Politics And The Media

Front 1

watchdogs

Back 1

The role journalists feel they play in informing the public of the actions of those in power - they see themselves as protectors of democracy.

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networks

Back 2

Television networks, who rely on news media shows due to a combination of high ratings and low production cost

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Theodore Roosevelt

Back 3

First media-savvy president. Offered unprecedented access - but threated to revoke that access if he didn't like what they said.

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Richard Nixon

Back 4

As an outcome of his presidency, there were new limits on campaign financing from political parties, which weakened the need for politicians to "stick to the party line."

Front 5

antiauthority bias

Back 5

Rather than a liberal or conservative bias, the news media often has a bias against whoever happens to be in power - no matter where they stand politically.

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Partisan Press

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Early press was partisan - despite "freedom of the press" - because they relied on government officials for funding and news.

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Alexander Hamilton

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His Federalist Papers were used to encourage states to ratify the Constitution. Co-founded Gazette of the United States - and then gave government contracts to them, to keep them going, therefore assuring good coverage.

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Thomas Jefferson

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Founded the National Gazette, in response to Hamilton's pro-big-government stance. He also provided government contracts, and when he left office, the National Gazette was forced to close down

Front 9

yellow journalism

Back 9

Refers to a period in history when Hearst and Pulitzer would do anything to outsell the other - including copying a cartoon character wearing a yellow nightshirt. Yellow journalism contributed little.

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Joseph Pulitzer

Back 10

Published The New York World

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William Randolph Hearst

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Published the New York Journal - helped turn a sunken ship into war against Spain.

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muckraking

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Term coined by Theodore Roosevelt - investigative reporting that often sparked reform for working conditions, etc.

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Adolph S. Ochs

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Publisher of the New York Times - started moving things toward objective journalism. Also separated the news and advertising departments, which was unheard of.

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objective journalism

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NYT writers were told to remove all partisan comments from their writing - appealed to well-educated readers. Circulation of NYT went from 9k to 82k in 4 years.

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interpretative reporting

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Newspapers have been forced to compete with TV, and as such are doing more indepth stories - focusing on the why as much as anything. As such, the writer's view of any situation is more likely to appear in what they write, as they bring their own thoughts and opinions to the article.

Front 16

national medium

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Unlike newspapers, which were read only locally, a national medium - such as radio - allowed news media access to the entire country at once.

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Franklin Roosevelt

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Used radio as a means of getting information out to the nation - sidestepping the print media, which was largely critical of some of his policies, such as the New Deal.

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fireside chats

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Radio programs done by Franklin Roosevelt, which allowed him to present his ideas and report on national news without it being filtered through the print media.

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Dwight D. Eisenhower

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First president to have a press conference on TV - though it was pre-recorded.

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John F. Kennedy

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First president to have a live press conference on TV.

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Estes Kefauver

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Senator from TN - toured the country holding hearings on organized crime. After TV stations began running the coverage, a NY crime boss, Frank Costello, refused to have his face shown on TV - which led the 30 million viewers to see him as untrustworthy.

Front 22

Joseph McCarthy

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A "witch-hunter" for communists during the Cold War, he helped polarize the nation in fear against communism. However, his appearance on TV during the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954 portrayed him as a rash, spiteful man who would do anything to continue his cause. This caused a major shift in how the public viewed him.

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Edward R. Murrow

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A leading broadcast journalist - he aired an episode of his show See It Now that showed footage of JM that allowed viewers of the show to see how JM really was, and not how he had been portrayed up until then.

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Kennedy-Nixon presidential debates of 1960

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The first televised debates - Kennedy came across as charming and comfortable, while Nixon - who didn't understand how he would come across - instead did nothing to try to adapt his manner to this new form of media.

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dominant medium

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TV became the dominate medium with the assassination of JFK - print media simply couldn't keep up with the news in the days that followed.

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Federal Communications Commission

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Controls licenses for radio and TV stations - rarely are the licenses not renewed, though. They are capable of fining stations who don't follow the guidelines, though.

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Radio Act of 1927

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Act of Congress aimed at keeping radio stations from broadcasting over each others signals.

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Communications Act of 1934

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Radio stations had to have a license to run their station, and had to follow certain guidelines.

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The Equal Time Provision

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This was put in place so that stations couldn't influence an election simply by giving more face time to a particular candidate. In both the Radio Act and Communications Act.

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The Fairness Doctrine

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This was started so that both sides of issues - not just politicians - could be given equal time. It was started by the FCC, but they did away with it in the mid-80s, partly due to the the influx of cable news networks, and the lack of necessity. Plus, the broadcasters hated it.