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Questions about WordPress ?

Questions about WordPress ?. Our Class Blog: http://klandreville.wordpress.com/. Defining Politics, News, and Political Communication. Dr. Kristen Landreville Wed. Aug. 25, 2010. What is Politics?. What is News?. In-class Assignment #1. In groups of 2-3, Define politics Define news

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Questions about WordPress ?

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  1. Questions about WordPress? Our Class Blog: http://klandreville.wordpress.com/

  2. Defining Politics, News, and Political Communication Dr. Kristen Landreville Wed. Aug. 25, 2010

  3. What is Politics?

  4. What is News?

  5. In-class Assignment #1 • In groups of 2-3, • Define politics • Define news • Write your names on the paper and write your definitions.

  6. What is Politics? • “A process whereby a group of people, whose opinions or interests are initially divergent, reach collective decisions which are generally regarded as binding on the group, and enforced as common policy.” --Blackwell Encyclopedia of Political Thought • What may be missing here? • Non-binding decisions? • Public affairs information?

  7. What makes a story newsworthy? • Timeliness • Impact • Proximity • Novelty • Prominence • Conflict • Most news stories will have a few of these characteristics

  8. What is News (in Theory)? • “What newsmakers promote as timely, important, and interesting • From which news organizations select, narrate, and package for transmission • To people who consume it at a given time in history” --- Bennett, Ch. 1, p. 11 • Anything missing? • Entertainment media? • Individuals and people-powered news?

  9. What is News (in Reality)? • Declines in all of the following areas: • International news • Environment news • Government activities • Increases in: • Crime, disasters, accidents • Gossip, scandal, celebrities • Entertainment

  10. What Local News? • 24-minute average local news broadcast • Crime, accidents, disasters • Soft news (e.g., latest American Idol kickoff) • Weather • Commercials • How much time is allocated to …? • Government, health, foreign affairs, education, science/environment • About 5 minutes!

  11. What is Political Communication? • Meadow (1980): • “the exchange of symbols and messages between political actors and institutions, the general public, and news media that are the products of or have consequences for the political system” • Perloff (1998): • “the process by which a nation’s leadership, media, and citizenry exchange and confer meaning upon messages that relate to the conduct of public policy”

  12. Key Words • Process • Involves three main characters: politicians, media elites, citizens • Messages • Exchange and interpretation • Mediated or interpersonal • Governance • Beyond elections

  13. What About…? • Are these things considered to be political communication according to the definitions presented? • Swiftboat Ad • Obama Girl • SNL

  14. Things to keep in mind while reading the course materials…

  15. Functions of Media • Gatekeeping • Agenda setting & framing • Platform for advocacy • Platform for dialogue across diverse views • Hold officials to account for exercise of power (4th estate) • Help people develop their opinions • Can entertainment and the Internet do these jobs as well?

  16. Obstacles to Functioning • Conflicts among the goals • Nature of political communication (elite to masses) can discourage participation • This elite to masses process is changing via the Internet • Not everyone is – or must be – interested in politics • Political and economic constraints • Low quality controls • Free speech does not guarantee good information • Coverage of school shootings but not schools, train wrecks but not transportation

  17. Myths About News Bias • People believe news has widespread political bias NOT EXACTLY ALWAYS TRUE • Journalists are like dogs—pack animals. • Implications: • Centrist, balanced stories • Potentially conflicting opinions included in stories • The Easy Way Out: • News readers “see what they want to see” in seemingly neutral stories • Partisans perceive more hostility toward their “side” in news stories (Hostile Media Perception) • Blame journalists for being bias

  18. The Real Problems • Bennett Ch. 2 reveals the more pressing problems • 4 Biases • Personalization • Dramatization • Fragmentation • Authority-disorder bias • We’ll discuss these problems and how to improve the quality of our news throughout the course.

  19. How does this influence us?

  20. Message Considerations • Manifest content • On the surface • Explicitly stated or communicated • Latent content • Below the surface • What is read “between the lines”

  21. Types of Effects – ABC • Attitudes • Issue opinions, candidate preference, party affiliation • Behavior • Voting (vs. not), campaign contributions ($ and time), attempts to persuade others in discussion • Cognitions • Knowledge (i.e. candidate issue stances, current events info, perceptions of reality [who won the debate, which candidate closer to self])

  22. Types of Effects • Intentional • Negative ads intended to persuade • News intended to inform • Unintentional • Negative ads reduce voting (?) • News creates cynicism

  23. Looking Ahead… • Topic for Mon. Aug. 30: • News Content: The Biases that Impact the Content • Read Bennett Ch. 2 • DUE: 1st Blog Post on “My News Diet” • See class blog for sample blog 1 post as well as course materials (click COJO 2480 tab) at: http://klandreville.wordpress.com/

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