege.org\/l\/29cawprutgers\">Center for American Women in Politics<\/a> researches the treatment women receive from both government and the media, and they share the data with the public.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The media\u2019s historically uneven coverage of women continues in its treatment of female candidates. Early coverage was sparse. The stories that did appear often discussed the candidate\u2019s viability, or ability to win, rather than her stand on the issues.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Kahn and Goldenberg, \u201cThe Media: Obstacle or Ally of Feminists?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Women were seen as a novelty rather than as serious contenders who needed to be vetted and discussed. Modern media coverage has changed slightly. One study found that female candidates receive more favorable coverage than in prior generations, especially if they are incumbents.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Kim Fridkin Kahn. 1994. \u201cDoes Gender Make a Difference? An Experimental Examination of Sex Stereotypes and Press Patterns in Statewide Campaigns,\u201d <em>American Journal of Political Science <\/em>38, No. 1: 162\u2013195.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Yet a different study found that while there was increased coverage for female candidates, it was often negative.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>John David Rausch, Mark Rozell, and Harry L. Wilson. 1999. \u201cWhen Women Lose: A Study of Media Coverage of Two Gubernatorial Campaigns,\u201d <em>Women &amp; Politics<\/em> 20, No. 4: 1\u201322.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;text-align: initial\">And it did not include Latina candidates.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Sarah Allen Gershon. 2013. \u201cMedia Coverage of Minority Congresswomen and Voter Evaluations: Evidence from an Online Experimental Study,\u201d <em>Political Research Quarterly <\/em>66, No. 3: 702\u2013714.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Without coverage, they are less likely to win.<\/p>\n<p>The historically negative media coverage of female candidates has had another concrete effect: Women are less likely than men to run for office. One common reason is the effect negative media coverage has on families.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Jennifer Lawless and Richard Logan Fox. 2005. <em>It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don\u2019t Run for Office<\/em>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Many women do not wish to expose their children or spouses to criticism.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Brittany L. Stalsburg, \u201cRunning with Strollers: The Impact of Family Life on Political Ambition,\u201d <em>Eagleton Institute of Politics<\/em>, Spring 2012, Unpublished Paper, http:\/\/www.eagleton.rutgers.edu\/research\/documents\/Stalsburg-FamilyLife-Political-Ambition.pdf (August 28, 2015).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In 2008, the nomination of Sarah <strong><span class=\"no-emphasis\">Palin<\/span><\/strong> as Republican candidate John McCain\u2019s running mate validated this concern (<a class=\"autogenerated-content\" href=\"#OSC_AmGov_08_04_Palin\">Figure<\/a>). Some articles focused on her qualifications to be a potential future president or her record on the issues. But others questioned whether she had the right to run for office, given she had young children, one of whom has developmental disabilities.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Christina Walker, \u201cIs Sarah Palin Being Held to an Unfair Standard?\u201d <em>CNN<\/em>, 8 September 2008.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;text-align: initial\">Her daughter, Bristol, was criticized for becoming pregnant while unmarried.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Dana Bash, \u201cPalin\u2019s Teen Daughter is Pregnant,\u201d <em>CNN<\/em>, 1 September 2008.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Her husband was called cheap for failing to buy her a high-priced wedding ring.<\/p>\n<div class=\"note reference\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Jimmy Orr, \u201cPalin Wardrobe Controversy Heightens &#8211; Todd is a Cheapo!\u201d <em>Christian Science Monitor<\/em>, 26 October 2008.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Even when candidates ask that children and families be off-limits, the press rarely honors the requests. So women with young children may wait until their children are grown before running for office, if they choose to run at all.<\/p>\n<div id=\"OSC_AmGov_08_04_Palin\" class=\"bc-figure figure\">\n<div style=\"width: 835px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2292\/2017\/08\/08164157\/OSC_AmGov_08_04_Palin.jpg\" alt=\"An image of Sarah Palin on a stage with John McCain and several other people.\" width=\"825\" height=\"550\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 4.\u00a0<\/strong>When Sarah Palin found herself on the national stage at the Republican Convention in September 2008, media coverage about her selection as John McCain\u2019s running mate included numerous questions about her ability to serve based on personal family history. Attacks on candidates\u2019 families lead many women to postpone or avoid running for office. (credit: Carol Highsmith)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472394507\" class=\"summary\">\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474427308\">Writers began to formally study media bias in the 1920s. Initially, the press was seen as being able to place information in our minds, but later research found that the media have a minimal effect on recipients. A more recent theory is that the media cultivates our reality by presenting information that creates our perceptions of the world. The media does have the ability to frame what it presents, and it can also prime citizens to think a particular way, which changes how they react to new information.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474442665\">The media\u2019s coverage of electoral candidates has increasingly become analysis rather than reporting. Sound bites from candidates are shorter. The press now provides horse-race coverage on the campaigns rather than in-depth coverage on candidates and their positions, forcing voters to look for other sources, like social media, for information. Current coverage of the government focuses more on what the president does than on presidential policies. Congress, on the other hand, is rarely affected by the media. Most topics discussed by the media are already being discussed by members of Congress or its committees.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472395147\">The media frame discussions and choose pictures, information, and video to support stories, which may affect the way people vote on social policy and in elections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472131007\" class=\"review-questions\">\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474414662\" class=\"exercise\">\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474344176\" class=\"problem\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472131007\" class=\"review-questions\">\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474414662\" class=\"exercise\">\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474344176\" class=\"problem\">\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472423647\">Which of the following is an example of episodic framing?<\/p>\n<ol id=\"fs-id1171472283636\">\n<li>a story on drug abuse that interviews addicts and discusses reasons for addiction and government responses to help addicts<\/li>\n<li>a story on how drug abuse policy has changed since 1984<\/li>\n<li>a story on candidates\u2019 answers to a drug question in a debate<\/li>\n<li>a story detailing arguments against needle exchange programs<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474561629\" class=\"solution\">\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474423535\">\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><span class=\"show-answer collapsed\" style=\"cursor: pointer\" data-target=\"q466409\">Show Answer<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"q466409\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\">A<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474464746\" class=\"exercise\">\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474423721\" class=\"problem\">\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472157378\">According to research, why might a woman decide not to run for office?<\/p>\n<ol id=\"fs-id1171470627653\">\n<li>She feels the work is too hard.<\/li>\n<li>She fears her positions will be covered too closely by the press.<\/li>\n<li>She fears the media will criticize her family.<\/li>\n<li>She fears the campaign will be too expensive.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472157755\" class=\"exercise\">\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474435274\" class=\"problem\">\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472120768\">Media coverage of a race tends to ________.<\/p>\n<ol id=\"fs-id1171472325378\">\n<li>accurately portray all races equally<\/li>\n<li>accurately portray whites and blacks as victims<\/li>\n<li>overrepresent whites and the elderly as poor<\/li>\n<li>overrepresent African Americans as poor<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472406127\" class=\"solution\">\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474349852\">\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><span class=\"show-answer collapsed\" style=\"cursor: pointer\" data-target=\"q844524\">Show Answer<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"q844524\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\">D<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474498252\" class=\"exercise\">\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472269142\" class=\"problem\">\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472099972\">How might framing or priming affect the way a reader or viewer thinks about an issue?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472164192\" class=\"exercise\">\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472069429\" class=\"problem\">\n<p id=\"fs-id1171471908013\">Why would inaccurate coverage of race and gender affect policy or elections?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472362044\" class=\"solution\">\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472126324\">\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><span class=\"show-answer collapsed\" style=\"cursor: pointer\" data-target=\"q459917\">Show Answer<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"q459917\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\">If we are presented with a reality, it affects the way we vote and the policies we support.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472189399\" class=\"critical-thinking\">\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474414314\" class=\"exercise\">\n<div id=\"fs-id1171474696514\" class=\"problem\">\n<p>In what ways can the media change the way a citizen thinks about government?<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472091220\" class=\"exercise\">\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472423573\" class=\"problem\">\n<p>In what ways do the media protect people from a tyrannical government?<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472000492\" class=\"exercise\">\n<div id=\"fs-id1171470297994\" class=\"problem\">\n<p>Should all activities of the government be open to media coverage? Why or why not? In what circumstances do you think it would be appropriate for the government to operate without transparency?<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472249149\" class=\"exercise\">\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472173019\" class=\"problem\">\n<p>Have changes in media formats created a more accurate, less biased media? Why or why not?<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472116948\" class=\"exercise\">\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472126149\" class=\"problem\">\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472289434\">How does citizen journalism use social media to increase coverage of world events?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>References<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"fs-id1171472412206\" class=\"suggested-reading\">\n<p id=\"fs-id1171470308515\">Baum, Matthew A. 2003. <em>Soft News Goes to War: Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy in the New Media Age<\/em>. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474432857\">Baum, Matthew A., and Philip B. K. Potter. 2015. <em>War and Democratic Constraint: How the Public Influences Foreign Policy<\/em>. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171471916427\">Cohen, Jeffrey. 2008. <em>The Presidency in the Era of 24-Hour News<\/em>. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474522976\">Eshbaugh-Soha, Matthew, and Jeffrey Peake. 2011. <em>Breaking through the Noise: Presidential Leadership, Public Opinion, and the News<\/em>. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.<\/p>\n<p>Fellow, Anthony R. 2013. <em>American Media History<\/em>. Boston: Cengage.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171471916669\">Graber, Doris A., and Johanna L. Dunaway. 2014. <em>Mass Media and American Politics<\/em>. Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472092180\">PIyengar, Shanto. 2016. <em>Media Politics: A Citizen\u2019s Guide<\/em>, 3rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474338571\">Iyengar, Shanto, and Donald R. Kinder. 2010.<em> News That Matters: Television and American Opinion<\/em>. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474423005\">Lawless, Jennifer L., and Richard L. Fox. 2010. <em>It Still Takes A Candidate: Why Women Don\u2019t Run for Office<\/em>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472289941\">Malecha, Gary, and Daniel J. Reagan. 2011. <em>The Public Congress: Congressional Deliberation in a New Media Age<\/em>. New York: Routledge.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171472289626\">Media Matters (http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/).<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474498472\">Media Research Center (http:\/\/www.mrc.org\/).<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171470264750\">Patterson, Thomas. 2013. <em>Informing the News: The Need for Knowledge-Based Journalism<\/em>. New York: Vintage.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474428194\">Politifact (http:\/\/www.politifact.com\/).<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171470260499\">Rozell, Mark, and Jeremy Mayer. 2008. <em>Media Power, Media Politics<\/em>. Lanham, MD: Rowman &amp; Littlefield.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-id1171474302284\">West, Darrell M. 2013. <em>Air Wars<\/em>. Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<h2>Glossary<\/h2>\n<dl id=\"fs-id1171474252732\" class=\"definition\">\n<dt>beat<\/dt>\n<dd id=\"fs-id1171472206020\">the coverage area assigned to journalists for news or stories<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<dl id=\"fs-id1171472134205\" class=\"definition\">\n<dt>cultivation theory<\/dt>\n<dd id=\"fs-id1171472075056\">the idea that media affect a citizen\u2019s worldview through the information presented<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<dl id=\"fs-id1171474431909\" class=\"definition\">\n<dt>framing<\/dt>\n<dd id=\"fs-id1171474561653\">the process of giving a news story a specific context or background<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<dl id=\"fs-id1171472113862\" class=\"definition\">\n<dt>hypodermic theory<\/dt>\n<dd id=\"fs-id1171472127328\">the idea that information is placed in a citizen\u2019s brain and accepted<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<dl id=\"fs-id1171474476941\" class=\"definition\">\n<dt>minimal effects theory<\/dt>\n<dd id=\"fs-id1171472200645\">the idea that the media have little effect on citizens<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<dl id=\"fs-id1171474464818\" class=\"definition\">\n<dt>priming<\/dt>\n<dd id=\"fs-id1171470262352\">the process of predisposing readers or viewers to think a particular way<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-221\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>OpenStax American Government. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: OpenStax CNX. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/5bcc0e59-7345-421d-8507-a1e4608685e8@18.14\">http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/5bcc0e59-7345-421d-8507-a1e4608685e8@18.14<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Download for free at http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/5bcc0e59-7345-421d-8507-a1e4608685e8@18.14<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":17533,"menu_order":5,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"OpenStax American Government\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"OpenStax CNX\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/5bcc0e59-7345-421d-8507-a1e4608685e8@18.14\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"Download for free at http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/5bcc0e59-7345-421d-8507-a1e4608685e8@18.14\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":"cc-by"},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[57],"license":[50],"class_list":["post-221","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","contributor-cnxamgov","license-cc-by"],"part":197,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-osamgovernment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-osamgovernment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-osamgovernment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-osamgovernment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17533"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-osamgovernment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1068,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-osamgovernment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/221\/revisions\/1068"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-osamgovernment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/197"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-osamgovernment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/221\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-osamgovernment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-osamgovernment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=221"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-osamgovernment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=221"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-osamgovernment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}