Chapter 7 Media, Technology, and Government

New media

On-demand access to information and entertainment on digital devices that also features interactive participation with content

Loud signal

Media stories with very broad coverage and unambiguous message

Public watchdog

Media coverage that alerts the public when a problem arises in politics or society

Policy agenda

The issues that the media covers, the public considers important, and politicians address. Setting the agenda is the first step in political action

Priming

Affecting voters or poll respondents perception of candidates or public officials by raising issues that are percieved to enhance or diminish the candidates

Framing

The way an issue has many possible frames, each with a slightly different tilt in describing the problem and highlighting solutions

Mass Media

Information and entertainment for broad popular audiences including newspapers, magazines, radio, and television

Personal presidency

The idea that the president has a personal link to the public. Made possible by twentieth-century media.

Infotainment

The blurred line between news and entertainment

Watergate Scandal

A failed effort in 1972 by Republican operatives to break into Democratic Party headquaters in the Watergate office complex in Washington, DC: tapes revealed that president Nixon tried to cover up the event eventually causing him to resign the presidency

Public Ownership

A situation in which media outlets are run by the government and paid for by tax dollars

fairness doctrine

Regulation that required media outlets to devote equal equal time to opposite perspectives

Consolidation

A media company grows, acquires other companies, and threatebs to dominate the market

Telecommunications Acts of 1996

A major overhaul of communications law that opened the door to far more competition by permitting companies to own outlets in multiple media markets radio, television, magazines, and so forth

Sound bite

A short clip of speech taken from a longer piece kf audio. Often refers to a brief excerpt from a speecg bg a candidate or politician