Chapter 15: Interest Groups and the Mass Media

Interest Groups

Historical Background:

• James Madison warned against the dangers of "factions" in Federalist #10, but believed that the Constitution's separation of powers would moderate their effect.

• Functions:

  - Raise awareness and stimulate interest in public affairs by educating their members and the public.

  - Represent their membership, serving as a link between members and government.

  - Provide information to government, especially data and testimony useful in making public policy.

  - Provide channels for political participation that enable citizens to work together to achieve a common goal.

• Types:

  1. Economic Interest Groups.

     - Labor groups promote and protect the interest of organized labor, e.g. AFL-CIO and the Teamsters Union.

     - Business groups promote and protect business interests in general, e.g. the Chamber of Commerce of the United States and the National Association of Manufacturers.

     - Professional groups maintain standards of the profession, hold professional meetings, and publish journals, e.g. the National Education Association (NEA), the American Medical Association (AMA), and the American Bar Association (ABA).

     - Agricultural groups, such as the National Grange and the National Farmers’ Union, promote general agricultural interests.

  2. Groups that promote causes.

     - Specific causes, e.g. the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Rifle Association (NRA).

     - Welfare of specific groups of individuals, e.g. the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).

     - Religion-related causes, e.g. the National Council of Churches and the American Jewish Congress.

  3. Public Interest Groups.

     - Concerned with issues such as the environment, consumer protection, crime, and civil rights.

     - Public interests, e.g. Common Cause, League of Women Voters, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

     - Strategies:

  • Influencing elections

  • Lobbying: direct lobbying, grassroots lobbying, and coalition lobbying.

  • Litigation.

  • Going public.

    - Political Action Committees (PACs):

  • Formed as political arms of interest groups after the campaign finance reforms of the 1970s.

  • Must register with the federal government, raise money from multiple contributors, donate to several candidates, and follow strict accounting rules.

    - Regulation:

  • The Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act of 1946 required lobbyists to register with the clerk of the House of Representatives and the secretary of the Senate if their principal purpose was to influence legislation.

  • The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 created much stricter regulations by requiring registration if lobbying was directed at members of Congress, congressional staff, or policymakers within the executive branch, and required disclosure of more information concerning the activities and clients of lobbyists.

    - Influence:

  • Access to political and economic resources, e.g. money and membership size.

  • The "free-rider" problem makes it difficult for interest groups to increase their membership.

  • Interest groups spend millions of dollars each year to lobby members of Congress on various issues.

  • Many interest groups employ the services of former government officials as lobbyists. This phenomenon is called the "revolving door."

Mass Media

• Mass media refers to all forms of communication that transmit information to the general public.
  • The development of the mass media in the United States reflects the growth of the country, new inventions and technology, and changing attitudes about the role of government.
• Newspapers have a long history in the US, and their circulation grew with improvements in printing, telegraph, and the rotary press.
  • Circulation wars led to "yellow journalism" in the 1890s. Today, many newspapers have gone out of business and the future of the newspaper is being questioned.
• Magazines have smaller circulations and less frequent publications.
  • Public affairs magazines exposed political corruption and business exploitation, with the writings of muckrakers such as Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, and Sinclair Lewis.
  • Weekly news magazines such as Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report attracted mass readership in the 1920s and 1930s. Today, they substitute for daily newspapers.
• Radio became widely used in the 1920s and made celebrities of news personalities.
  • Franklin Roosevelt successfully used radio to broadcast his "fireside chats" to the American people.
• Television claims the largest audience of the mass media today.
  • After World War II, it increased the visibility of broadcast journalists and politicians.
  • The recent growth of cable TV news and the 24/7 news cycle have greatly changed the coverage of the American political system.
• The rapid growth of Internet usage has led to media organizations using the Internet as a way to convey information.
  • Newspapers, magazines, blogs, and radio and television stations have sites on the World Wide Web.
  • More and more Americans are receiving their news from the Internet.
• The media perform several important functions, such as informing the public, shaping public opinion, providing a link between citizens and government, serving as a watchdog that investigates and examines personalities and government policies, and agenda setting.
  • The mass media are privately owned in the United States, giving them more political freedom than in most other countries, where they are publicly owned, but also making them more dependent on advertising profits.
  • Government regulation of the media affects the broadcast media (radio and television) more than the print media (newspapers and magazines) and the Internet.
• "News" is an important event that has happened within the past 24 hours.
  • The media decide what is news by deciding what to report.
  • Time limitations and the potential impact of the story are major elements in selecting what is news.
  • In political coverage, "horse-race journalism" often focuses on which candidate is winning or losing, rather than the issues of the election.
  • The major news organizations maintain journalists in major cities and government centers to report political events firsthand.
  • News events may be staged as media events. The White House allows special access to the president, with the press receiving information through the Office of the Press Secretary.

The Role of Media in American Politics

Media and the President:

• Major news organizations have journalists in major cities and government centers to report political events firsthand.
  • Washington, D.C., has the largest press corps of any city in the United States, with one-third of the press assigned to cover the White House.
  • News events may be staged as media events.
• The White House allows special access to the president, with the press receiving information through the Office of the Press Secretary.
  • Journalists may receive information through news releases, news briefings, news conferences, and leaks.
  • Reporters are expected to observe different rules when talking to officials, including on the record, off the record, on background, and on deep background.

Media and Congress:

• Fewer reporters regularly cover Congress compared to the White House.
• Congress does not maintain as tight a control over news stories as the White House.
• Most of the coverage of Congress concerns the House of Representatives, the Senate, or Congress as an organization, rather than individual members.
• C-SPAN was created to increase coverage of congressional activities.
• Members of Congress may also record radio and television messages to their constituents.

Media and Elections:

• The media plays a crucial role in a democracy, including educating voters, reporting on campaigns, providing an avenue for political parties and candidates to communicate their message to voters, and allowing the public to communicate their concerns, opinions, and needs to the parties, candidates, and officeholders.
• The media also provides an avenue for parties and candidates to debate each other and report and monitor election results.

Media and Public Opinion:

• The media can influence public opinion, and most people learn about political events through the media.
• The media's use of polls and coverage of elections can impact the electoral process.
• In 2000, the media declared George W. Bush the winner of the presidential election, creating an impression that the election had already been decided, even though polls were still open in numerous states.

Biases in the Media

• Critics of the media claim that there is bias in reporting.
• Reporters are said to have a liberal bias, while media owners, publishers, and editors are said to be more conservative.
  • Studies confirm that reporters have a liberal orientation.
• Bias tends to be against incumbents and frontrunners.
• "Pack journalism" is a tendency for journalists to adopt the viewpoints of other journalists.
• Viewers, listeners, and readers often choose news outlets that support their political views.

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