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Media and Democracy
Week 5
Bennett: News: The Politics of Illusion
Key ThemesGatekeepingNews as Democratic Information SystemPoliticians, Press, and the PeopleDefining News
War on Terror: Chilling Effect
Soft News/InfotainmentNews Bias
Beyond objectivity
Bennett: The Political Economy of News
Corporate Profit Logic and Content Audience demographics Economics vs. Democracy
Ratings Fragmentation Media Monopoly
Information Trends Distorted power in markets; less alternative news Less critical coverage of corporate activity; ads as
news/internal censorship Infotainment/soft news (news that sells) Generic News – wire services Branding the news – news as commodity/product
Bennett: The Political Economy of News
Ownership Concentration & Conglomeration Logics of Hypercommercialism & Commodification Synergistic Strategies
Telecommunications Act of 1996, 2003 News on the Internet
Our Traditional Media Realm
US Media of NoteNewspapers, Television, Radio, Magazines
National, Local
International Newspapers http://www.newspaperindex.com/
Newspapers USA Today NY Times/Washington Post Wall Street Journal Centre Daily Times The Daily Collegian
The Paper Voices
USA Today America’s only national newspaper
Gannett Company
Circulation – highest in country 2.25 million copies/weekdays/all 50 states (hotels)
Founded in 1982 Easy to read; colorful graphics = “McPaper”
“Imagined Community” – Benedict Anderson
NY Times
“National newspaper of record” New York Times Company (15 other papers)
Circulation: 3rd in country Daily distribution
Founded in 1851 Liberal Bias (cultural cosmopolitanism)
Wall Street Journal
International business/finance news and issues Published by Dow Jones & Company
Circulation: 2nd in country Daily distribution (online subscriptions)
Founded in 1889 American conservatism/economic liberalism Purchased by News Corps – 2007
Centre Daily Times(CDT)
State College’s main daily newspaper The McClatchey Company (31 other papers)
Circulation: 27,000 Daily distribution
Founded in 1898 (Weekly Times); 1934 (CDT) Penn State Focus (“Blue Weekly” – tabloid)
The Daily Collegian
Penn State’s student-operated newspaper Including commonwealth campuses (“weekly collegian”) Gannett Company
Circulation – 40,000/weekdays
Founded in 1887 (Free Lance); 1940 (DC) The Paper – Aaron Matthews (2007)
http://www.thepaperdocumentary.com/
Voices of Central Pennsylvania
Central Pennsylvania’s monthly news magazine of investigative journalism and regional and local interest news non-profit , volunteer “Community platform” – progressive; identity; muckraking;
Circulation – 12,000 Founded in 1989
Find copies - http://www.voicesweb.org/node/10 Internships available Suzen Erem
Television “Network News”
ABC, NBC, CBS, Cable
MSNBC, Fox, CNN The Sunday Morning Punditocracy
This Week Public Broadcasting
PBS – Jim Lehrer/BBC Non-Profit/Public Service
C-Span
“Network News”
Nightly News BroadcastsNBC (1st - Brian Williams)ABC (2nd - Diane Sawyer)CBS (3rd - Katie Couric)
Audiences: 21 million; older demographic (60); shrinking yearly
Cable(24/7 “coverage” )
CNN (Cable News Network) Time Warner
Founded in 1980; first all-news television network in US 212 countries/territories (2nd in the US) “CNN” Effect” = perceived impact of real-time 24-hour news coverage on the decision-
making processes of US government.
Fox - #1 rated cable news network News Corp.
Founded in 1996; emphasis on graphics “Nationalistic”/conservative viewpoints
“Fair and Balanced”; “Fox News Alert” (“Breaking news”)
MSNBC Microsoft/General Electric
Started in 1996; Liberal/progressive viewpoints
The Sunday Morning Punditocracy
Meet the Press: David Gregory NBC 1947
Face the Nation: Bob Schieffer CBS 1954
This Week: Christiane Amanpour ABC 1981
Fox News Sunday: Chris Wallace FOX 1996
State of the Union: John King CNN 2009
Pundit A pundit is someone who offers to mass-
media their opinion or commentary on a particular subject area on which they are knowledgeable
Wikipedia
An authority, or one who announces judgments, opinions or conclusions in an authoritative manner Webster’s Third Dictionary
Public BroadcastingPBS (WPSU locally – channel 3)Straight Journalism
Reporting: context, depth, unembellished
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (Wash. DC/7pm locally)
(1975/"Robert MacNeil Report“) 2.4 million viewers nightly
Corporate/Foundational/Viewer Funded http://www.pbs.org/newshour/aboutus/funders.html
BBC World News (UK/6 pm locally) World Focus (NYC /11pm )
Non-Profit/Public Service
C-Span Founded in 1979 Cable-industry financed non-profit network for
televising live sessions of US Government and related events (No government funding)
No Sponsorships or Advertising C-Span2 (1986); C-Span3 (2001)
Talk Radio/TV/Web
Conservative Rush Limbaugh(None/1988)(13 million)
(31.25/400 million) Bill O’Reilly (Harvard/1996) (4 million) Glenn Beck (None/3.4 million)(3.5 million)
Liberal Air America Radio (2004/1.5 million)
Difficulties: funding/management
WPSU (PBS member station in State College) Owned by Penn State
NPR - privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization – serves as a national syndicator to 797 public radio stations in the United States News and public affairs/ cultural programs – Most Unbiased news source (?) – attacked by everyone
WKPS (The Lion - 90.7FM) –radio/web (1994) Owned by PSU/FCC licensed
Radio Free Penn State - Weekdays 5-6:30 (ANDY NAGYPAL) http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2004/09/09-16-04tdc/09-16-04dnews-11.asp
Periodicals
The Nation The American Prospect The Weekly Standard National Review Reason Utne
The Nation
Weekly US Periodical: Politics/Culture Liberal/Progressive (Left) Editor: Katrina Vanden Heuvel Circulation: 200,000 Sustained by donors
The American Prospect
Monthly US Periodical: Politics Liberal/Progressive (Left) Editors: Mark Schmitt, Paul Starr, Robert Kuttner, Robert Reich
Circulation: 40,000 Sustained by subscription
“generate debate, further ideas, and set agendas”
The Weekly Standard
Weekly US Periodical: Politics Leading neoconservative magazine (Right) Editor: Fred Barnes William Kristol Circulation: 83,000 Sustained by News Corps
Advocacy journalism (partisan)
National Review
Bi-weekly US Periodical: Politics Conservative (Right) Editor: William F. Buckley (first); today - Rich
Lowry Circulation: 155,000 Sustained by donations and subscriptions
Young Americans for Freedom http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/psyaf/
Reason
Monthly US Periodical: Politics, Culture Libertarian (Left-Center-Right – debated/issue
driven) Editor: Matt Welch Circulation: 60,000 Sustained by Reason Foundation, a national, non-profit
research and educational organization. “Free Minds and Free Markets”
Utne
Bi-monthly US Periodical: Culture Liberal/ Progressive Editor: Jay Walljasper Circulation: 205,000 Sustained by Ogden Publications
Reprinted Articles from a wide range of alternative sources
Think Tanks
A think tank (also called a policy institute) is an organization, institute, corporation, or group that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economy, science or technology issues, industrial or business policies, or military advice.
Primary Think Tanks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_think_tanks_in_the_United_States Critics have suggested that, because of the private nature of the funding of
some think tanks, their results are biased to a varying degree. Some argue that members will be inclined to promote or publish only those results which ensure the continued flow of funds from private donors.
In some cases, corporate interests have found it useful to create "think tanks." For example, The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition was formed in the mid 1990s by Philip Morris to dispute research finding a link between second-hand smoke and cancer.
Political Knowledge and the Public Sphere?
Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_Politics
Discourse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse
Political Discourse http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-clothier/language-political-disco_b_81164.html http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/a-thought-about-political-discourse/
Filtering the Flak http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=220276&title=White-House-Press-
Corps