POL S 426 Exam 2 Terms

Jawboning

Attempt to persuade or pressure by the force of one's position of authority

Threats from government officials directed toward the media

Ex: Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert

Sedition Act (1798)

Act that made it illegal to “write, print, utter or publish… any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States”

Patrician era, Very limited First Amendment protections

Penny Press

Cheap, mass-produced newspapers in the United States from the 1830s onwards

Partisan Era, Greatly expanded access to news

Yellow Journalism

A style of newspaper reporting that emphasized sensationalism over facts

Partisan Era

Muckraking

To search out and publicly expose real or apparent misconduct of a prominent individual or business

Leader-Interpreter

Woodrow Wilson’s theory that the President should interpret information and public will and teach it to the people

Interpretive Journalism

Dominant form of journalism, Horse-Race

Indexing

Coverage of an issue is adjusted relative to the information available from all sides

Easy to do domestically

Harder for foreign policy

Pool Reporters

A small, rotating group of journalists who cover events on behalf of the entire media industry when space or access is limited

Ex: Pentagon and War

“On background”

A source provides information that can be published but not attributed to them by name

Hypodermic Model

Grave concern that people will be manipulated by the media, we are just passive receivers, and cannot reject information

Inaccurate, as persuasion is difficult

Two-step flow

The media informs “opinion leaders”, then opinion leaders inform other people

Message Learning Theory

Attitude change is a function of source, message, and receiver

Learning

Media effect of picking up messaging from new information that creates new beliefs

Agenda Setting

Media effect that makes voters think particular issues are more or less important

Media increases saliency of certain issues

Priming

Media effect of making an issue important in evaluations of a political target

Equivalency Framing

The use of different, but logically equivalent, words or phrases

Same meaning, different connotation

Emphasis Framing

Different subsets of potentially relevant considerations

Pack Journalism

Reporters and media outlets cover stories in a similar manner, following the same narrative or angle, often because they rely on each other for cues or are influenced by a prominent source

Tendency of media to cover same issues

Persuasion

We listen to a message, then change our existing attitude based on that message

RAS Model

Model for persuasion to happen

What is expressed as an opinion as a result of

Receiving: People have to receive some communication in order to be affected by it

Accept: Once you hear a message, you have to accept it as true

Sample: In offering an opinion, one samples from recent considerations in memory

Soft News

A story-based, interview-based presentation of events, particularly those of famous and/or examples of more common themes

Satire vs. Parody

A contrast between what is and should be intended to elicit laughter and cast judgment vs. Requires prior knowledge of an original event/concept and exaggerating it for comedic effect

Irony

Exposing a gap between what is said and what is meant

Broadcast vs. Point-to-Point

Single sender and multiple recipients vs. Single sender and single recipient

Accelerated Pluralism

Bimber (1998) theory that the Internet contributes to the ongoing fragmentation of the system of interest-based group politics and a shift toward a more fluid, issue-based on group politics with less institutional coherence

Thick vs. Thin Community

Common interest, much more of a collective, care about others within the community vs. Common interest, but people are there for different reasons, care less about individuals within the community

Selective Exposure

Attentive public: Internet access does nothing but reinforce existing differences in knowledge

Partisan polarization: Internet access does nothing but reinforce existing partisan divisions

Issue publics: Internet access just lets people focus on what they care about most, ignore the rest

Experience good

Can only assess value and quality by using the good

Contestable market

The threat of potential entry into the market is sufficient to produce market discipline in the form of low prices and/or quality goods

Collective action

A group's steps or actions while working toward a common goal

Objectivity vs. Neutrality

A view from nowhere vs. A view from both sides

Supply Side vs. Demand Side bias

Who is supplying news or information? Want to supply people with biased information, news organization have an agenda vs. Information is being demanded by the audience because they like it, networks cooperate because they want to keep watching

Selection/Gatekeeping bias

Occurs when not all units in the target population are equally likely to be included in media, either because they are not sought out by news organizations or are not published when available

The stories you pick directly influence the stories you see and don’t see

Ex: Fox News and Epstein Coverage

Presentation bias

Composing news stories in a manner that presents a significantly distorted view of reality, which systematically and disproportionately favors one party over the other.

Prior restraint

Speech is not permitted unless a license/permission to disseminate is granted

Strict Scrutiny

A test applied by courts to determine if speech can be limited based on its content

To meet strict scrutiny, a law must:

Advance a compelling government interest

Be narrowly tailored

Be the least restrictive means of achieving that goal

Defamation

Intentional communication of a falsehood about a person, to someone other than that person, that injures the person’s reputation

Libel = Written

Slander = Oral

NY Times vs. Sullivan (1964)

Ruling that public officials and public figures may not recover damages unless a falsehood was made with “actual malice”

Fairness Doctrine

Policy that requires holders of FCC broadcast licenses to devote time to controversial issues of public importance and do so in an “honest, equitable, and balanced” fashion

Equal time rule

Have to give equivalent opportunities to opposing political candidates

Section 230 (of 1996 CDA)

Protects social media companies from being sued as if they are the publisher of information, like a person or news organization