Poli Sci 400 final

Mediated information

information that passes through some medium before reaching the receiver

Salience

how much attention something is getting. When something is salient, it is getting a lot of attention

Watchdog function

the media should serve as the public’s watchdog over the government and other public sources. Treat the government as an enemy and protect the public

Channel effect

impact of a message is affected by characteristics/affordances of the channel through which it is communicated

Message effect

the content itself. A 25 page article vs a 2 page summary sends a different message

News-will-find-me

The belief that if news is important enough, it will find you, so you don’t need to seek out news.

Echo chamber

Media environment when all or most members share similar opinions. Evidence suggesting that echo chambers are not as common as we think

News beats

a specific topic or area a journalist is assigned to cover, like sports, politics, crime.

Audience capture

Over time, the expectations of a skewed audience can create audience capture . Audience is liberal, thus they expect liberal coverage

Priming

putting certain considerations in the mind of the audience. Priming is about what you know before you are exposed to some information.

Soft news

 A way to blend hard news and entertainment. Covering politician personalities and human-interest stories. Try to address issues in a softer and more entertaining way.

Hard news

Focuses on time sensitive issues, like politics, crime, and the economy. 

Horse-race coverage

focusing on who is winning instead of the actual issue

Propaganda

media or messaging that is intended to promote a certain view. Typically by the state but not always. Typically misleading or false.

Misinformation

Misinformation is “information” that is false or inaccurate

Survey clickbait

using misleading headlines to drive traffic to a website

Policy-current information

data and knowledge that are both related to established policies and are up to date and reflective of the latest understanding of a subject

Attack ad

Attack ads criticize the opposition (negative)

Promote ad

Promote/advocacy ads make a positive case for a candidate/position

Circulation spiral

phenomenon where revenue to local news outlets decline, so news room gets smaller, product deteriorates, so subscribers stop subscribing

Advantages/disadvantages of social media/smartphone essay

Positives: more engagement/easier to learn/discover new political views. Negatives: not full story, misinformation, echochambers

democratic functions of the media essay

Surveillance is best, interpretive is worst, both because of partisan, agenda setting coverage

fact checking

fact checking gets less exposure, “Brandolini’s law” that fact checking takes more effort than spreading misinformation, the backlash effect that someone who believes in misinformation will believe in it more after seeing a fact check, even if people are exposed to the fact check people may update their beliefs to something more true but not to the people who spread misinformation so there is very little penalty for spreading misinformation.

This means that misinformation can spread easily, leading to many misinformed.

3 broad changes essay

decrease in newspaper → less holistic diet, rise of social media → mis/disinformation and easy access, increase in cable news → partisan information (tell you what to think about, audience capture)

Autocratic regimes essay

Modern technologies are a boon

• Technology and autocracy: 

  • Autocrats can use propaganda as well as democrats can

  • They can use information technology to crack down on small problems to help support their legitimacy

political ads success

ads are more successful at getting money than votes

Exemplar essay

Exemplars are individuals whose voices are elevated in media coverage to represent a particular point of view. This can include experts, celebrities, and officials. They are used to describe that individual’s opinion but also the opinion of a broader group.