11. Media, Politics, and Government: Talking Heads Are Better than None

1. 11. Media, Politics, and Government: Talking Heads Are Better than None

2. Reality and Beyond • The mass media are powerful because of their vast reach and scope. • In addition to this multiplicative effect, the mass media literally shape the very reality of politics. • Political reality is mediated reality.

3. Reality and Beyond • How do you know China exists if you have never been there? • You do not have to experience things directly (experiential reality) in order to accept that they are real (agreement reality). • This is particularly true of politics.

4. Reality and Beyond • We construct our reality by putting together bits and pieces of information. • It is thus important to examine: • How these bits of information are brought to you • How you use them to create your view of politics

5. Reality and Beyond • We constantly see, hear, and smell far more than our brains can perceive. • The reality created by this mass of information depends on our particular cognitive framework. • We notice things that fit our existing beliefs and fail to notice things that do not. • Essentially, we are prone to fooling ourselves.

6. News Media and Politics • We get most of our political information from the news. • Our agreement reality about politics is based on this information. • Consequently, it is important to examine how the news media filter, ignore, select, or distort the political information they present.

7. The Business of the News • News is a big business. • What do the news media sell? • They sell you, the audience, to advertisers. • The business is based on presenting the news in a way that attracts as wide an audience as possible as cheaply as possible. • Stories are often distorted to fit a dramatic imperative that will attract an audience.

8. Conflict Makes the World Go ’Round • First, the very premise of the dramatic story structure is action and change driven by conflict. • Journalistic norms of fairness and objectivity exaggerate the emphasis on conflict by providing equal coverage of opposing sides, even if one side represents a near consensus.

9. Sex and the City • Second, sex sells. • Beautiful people are often featured. • A sexual element adds to the presumed newsworthiness of a story.

10. Honey, the Dingo Stole Another Baby • Third, the unusual is dramatic and thus newsworthy. • Even if it is important, the commonplace is not news.

11. The Tragically Hip • Fourth, stories must be tragic. • Human impact is another aspect of newsworthiness. • The dramatic imperative of the commercial news distorts what is presented as news. • We build our reality of politics from these distorted images. • Political consensus and cooperation are often lost behind the drama presented.

12. Elite Dominance of the Sources of News • Because elites are prominent and unusual, they are presumed to be newsworthy. • The ability to gain news coverage is tremendously valuable to political elites. • Elites want to get coverage, and the news media want to cover elites. • This mutual exploitation model is driven by economic forces and self-interest.

13. Of Cockroaches and Politicians • The fear of coverage of a career-ending scandal compels politicians to police their own behavior. • This is the cockroach theory of politics: As a light is shone on the scandal of one, others will distance themselves from the light—that is, they will not call the media’s attention to themselves especially during a period of heightened awareness.

14. Protest and the Disadvantaged Voice • Protests are one way nonelites that can get their voices and opinions in the news.

15. Understanding the Distortions Is the Key • First, to be critical consumers of information, we must appreciate how the media present the news. • Second, we must also be cognizant of our predispositions and how we use them to make sense of the world. • Third, we must be on guard against those who would manipulate our predilections for their own benefit.