Module 2 - Chapter Six

Mass Media: Setting the Political Agenda

• In the Online Lecture section, explore the instructor's discussion of the points raised in the first chapter.
• Ask yourself: how do these points compare to those found in the text?
• Make a note of the major concepts as listed in the text and as highlighted below.
• You may want to follow some of the current events hyperlinks to find examples of issues mention at the end of the online lecture."
• Go to the Dye textbook publisher site to look at the chapter overview and to test yourself as required (see below).

 

Dye Textbook: Overview

• Look at the Dye overview to assure yourself that you have absorbed the main points.  Only look at the overview after you have read the chapter!

Online Lecture

What is the real power of the mass media?  Does it depend on the types of media – print, radio, TV, internet?  Is one type of media more influential than another?  Which affects YOU the most?

For example, how much do the national news media affect your views about current events and political issues?  When exactly during your day are you exposed to it?  Do you note any difference between the quality and depth of reporting on TV half-hour news summaries at night, compared to e.g., public television one hour Lehrer newshour presentations (have you even watched the latter?)?

In the discussion of the power of the media, Dye suggests that television, with its ability to present strong visuals, interpret news, show the emotional side of a story, etc. is the dominant method both for shaping our understanding of current events, but also a general method of socialization.

How has this affected the general public?  Has the media, as the self-appointed “watchdog” acting in the public interest, focused excessively on the sensational, the negative, the scandalous, the cynical, etc., ultimately making the public think that e.g., “all politicians are crooks, and not to be trusted.”

Has the media gone overboard in this respect, or is it just “doing its job?”  Did coverage of the Lewinsky scandal help inform us about the character of the President, or just offer titillation for the TV ratings game?  Was the media's faulty reading of the 2000 Presidential election results in Florida (and thereby nationally) caused by an excessive anxiety among networks to be the "first" to call the election, rather than patiently waiting for actual results (rather than mere exit polls) to come in...

Our course is about “American” government, but the text focuses enitrely on national government when depicting this role of the mass media.  

However, we could just as well ask, "To what extent does the public really know much about crime, education, growth, transportation, etc. from television reporting when it concerns the local level of government?"  How about the state level?  

Certainly the most watched reporting is the national evening news, combined with CNN and its copycats.  These typically have virtually nothing to say about the state and local levels of government.

So what generalization must we use when we progress beyond the national level?  There is no CSPAN for Maryland’s General Assembly. The Anne Arundel County Council has put its meetings on TV for those with cable to enjoy - if you remember to tune in the first and third Mondays of the month.  Maryland Public Television at least has a regular half-hour segment called Newsnight Maryland.

To what extent do political campaigns for e.g., state senator or delegate, county council, or clerk of the court ever make it to any of the mass media?  

They may reach cable television where the cost is still fairly low for advertising.  The Center for the Study of Local Issues sponsored a candidate forum October, 1998 during which time County Council and County Executive candidates were questioned by a panel (with yours truly as one of the questioners) – it was attended by appropriately two hundred people and broadcast by Jones cable company to two-thirds of the rest of the county.  Unfortunately, that was an exceptional event, not the norm.

I suggest as a generalization that we are underserved at the state and local level, and drastically over served at the national level.

Parties Displaced by Mass Media, Professionalization of Politics

There is one important point raised by Dye having to do with the replacement of political parties by the mass media.  Prior to especially television, political parties would act as the principal link between candidates and voters.  The party would mobilize a small army of volunteers to go door-to-door distributing literature and talking-up the candidate.

Dye argues that “television has largely replaced party organizations and personal contact as the means by which candidates communicate with voters.”  This is true in the following manner: campaigns are increasingly professionalized as the jurisdiction increases in size and rises in political importance.  Thus, County Executive campaigns are more professionalized and media driven than Council Council races. 

However, there is another point to be made about the atrophying of political parties, which will be raised again later in the discussion of parties: parties are generally prohibited from backing a candidate during the primary season, unless the party only has a single candidate for an elected office.  This means that successful candidates wishing to get through the primaries must develop their own campaign organizations without relying directly upon party structures and personnel.  This makes it even more likely that they will rely on non-party elements such as the media to market themselves.  By the time the general election is close, candidates – especially those for lower offices – will not need the party much since they have become more or less self-reliant.

Are we better off with impersonal, media-structured campaigns?  Has this made more of the public attentive to candidates and differences among them, or tune-out given the focus on negative campaigning and mud-slinging?

As you can see, we have a lot to discuss during our chat session.