February 16, 2010
Announcements
Office hours, Thursdays 1:00-3:00pm Amory 232A. No appointment is necessary.
Slides from last week will be posted.
Review on Media Coverage
Media a source of information about politics Concerns about what the media cover Quality of coverage Private vs. public Tone of coverage
Newspaper coverage in Britain
Public Reaction to News Coverage in the US
Public Evaluations of TV news in Britain
Evaluations of Campaign Coverage
Public vs. Private broadcasting
The most respected news sources in many countries are the public radio and television news services (ie. BBC)
News is a profit making enterprise Public broadcasting allows a broader range of news to be
covered more in depth But should the government regulate media coverage? Criticisms of the BBC; ie. should it have invited Nick Griffin
of the BNP on Question Time?
Unmediated Coverage
One of the most visible examples of parliament at work is the 30 minutes devoted each week to Prime Minister’s Questions
It is one of the few points where - between elections - the legislature can act as a check upon the executive in a visible forum.
Does PMQs enhance or weaken democracy? Stealth Democracy
Would it be better if people did not see politics in action?
Media Effects
Categories of effects: Cognitive processes; making sense of politics Opinion on issues Make choices between candidates
Processes: Agenda Setting Priming Framing Persuasion
Definitions
Agenda Setting – influence on what people think is most important problem
Priming – make respondents recall particular issues when evaluating leaders/issues
Framing – emphasis on particular aspects of a story (remember example about question wording)
Persuasion – convert respondent’s position on a particular issue/leader
Agenda Setting
Media can drive not “what to think” but “what to think about”
Transmission of salience Citizens develop ideas about what is and is not important,
which problems are and which are not proper subjects for government action, and these ideas shape and constrain what government attempts to do
Concerned with salience and not tone/direction
Priority given to an issue by media
Perceived importance
Agenda Setting
Priority given to an issue by media
Perceived importance
Source
Personal experience
Agenda Setting
Most Important Problem (US)
Health Care (US)
Priming
The more attention the news media pay to a particular aspect of political life – the more frequently that aspect is primed – the more people will incorporate what they know about it into their political evaluations
Priming
Attention given to an issue by media
Prominence in evaluations
Priming
Attention given to an issue by media
Prominence in evaluations
Trust in source
Change in importance
Prior knowledge
Priming: 2005 UK General Election
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Day before election
Num
ber o
f sto
ries
NHS Tax Crime Asylum/Immigration Iraq
Framing
“A frame operates to select and highlight some features of reality and obscure others in a way that tells a consistent story about problems, their causes, moral implications, and remedies” (Entman 1996)
Framing
Frames organize (or reorganize) information that citizens already have in mind
Frames suggest how policies should be thought about Frames imply what if anything should be done In campaigns, frames are used to interpret actions of candidates
Example of Framing on the Environment
Global warming Climate change Climate crisis
Framing: The Horton Menace
• Journalists ignored the facts about furlough programs in adopting strategy frame
• Adopted the language of the Bush campaign• Failed to check facts that seemed compatible with their
narrative
Framing: Coverage of the 2000 Election and its Aftermath
• Possible frames– Gore won the popular vote– Bush ahead in FL, meaning that he had won the electoral
college
Coverage of the 2000 Election and its Aftermath
• Frames that weakened the Democratic position– Chaos frame– Recount frame– Bush challenge in other states– Military ballots frame
• Later reinforced notion that Bush the winner
Framing: The Recession
Is the dominant media frame a global recession
or or
A recession for which Gordon Brown/Labourbear a large responsibility?