Ahhh... the last blog of the semester. Like the midterm review blog this is simply an opportunity for you to ask and answer each other's questions and discuss anything that you think will be helpful in preparation for the final. I would suggest looking at your class notes, handouts from class, your reading assignments along with your review sheet. This is primarily an open forum for you so check back often during the week and comment/question/ponder/review as much as you would like. One request: please take just a couple of minutes to complete your course evaluation if you have not done so already. I would really appreciate it. Just follow this link to go to Campus Connect.
We have addressed how the mass media and American politics affect one another in many different ways during this quarter. Though we have highlighted many areas of concern we have also discussed many methods used to improve the way political information is communicated and the increasing number of ways that individual citizens improve their voice within our democracy. One theme we have constantly touched on is how much has changed over time. Consider the following: 2 months ago: you started this class 10 months ago: the Federal Courts threw out net neutrality protections opening the door to FCC action 2 years ago ago: Obama reelected 2 years ago ago: Facebook topped 1 billion users 3 years ago: Arab Spring spreads, Occupy movement 4 years ago: FCC Open Internet Ruling 5 years ago: Green Revolution in Iran, TEA Party movement begins, Google starts personalizing searches 6 years ago: Obama elected with most innovative web based campaign in history 8 years ago: most people had never heard of Barack Obama, Twitter begins 9 years ago: YouTube and flickr 11 years ago: Facebook starts (for college students only for a few years) 13 years ago: wikipedia 14 years ago: innovative uses of campaigning online 16 years ago: MoveOn.org started, also this thing called Google 20 years ago: Clinton launches first White House website 34 years ago: CNN starts ushering in 24 hour cable news 46 years ago: Three networks devote 30 minutes to news 5 days a week, Cronkite the most trusted man in America 54 years ago: first televised debate - JFK vs. Nixon 61 years ago: television becoming commonplace across America 81 years ago: fireside chats begin 89 years ago: radios enter homes in record numbers 95 year ago: Woodrow Wilson was the first president broadcast on the radio 100 years ago: all mass media was still in print 238 years ago Common Sense was published and sold over 100,000 copies - most in American history 564 years ago: The printing press was invented The point: much has changed, and often in a short period of time. Looking forward what do you predict will be the most important ways that the media will impact politics (and vice versa) two, five, 10, or even 20 years from now? What can and should be done to help make these changes as positive as possible? One request: please take just a couple of minutes to complete your course evaluation if you have not done so already. I would really appreciate it. Just follow this link to go to Campus Connect.
This week I would like to create a more open ended conversation around the interaction between public opinion and media. In our world of horse race focused media there is no doubt that public opinion is the source of our daily news coverage of the election. This is the case regardless of the fact that many are concerned about how well various polling agencies conduct their surveys and whether the polls are more important than, say, the issues (or the candidates) themselves. On the other hand polling is the best way for campaigns to know how they are doing and how to strategically move forward. Whether good or bad the polls often become THE story that the media focuses on during election time. For some great sites to use to follow polling you should check out realclearpolitics (click polls at the top), Gallup, and Pew (search through this site for an amazing amount of studies, trends and useful info). In terms of the election predictions (and predictions in general) by far the most nuanced and accessible evaluation of polling for projecting is done by Nate Silver from fivethirtyeight, now hosted by ESPN (for non-existant bonus points can anyone share why its called fivethirtyeight?). I read his blog daily during the election and think that the way that he and his colleagues evaluate all of the data is amazing and very useful. You can click here to see his Senate predictions based on his use of poll data.
Between elections, polling is used all the time but many argue that public opinion does not shape media coverage or political action, instead it is the other way around. Take a look at the video below, from 2000. Though it is a bit dated, the story is still absolutely applicable today.
Ultimately I would like you to discuss the relationship between public opinion and media today. Is it used well (if so please give some examples)? If not then why not? Is it helpful in understanding the election or would we be better off without polling or with less of it? More importantly how should public opinion polling be used by the media and by politicians? Any reactions to the sites/video above or other important uses/misuses of public opinion are welcome.
We have explored how the media today is largely dominated by a few gigantic corporations and how news organizations have expanded in numbers, with varied and relatively low levels of trust (this recent Pew study is amazing and I strongly urge you to read through as much of it as possible). There are also many indicators that suggest that political news and media are still dominated largely by the political and business elites that have controlled and shaped political messaging for most of American political history. Politicians and political elites still appear to set the political agenda in many ways.
However there are many who are articulating a new vision about political discourse in America and across the globe. They argue that the tools of the internet are providing individuals and organizations new opportunities to get their messages out. Citizen journalism is changing the role that the public plays in political media, and movements from the revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, and Syria (to name a few) to the Occupy movement here in the U.S. have shown the power that the people can have through the use of the internet, mobile media, and social networking. In the case of Egypt, it even led the government to try to turn off the internet.
Are these examples of what political discourse will be in the emerging information political communication revolution or just exceptions to the rule that political communication will always be controlled by the small numbers of political elites? Is political power becoming more democratic as more and more citizens and organizations gain access and have the ability to cheaply and easily reach a global audience, or are they merely using new tools in an ever changing game of catch up, dominated by the political elites and drowned out by the noise of millions of voices online? What role will the media play in the democratic discourse and democratic politics of the future?
Feel free to respond to any of these questions and expand your discussion to events and politics outside of the United States. Please share important examples and add links if you think they are helpful. As much as possible please remember to respond to one another.
We all know that the media plays a huge role in the lead up to Election Day. The media obviously played a very important role in the 2012 presidential race including many major political media events such as the debates, coverage of major campaign events and major gaffes like The leaked Mitt Romney 47% video.
Feel free to use any of the prompts below to start a wide ranging discussion about the midterms and media:
What are the most notable aspects of media use during this election cycle? What does that suggest about campaigning today or the changing role of media?
What media strategies should campaigns use to help win in the future?
Who is in the driver's seat, the media or the campaigns?
This week you will have two blog opportunities. Please use this blog to review for the exam. This will be available up until the exam. Feel free to post general or specific questions or thoughts and then respond to each other. You do not need to write anything more than brief blog entries but I strongly encourage you to check into the blog regularly to look for questions and to help share ideas to review for the exam. The more entries that each of you adds the better for everyone. Make sure to review other entries so that you have correct concepts before the exam. Maximum of one blog credit per person this week but you should feel free to post regularly.
Political
leaders have a love/hate relationship with the media. They love getting
support and the ability to speak to their constituents and set the
agenda, they hate being scrutinized, investigated, and antagonized in
public. As a result many have used used technology to circumvent the
media in order to talk directly to the people. This strategy is
generally referred to as "Going Public." All politicians in the modern
era do this to one degree or another and some do it much more
effectively than others.
One modern version of going
public occurs everyday on Twitter. Take a look at who is active on
twitter and who is not. My guess is that most of the national
politicians that you know are tweeting pretty regularly. You can also
take a look at how politicians use good old facebook here along with going to individual politicians sites.
Finally
take a look at how President Obama goes public all the time. You may or
may not be aware of the fact that the President makes a weekly address
each week (like a modern day fireside chat). Take a look at his latest
one (and others if you want) here (click
on video gallery under the briefing room tab on the upper left, then look for the most recent
weekly address). You can also look around at other ways that he tried
to directly connect with the people by going over and around the media.
After looking through much of this use the following questions as a jumping off point for your discussion:
What do you think are particularly successful examples of
going public which are being utilized today by congress? Other
politicians? Political organizations? Obama?
What do you think of the weekly address? Why might this be a good/bad strategy?
How might you advise politicians who are trying to use the strategy of going public?
This week we start to take a look at the various ways in which the government, or particular politicians or organizations try to influence or shape the media. This discussion will start with regulations. Some people view government regulations, in general, as an infringement into our lives and the lives of private companies. Others see regulations as the government actively safeguarding the people and helping society.
When we think about media regulation in particular, some think that popular media (and potentially the news media) should be regulated in order to keep it decent, safe, and fair. Another side of the debate focuses on the freedom of the press, a founding principle of American democracy, and often argues that regulation of other forms of media amount to censorship and unnecessary government infringement. The primary agency in charge of regulating the media is the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and you can check out their website and all that they do here.
I am interested in a wide ranging conversation on the topic of government regulation of the media, directed both at news media and broader entertainment media. In order to get the conversation started I'll pose the basic questions below:
How would increasing or decreasing the regulations on news media help or hurt democracy or democratic discourse in America?
Should the government regulate popular entertainment media? If no, why not? If yes, what standards should they use.
Please feel free to take this discussing in any direction and respond to your classmates.
For
the blog this week we are going to take a step back from the class
reading and look at the major issues that have dominated recent
political headlines. The President and Congress have many issues that
they are dealing with along with the never-ending look toward the next
elections. I am interested to find out what you think is important to
address and, by extension, how you think the media is covering these
issues and how the government is dealing with them.
Start
by taking a survey similar to those conducted by polling companies and
news organizations regarding what issues are most important to you. you
can find the survey here.
Next take a look at how your responses and the responses of your classmates compare to national polls here
Then you can test your knowledge of recent news based on news quiz from The New York Times or Newscurrents. Finally
please post a comment describing your reactions and reactions to your
classmates comments. You can use any or all of the following prompts as a
starting point if you wish.
Choose one of the items you listed as extremely important (or less important) and explain why.
Are the issues that seem to be the most important to you (or to the rest of America) being covered well by the media?
How
did you feel about taking the the news quizzes, what was covered, how
you did, and how those topics are or are not covered by the news?
What conclusions can we draw from the way that the issues that dominate the polls and media coverage are similar or different?
This week we are continuing to look at the state of journalism in American today, its influence and its future. The problem is that the future of newspaper reporting and journalism as we know it is on the endangered species list. Newspaper ad revenue is dwindling quickly as people stop subscribing to the paper and start reading the mostly free news online. The reality is that the newspaper industry and journalism in a broader sense is probably not dying, but it is evolving, and those involved in the change must get on board or get out of the way. What this means for the power of the media in our lives and the role that it plays within our political context remains to be seen. For this week's blog take a look at the stats on the "dying" newspaper industry here and an interesting inside look from the managing editor of TIME magazine here. Also, if you want, you can take a look at an interesting New Yorker article on the subject here, then start a discussion based on the prompts below.
What does the changing nature of journalism mean for the American public?
Is the transition to more digital, interactive, and citizen generated news content a positive or negative development for politics and/or political news reporting?
If you feel like saving the world, you can also feel free to weigh in on what newspapers and traditional media can do to survive and make it off the endangered species list.
As they say in Sound of Music, "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start." Before we can dive into all the ways that the media is affecting citizens and the political process or how much politicians and political organizations are trying to influence the media, we need to start with ourselves. What kinds of political information are we consuming? What sources do we use more or less? What do we trust? How does all of this affect our political ideology and our ideas about particular political issues? There is a lot there.
We know from many interesting studies like this one from Pew Research that people typically get news from a variety of sources using a variety of formats. We will explore what all of this means throughout the course. But first we need to analyze our individual media exposure. Please think about yourself during a "typical" week and try to honestly describe your political media profile using some or all of the following prompts to guide you:
How much time during an average day or week do you think you consume news?
What sources (NYTimes, Buzzfeed, NBC News, FoxNews...) and formats (TV, internet, radio, newspaper, magazine...) do you use the most? Are you a newspaper or blog reader, do you watch local or national or cable news, what channels, what radio stations?
What role does the internet/social media play in the news you consume?
How do you find news sources?
What sources do you trust? Why?
Please note that this is not designed as as opportunity to brag about how much political news we watch or lie about how little we consume. It is simply a time to be honest so we can have a sense of what is out there. Remember: Your responses should be approximately one long or two short paragraphs and no more (around 150 words). No research is necessary but think carefully about what you want to write and respond to the ideas presented on the blog, not the people. The goal is to use these prompts to start a dialogue that can evolve through the week. You should post your comment(s) by 8pm on Wednesday. Everyone should skim the discussion before class on Thursday.
Welcome to your Mass Media and American politics poliblog experience! Each week you will be required to read the post for that week (which may include a news article, question, comment, multimedia clip, controversial issue, etc.) and respond with your comments. Each of your comments should be no more than 1/2 page (approx. 1 long paragraph or two short paragraphs) and must be posted by 8:00 Wednesday night. You do not need to do any outside research in order to respond, just reflect on the topic of that week, the other comments posted on the blog and make an argument presenting your views. The goal is to create an online dialogue that we can then bring into class. You must post at least one comment on 8 different weeks (NOTE: you do not need to write a comment every week). But you MUST read the post and all comments either Wednesday night or Thursday before class each week. Enjoy!
