MEDIA

Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.

Jim Morrison

The medium IS the message

Liberal, conservative they ALL play the game

Those Fox folks are so darn clever

Who makes the news?

Journalists only want to inform? Or is it all about the bank account? What exactly is their agenda?

The people who "report" it

Power of the media

Transformed America- no longer boring and removed

Vietnam a major turning point- Cronkite went to Nam to report on the war. He was negative. LBJ said to an aide: “ We’ve lost the war now that we’ve lost Cronkite”

Power in freedom- 1st amendment. Freedom is rare

Who is watching the watchers?

Regulation

Broadcast TV most restricted- public airwaves

Regulation of content- Equal time rule- time given one candidate

must be provided to others Fairness Doctrine ( 1949-1985)- had to be fair

in coverage- FCC abolished it in 1985 based on various explosion of media that created diversity among viewpoints.

1st amendment protects many viewpoints and ideas

The Court and the press

Near v. Minnesota (1931)A state law allowing prior restraint was

unconstitutional. This decision also extended protection of press freedom to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.

New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)The First Amendment protected all

statements about public officials unless the speaker lied with the intent to defame.

New York Times v. United States (1971)A claimed threat to national security was not justification

for prior restraint on publication of classified documents (the Pentagon Papers) about the Vietnam War

Hustler v. Falwell (1988)The First Amendment prohibits public figures from

recovering damages for intentional infliction of emotional harm unless the publication contained a false statement made with actual malice.

Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988)Public school officials can censor school-sponsored

newspapers, because the newspapers are part of the school curriculum rather than a forum for public expression.

More on media power

Media is a two way street- media uses politicians and politicians use the media

Newspapers and magazines. Newspapers are primarily local except NY

Times. Wall St Journal, Wash Post Mags are more national- Time, Newsweek

And even more on power

National more powerful- NY Times, Newsweek etc. Leaders pay attention to what they write Leaders give them more access Reporters are more prestigious

New media influences

Newspapers in serious decline- once major source

TV networks took over but also in decline Non broadcast on the rise- Fox, MSNBC, Daily

Show (“In a 2004 study conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, researchers discovered that regular viewers of The Daily Show actually knew more about elections than did people who watched news channels and read newspapers.”) Young people use non traditional methods

Cable vs broadcast( network and local)

Al Gore is a genius!

New media=ignorance?

New media is great for immediate relevance but what’s lost when everything we do is so quick, edited and disposable?

Is Twitter really a news source?

Internet competition

TV still rules…..barely News is 24/7 1950’s it was 15 minutes a day Role as gatekeeper, scorekeeper,

watchdog has changed for better or worse

Media roles

Gatekeeper- What becomes an issue?Experiment- One group shown news on

nuclear weapons the other group watches stories on unemployment

Results:Issue a problem?

Before experiment

After experiment

nukes 35% 65%

unemployment 43% 71%

Scorekeeper- Who is winning? Iowa, NH etc.

Sometimes the media decides the winner is the loser and the loser is the winner

"We have a top tier now“But it is hard to change opinions:Poll-

Who won the debate?Bush Kerry Neither

democrats 5% 81% 11%

independent

35% 43% 22%

republicans 73% 12% 11%

Watchdog- Keep an eye on those dogs in DC Watergate/Iran-Contra/Monica/WMD/

Soylndra??

Who’s paying attention anyway?

high attention

Medium attention

Low attention

College grad 43 53 4

Some college 33 57 10

High school grad

28 57 15

Dropout 16 58 26

So what do those paying attention actually see?

Ideological propoganda- Corresponds with the rise of cable TV

-1980 CNN- Follows Fairness Doctrine despite cable being exempt- Today anything goes

-1987- FCC rescinds Fairness doctrine- Radio ( Rush Limbaugh) then TV go ideological. Fox now #1 by a large margin

-Real detail on candidates is lost- Soundbites? Hah.

The incredible shrinking soundbite