Chapter 20 Mass Media

in the Digital Age

LESSON 1
How Media Impact Our Government

Since the founding of the

United States, journalists
have served a watchdog role,
keeping a close eye on
government officials to keep
the public informed and to
guard against corruption and
the abuse of power. Today
the media environment has
changed drastically: Several
television networks broadcast
news 24 hours a day,
sometimes with a very
particular slant or bias.

Mass Media

The mass media include all the

means for communicating
information to the general
public. Media have covered the
government since George
Washington was president.
Newspapers had the field to
themselves until they were
challenged by magazines,
radio, television, and the
Internet. Each additional
medium has influenced the
way news is reported. What
once took days and weeks to
reach readers can now reach
them in seconds.

News is available around the

clock, and people with no
experience or training as
journalists have outlets for
publishing their videos, photos,
and stories.

Journalism
Digital media have enabled
citizens to act as amateur
journalists and professional
journalists to be on the job
anytime and everywhere.
Some people are
reexamining the definition
of journalist. Are
journalists only trained
reporters working in media
companies? Are bloggers
journalists because they
comment on the news on
their websites? What about
fake news?
http://www.ronpaullibertyr
eport.com/archives/reveale
d-the-real-fake-news-list

This may surprise some of us

who are here [in Congress] every
day or the people who cover
politics on a daily basis, but most
Americans are not tuned into CSPAN 24 hours a day. They get
their news in tidbits in the
morning when they are making
coffee. They have the radio on.
They hear some stuff on the radio
when on the way to work. . . .
They get home, they have to do
homework with the kids, make
dinner, put them to bed. . . .They
are not in touch with all of this
on a daily basis. They have lives
to lead.

Relationship Between
Media and Government

Some interviews are on deep

background, where the
reporter will tell the story but
agrees not to identify the
source of the story. Reporters
will make this kind of
information public by saying,
Government sources said
or A senior White House
official said. Backgrounders
give government officials the
opportunity to test new ideas
or to send unofficial messages
to other policy makers or even
foreign governments. The
media can, in this manner,
make information public
without making it official.

The Executive Branch and the

Media
Advisers to executive
branch leaders at all levels
of government try to
manage relations with the
mass media by controlling
the daily flow of
information. To do so, they
use news releases and
briefings, press conferences,
background stories, leaks,
and media events.

http://www.redflag
news.com/headline
s-2016/fbi-insiderleaks-all-clintonfoundationexposed-involvesentire-usgovernment

News Releases and Briefings

A government news release is a ready-made story
prepared by officials for members of the press. Also
called a press release, it can be printed or broadcast
word-for-word or used as background information.
A news release usually has a dateline that states the
earliest time it can be published.
During a news briefing, a government official
makes an announcement or explains a policy, a
decision, or an action. Briefings give reporters the
chance to ask officials about news releases or follow
up on leads they have developed in their research.
The presidents press secretary meets daily with the
press to answer questions, and the State Department
also provides a daily press briefing.

Other Means of Sharing

Information
Another way top officials try to influence the flow of
information to the press is through a leak, or the release
of secret information to the media by anonymous
government officials. These officials might be seeking
public support for a policy that others in the government
do not like. Top officials do not control all leaks, however.
Sometimes low-level officials leak information to expose
corruption or to get top officials to pay attention to a
problem. When the information leaked is classified, the
person who leaked that information can be prosecuted.

Modern presidents often stage a media event, a visually

interesting event designed to reinforce the presidents
position on some issue.

The President and Television

Franklin D. Roosevelt was
the first president to master
the use of broadcast media.
Broadcast television did not
exist at the time of his
presidency, and most
newspaper owners did not
support him. Therefore,
Roosevelt presented his
ideas directly to the people
with fireside chats over
the radio.

Television and Presidential

Campaigns

John F. Kennedy and Ronald

Reagan were examples of
good candidates for the
television age. They had
strong features and projected
the cool, low-key style that
goes over well on television.
Television has also made it
much easier for people who
are political unknowns to
gain exposure and quickly
become serious candidates
for major offices. Barack
Obamas televised speech at
the 2004 Democratic
convention catapulted him to
national prominence.

Television and Presidential Campaigns

The mass media have
fundamentally changed the
nomination process for
president through horserace coverage of elections,
especially primaries. Horserace coverage treats the
campaign as if it were a
sporting event, generating
excitement by focusing on
who is ahead, who is
making a comeback, and so
on. Exploring issues and
policy positions is
secondary in this type of
coverage.

Much of the electorate was

surprised if not shocked to
see Donald J. Trump defeat
Hillary Clinton in the 2016
election. Much of this can
be attributed to a media that
heavily favored Hillary
Clinton.
http://thehill.com/blogs/p
undits-blog/media/301285media-and-trump-bias-noteven-trying-to-hide-itanymore

Television and Presidential

Campaigns
How about polls for the 2016
Presidential Election? Many
knew that they were over
sampling potential democratic
voters, which led us to believe
that Hillary Clinton had a
commanding, insurmountable
lead.
http://www.realclearpolitic
s.com/epolls/latest_polls/p
resident/

Television and Presidential

Campaigns

The media declare a

candidate who wins an early
primary, even if by a very
small margin, a front-runner,
or early leader. The press
largely determines the weight
attached to being a frontrunner. The label carries
great significance, however,
because it is much easier for
front-runners to attract the
millions of dollars in loans
and campaign contributions
as well as the volunteer help
they need to win the long,
grueling nominating process.

Television and Presidential

Campaigns
Around 1900, candidates began using advertisements in
newspapers and magazines and mass mailings of
campaign literature. In 1924 candidates began radio
campaigning, and in 1952 the Eisenhower campaign
began television advertising. Television has continued to
be a major vehicle for advertising, but actual news
coverage on television now involves only brief
opportunities for politicians to share their views. In the 20
years between 1968 and 1988, the average length of a
sound bitethe actual words of a candidate or elected
leader included in a news storyshrank from 43 seconds
to 9 seconds, where it has remained since.

Covering Congress
Thousands of reporters have press credentials to cover the
House and Senate. Several hundred spend all their time
on Congress. Nearly every member of Congress has a
press secretary to prepare press releases, arrange
interviews, and give out television tapes. Most important
congressional work takes place in committees and
subcommittees over long periods of time. Congresss
slow, complicated work rarely meets televisions
requirements for dramatic, entertaining news.
Nationally known lawmakers often are seen as
spokespersons for their political parties rather than for
Congress. Most members of Congress devote their efforts
to attracting local coverage, which helps them gain
recognition among their constituents. Some members,
especially those in seniority or leadership positions, work
to get national coverage to help promote their goals.

Covering Congress
In addition to covering big
congressional debates and
bills, the media also report
on controversial
confirmation and oversight
hearings. While most
confirmation hearings are
ignored in the media, if a
reporter uncovers damaging
information about a
presidential appointee or a
nominee holds views
unpopular with members of
Congress, hearings on their
nomination may suddenly
become major news.

C-SPAN
Cable-Satellite Public
Affairs Network (C-SPAN)
began as a gavel-to-gavel
coverage of the speeches,
debates, and votes on the
floor of the House of
Representatives. Since then,
C-SPAN has expanded its
coverage to include the
Senate and major national
events. Like other media, CSPANs format has
expanded, too. C-SPAN can
now be found on radio,
satellite radio, and on the
web.

The Judiciary and the Media

Much of the medias coverage of the judiciary is related
to criminal trials. Generally, journalists have access to
trials, in part because the Sixth Amendment guarantees a
defendants right to a public trial. Courts are sometimes
concerned, however, that intense media coverage could
bias jurors. In those instances, the judge will order that
the jury be sequestered, or isolated from the public and
media, during the trial. In some cases, the trial will be
moved to a different jurisdiction if media exposure in the
local community may have influenced the potential juror
pool. Some criminal trials attract huge public interest,
and the media capitalize on this interest and provide
extensive coverage of these trials. This is true particularly
of cable news broadcasters, who might provide hours of
coverage every day during a trial

Covering the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court and other appellate courts receive
less media coverage than trial courts as well as less
coverage than Congress or the president. The nature of
these courts worktheir appellate jurisdictionmeans
that they are deciding issues of law, not ruling on whether
or not a crime was committed. These issues are
sometimes very technical and abstract, sometimes of
little interest to the general public.
The media typically cover the Supreme Court cases that
deal with issues of nationwide importance. They will
report when the Court decides to hear a case, on oral
argument in the case, and on the decision in the case.
They work to simplify and distill the complex legal
arguments for a lay audience.

Networks and the Issues

How do the media decide what to cover? Of course,
journalists professional judgment plays a role. Reporters,
editors, and news directors have views of what issues
are most important, informed by their experience
covering the news. Most media are businesses, however,
and business considerations also play a part. The likely
size of the audience is part of the answer. This is
especially true for television. Each network competes to
attract the biggest audience in a viewing market since a
larger audience allows it to charge higher advertising
rates. Thus, a network might cover a high-profile political
scandal instead of the federal budget because they know
most people will quickly switch to another channel if
they report on budget details at length

LESSON 2
Regulating Print and Broadcast Media
Media Protections
The people are the only censors
of their governors. The only
safeguard of the public
liberty is to give them full
information of their affairs
through the channel of the
public papers & to contrive that
those papers should penetrate
the whole mass of the people.
Thomas Jefferson, 1787

Media Protections
In the United States, the First Amendment means that
print media are free from prior restraint, or government
censorship of information before it is published. Prior
restraint on a publication is allowed only if publication of
the information would cause certain, serious, and
irreparable harm to our national security, and the prior
restraint would be effective in avoiding this harm while
no lesser means could do so. This means that, in almost
every case, editors and reporters have freedom to decide
what goes in or stays out of their publications.
Freedom of the press, however, is not absolute. False
written statements intended to damage a persons
reputation are called libel.

Media Protections
If a publication damages someones reputation with
false statements, that person can sue the publication
and recover damages. The value placed on our
freedom of speech makes it difficult for public
officials to win defamation lawsuits. The press must
be free to criticize public officials without fear of
being sued.
Does the First Amendment give the media special
rights of access to courtrooms or government
offices? Further, does it give reporters special
protection for their news sourcesthe people they
consult to get information?

The Right of Access to Information

Sometimes the government tries to control
the press by denying access to certain
information. In 1966 Congress passed the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA),
which requires federal agencies to release
files to the public, unless the material falls
into certain exceptions for national security
or other confidential information. Members
of the press often file FOIA requests to
force the government to release information.
Many states have laws similar to FOIA that
apply to state agencies.

The Right of Access to Information

Generally, the Supreme

Court has rejected the idea
that the media have special
rights of access above and
beyond public access. For
example, in the 1972 case
Branzburg v. Hayes, the Court
said that the First
Amendment does not
guarantee the press a
constitutional right of special
access to information not
available to the public
generally.

Protection of Sources
Reporters often need secret informants when
investigating abuse of power, scandals involving public
officials, or crimes. Success in gathering news may
depend on getting information from people who do not
want their names made public. However, the government
sometimes wants to know what journalists were told or
who gave them information, in order to prosecute crimes.
If the courts, the police, or legislatures force reporters to
name their sources, these sources of information may
vanish.
The press and the U.S. government have fought many
battles over the medias right to keep sources secret.
Forty-nine states and the District of Columbia have
shield laws to protect reporters from having to reveal
their sources. While no federal shield law exists, the
Privacy Protection Act of 1980 prevents all levels of
government from searching for and seizing source
documentation, except in a few circumstances.

Regulating Media
The Federal Communications
Commission

Content Regulation

The Federal
Communications
Commission (FCC) is a
government agency with
authority to regulate
interstate and international
communications by radio,
television, telephone,
telegraph, cable, and satellite.
The FCC has five
commissioners appointed by
the president with Senate
approval.

Over the years, the extent of

FCC content regulation has
varied in response to
developments in technology,
court rulings, and changes in
political ideas about the proper
role of government. Originally,
the FCC set rules that
broadcasters must cover issues of
interest in the community and
present contrasting viewpoints.
Broadcasters were given wide
leeway in deciding what counts
as community issues and how to
provide contrasting views. This
was known as the fairness
doctrine.

More Content Regulation

The doctrine was supposed to discourage one-sided coverage
of issues and encourage stations to present a range of issues.
The Supreme Court had upheld the fairness doctrine as
constitutional; however, some broadcasters and political
activists claimed that the fairness doctrine was actually
censorship. They argued that it caused stations to avoid
reporting on any type of controversy. In 1987 the FCC decided
to drop the fairness doctrine. Congress then passed a law
requiring the FCC to keep it, but President Reagan vetoed the
bill. Reagan said the growth of cable television had added
many new outlets for different ideas and the fairness doctrine
was no longer needed. Ending the fairness doctrine led to a
burst of syndicated radio talk shows in which commentators
expressed strident political opinions. Although often extreme
and one-sided in their views, these commentators argued their
points of view offered listeners an alternative to the
mainstream media.

Ownership Regulation
Owners can influence the
message their outlets present.
Shortly after its creation, the
FCC began setting rules to
prevent the ownership of media
from being concentrated in the
same hands. It limited the
number of radio stations that
one company could own in the
same large market like Chicago
or New York. It also limited
cross-ownership of media by
stating that companies could no
longer own a newspaper and a
television or radio station in the
same market.

Telephone lines could carry

the same signals that cable
companies carried, and
cable companies could offer
phone service.
Both could offer Internet
service, videoconferencing,
and other services. Both the
phone companies and
broadcasters sought
changes in the federal law.

Telecommunications Act of 1996

In 1996 Congress passed the
Telecommunications
Act. This law ended or
relaxed many FCC limits on
media ownership. The law
removed any limits on how
many radio or television
stations a company could
own as long as the company
did not control more than 35
percent of the national
market. It allowed crossownership of cable and
broadcast systems.

Media and National Security

Tension often arises between the governments need
for secrecy in national security matters and citizens
need for information. This is most obvious in foreign
and military affairs where intelligence information is
involved. The government tries to control this
information by classifying some information as
secret and limiting press coverage of military
actions. During the Vietnam War, the New York
Times and other papers published a secret Defense
Department study on how the United States became
involved in the war. The government tried to stop the
publication of this study, commonly referred to as
the Pentagon Papers. In New York Times v. United
States (1971), the Supreme Court ruled that the
publication did not harm national security.

Media and National Security

Government restriction on media coverage during
wartime has varied. During the Vietnam War, there were
few limits. Reporters who roamed freely across combat
zones learned from soldiers that they had doubts about
the way the war was being fought. To prevent such
negative reports during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the
Defense Department limited coverage to a small group of
reporters, with most having to depend on official briefings
for information.
When the war in Iraq began in 2003, the Pentagon
allowed 500 reporters to accompany troops into battle.
These embedded journalists reported live on
encounters, but they did not have complete freedom: they
could not announce the exact location of where they
were traveling. Critics worried that reporters who shared
military life and grew close to the troops would not want
to write anything negative about the war.

Media and National Security

In 2010 a website called

WikiLeaks provided thousands
of U.S. State Department
documents to news media
around the world. A U.S. Army
private was charged with having
provided many of the
documents, which dealt with the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The government believed that
the leaks had jeopardized
American lives. But when
government prosecutors sought
legal action against those
responsible for the breach of
national security, they found that
prosecution would be difficult
because of the First
Amendments protection of a
free press. The Army private was,
however, convicted of espionage
charges in a military court.

Media and National Security

Do we know of anyone else
who WikiLeaks exposed
recently?
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=Dy91I0Fgjq8

In 2013 a computer expert who had

worked at the National Security Agency
(NSA) told a reporter that the NSA was
spying on U.S. citizens using computer
programs that can monitor cell phone
calls, e-mail, and Internet traffic. The
leaker, Edward Snowden, fled the
United States to escape prosecution.

LESSON 3
The Internet and Democracy
Civic Participation and Digital Media
These online activities include signing online petitions,
contacting government officials via e-mail or text,
commenting on an online news story or blog post,
liking or promoting information about political issues
on social networks, sharing information about politics,
and more. In 2012 almost 40 percent of American adults
took part in some sort of political activity in the context
of a social networking site, while two-thirds of all 18- to
24-year-olds engaged in some sort of social networkrelated political activity.

Civic Participation and Digital

Media
Will social media prompt
Americans to become more
involved in their
communities, or will
Americans come to believe
that social media effectively
replace the need to be
involved? According to one
study, nearly one-fifth of
social networking site users
report being motivated to
take action by posts on the
site.

On an every day level,

Americans are three times as
likely to discuss politics or public
affairs with others through offline
channels (in person, by phone
call, or by letter) as they are
through online channels. Even
the most tech-savvy userssuch
as young adults, college
graduates, or those with high
incomesdiscuss politics with
greater frequency offline than
online.
Pew Research Internet
Project, 2013

Gathering Information
Thanks to the Internet, Americans today can gather
information about government and politics much more
easily than their parents or grandparents could. Websites
devoted to political issues are commonplace.

News outlets, government agencies, Congress, political

parties, universities, and various interest groups all host
websites designed to inform, entertain, or persuade
Americans. Many political websites have a bias, meaning
they offer information and ideas that support only their
own point of view on issues

Gathering Information
A good website will tell you who owns and maintains it
and when it was last updated. Good news organizations
also have editors or other people to check facts before the
stories are printed. Ultimately, though, it is the
responsibility of the user to evaluate the information on a
website and determine whether it is reliable, accurate, and
up-to-date.
Many people who are interested in following political
issues sign up for electronic mailing lists, typically
sponsored by interest groups or political parties. They
might also follow interest groups, parties, or elected
officials on Twitter or a social network.

Gathering Information
Who owns these media outlets?

e-government
All levels of government now
provide services and
information over the Internet.
At the local level, residents
can access property tax bills,
get forms for marriage
licenses, find town board
meeting times, pay parking
tickets, or report abandoned
cars or illegal dumping. States
facilitate registering to vote,
requesting absentee ballots,
viewing the state budget, or
obtaining a hunting or fishing
license online.

Communication with Officials

Telling legislators and other government officials
what you think is one of the most basic ways
individual citizens can participate in representative
democracy. Many people do so digitallyaccording
to the Pew Foundation, in 2012 18 percent of
American adults contacted their elected officials
online, by e-mail, or by text message. Interest groups
and political organizers frequently send out action
alerts, calling upon members to phone, fax, or email a specific lawmaker, group of lawmakers, or
other officials

Communication with Officials

Some action alerts include links to find
contact information for your officials,
and a sample script to use in the
communication.
Another tool for communicating with
elected officials is an electronic
petition. This is a message that asks
you, along with many other people, to
sign your name electronically to a
request that is going to an official. The
petition organizers check the
signatures, removing those that seem
questionable, and give the results to
officials.

Digital Media and Elections

During the 2012 presidential election, President Barack
Obama made headlines when he hosted an Ask Me
Anything question-and-answer session on the then up-andcoming social news site Reddit. President Obama became the
first candidate to engage with this popular site. The
Democratic candidates savvy use of social media helped
attract a large number of younger voters to his campaign and
encouraged them to go out to vote.
In 2002 Congress passed the Help America Vote Act, which
required states to replace old voting methods such as punch
cards. Many states have begun using electronic voting
machines, where voters cast a ballot in person, using a
computerized machine.

Mass Media and New Media

Traditionally, mass media was
unidirectional, meaning that
communication went in one
direction. Radio, television, and
newspapers provided a shared
experience for huge audiences,
but they did so through one-way
transmission of images and ideas.
By contrast, the Internet supports
interactive communications. This
allows readers and viewers to
respond to the news they
received.

Enhancing the Mass Media

The Internet and social media
have encouraged growth of
hyper-local news. As
traditional local news sources
have reduced coverage in
many markets, new online
media that enable people to
share information about their
immediate community have
proliferated. E-mail groups,
blogs, and social media sites
enable residents to share
information about local
government and issues

Challenges to Mass Media

The types of news stories that many people see have also been
impacted by the interactivity of the Internet. So-called news
aggregators like Google News provide links to the most
popular news stories as determined by computer programs
(trending), and some social news sites rely on user votes to
promote stories.
Every page view, like, and share is tracked online, and
advertising revenue is based on the number of views a story
will generate. Web editors are sensitive to this, and often want
to publish or promote the stories that will draw eyeballs.

Blogging and Citizen Reporting

Anyone with a cell phone can
take relatively high quality video
and share it online. Anyone can
create a blog and publish material
about politics for millions of
others to read and comment
upon.

By 2011, the popular platform

WordPress was hosting more
than 20 million blogs. Using sites
like Wikipedia, YouTube,
Pinterest, and Facebook,
millions of Americans became
creators, curators, and distributors
of information

In the process, average

Americans sometimes
uncover stories that were
missed by the major media.
A handful of conservative
bloggers uncovered the
fabrication of a key
document in a
controversial 60 Minutes
report about George W.
Bushs military service.

Public Policy and the Internet

The rise of a major technology like

the Internet creates a need for new
laws to deal with its impact on
politics, business, and peoples lives.
Everyone from lawmakers in
Congress to local school board
officials has struggled to keep up
with the legal implications of the
Internet.

The Internets global nature ensures

that this medium represents a wide
range of content and opinions; this
diversity is one of the Internets
major strengths. At the same time,
the Internet is a decentralized
medium with few rules.

Broadband Access
As of 2013, about 70 percent of
American adults had broadband,
or high-speed, Internet access at
home. More and more daily
activities necessitate (or are made
easier by) an Internet connection,
from communicating, to finding
and applying for a job, banking,
or interacting with government.
In early 2011 President Obama
announced an initiative to make
high-speed Internet available to
at least 98 percent of Americans.

https://www.whitehouse.go
v/the-pressoffice/2011/02/10/preside
nt-obama-details-plan-winfuture-through-expandedwireless-access

Net Neutrality
In 2010 the FCC issued an Open Internet Order, saying that
Internet service providers must not discriminate against any
one type of data or application as it transmits it to users.
Some Internet service providers would prefer to be able to
charge content providers tiered rates for transmitting
different types of content at different speeds.

There is widespread support for rules against such

discrimination based on content and applications, known as
net neutrality.

Offensive Content
The Internet gives anyone with a personal computer the
ability to spread his or her ideas to a global audience. This has
led to an explosion of creativity and new opportunities for
civic participation. However, it has also allowed anyone,
anywhere, to access obscene content in the privacy of their
own homes.
In 2000 Congress passed the Childrens Internet Protection
Act, which permitted libraries to install anti-pornography
filters on computers used by the public. The Supreme Court,
in United States v. American Library Association (2003), ruled
that such filters did not violate the First Amendment rights of
library users. If libraries erroneously blocked some materials,
adults could ask to have the filter turned off.

Taxing E-Commerce
Internet growth has led to the
expansion of e-commerce, or the
sales of goods and services
online. In 2010 the U.S. Census
Bureau estimated that $4 trillion
worth of sales were conducted
online, amounting to 16 percent
of all U.S. sales that year. This
has created problems about
collecting state sales taxes on
these exchanges. States argue that
they are losing billions of dollars
in revenue from Internet sales.

Online Privacy
Much like searches of a persons home or belongings,
government officials must often receive permission to access
someones digital information. There are two main ways that
law enforcement officers can gain access to a persons digital
data: through a search warrant or through a subpoena. The
government must have probable cause to search, meaning that
they know they will probably find evidence of a crime, in
order to obtain a search warrant. The police must obtain a
warrant before searching someones house to gather evidence.
Similarly, the police must obtain a warrant before listening in
on a persons phone calls, obtaining e-mails or texts sent
within the last six months, or obtaining messages, photos, or
videos posted on social networking sites like Facebook

Warning!
What is Prism?
https://www.ted.c
om/talks/edward_
snowden_here_s_h
ow_we_take_back_
the_internet

Did President Obama

give away the internet?

http://www.snopes
.com/2016/08/19/
america-to-handoff-internet/