What’s The Media’s Role?

What is the point of media?

• What is the point of the news?• Why do you watch the news or other media

sources?

How/Why Our Views Are Shaped

• Need for Orientation: when one has interest in an issue but is uncertain about that issue.

• Because the individual has an interest but no knowledge they need info in order to establish a view or to “orient” themselves.

• How do they “orientate” themselves?• Index of Curiosity: how curious someone is

determines how much they will let the media shape their views.

The Media’s Intent Is To Create Which?

• Latent Public: Public does not recognize the common problems they face…this doesn’t mean the problem ceases to exist. They are simply unaware that they do.

Public doesn’t know what it doesn’t know • Aware Public: Public understands there's a problem,

aren't sure they can do anythingPublic is acquiescent• Active Public: Public which has active or

knowledgeable stake in an event, organization or issuePublic is reactionary/revolutionary; an activist

Extension Activity

• Depending on the issue it could be advisable to any one of these types of citizens.

• What type of citizen would the media prefer and when would they prefer this type of citizen?

• Provide an example when each type of citizen would be desired?

Persuasion

• Persuasion an attitude change resulting from exposure to information from others

• Is similar to propaganda but isn’t quite the same.

• Is the media’s job to inform or propagate or both?

• Is their intent to inform or propagate?• What role does priming and framing play in

persuasion?

Types of News Reporting

• Pack Journalism• Narrowcasting/Target Journalism• Investigative Journalism• What role does each play in persuasion?

Pack Journalism

• Pack Journalism: the tendency of journalists to cover stories that other journalists are covering and to ignore stories that other journalists ignore.

• Examples include the daily news headlines.• If you watch the daily news around the world they mainly

cover the same news stories.• Daily news reports are typically straightforward. Facts are

relayed without interpretation. A typical news story is often a headline with just enough explanation to orient the reader.

• Daily news stories lack the depth of a feature story, or the questioning approach of an investigative journalism

Narrowcasting

• Narrowcasting: is the spread of information (usually via Internet, radio, newspaper, or television) to a narrow audience; not to the broader public at-large.

• Narrowcasting or target journalism, involves aiming media messages at specific segments of the public defined by values, preferences, demographics, and/or subscription.

• Is based on the idea that mass or “broad” audiences do not exist

• Examples would be partisan news stations like MSNBC or Fox News

Investigative Journalism

• Investigative journalism: aims to uncover the truth about a particular subject, person, or event.

• Also known as: whistleblowing, watch-dog reporting or muckraking.

• Examples include exposés on personal or political scandals.

Does The Media Impact Us…Or Naw?• The Limited Effects Model suggests that mass media has little to

no effect on peoples attitudes and opinions; it reinforce attitudes rather than change them

3 Examples of the Limited Effects Model• selective exposure: individuals’ tendency to favor info that

reinforces pre-existing views while avoiding contradictory info; a tendency to not evaluate a message purely on the merits of the arguments

• selective attention: individuals’ tendency to pay attention only to messages that are consistent with their attitudes. (people only HEAR what they want to hear)

• selective retention: when individuals’ more accurately remember messages that are closer to their interests, values and beliefs, than those that are in contrast. (people only REMEMBER what they want to remember)

Recap

• What are the 3 types of citizens?• What is the need for orientation & index of

curiosity & how are they related?• What are 3 different types of journalism?• What is the basic premise of the limited

effects model?• Describe the 3 examples that validate the

limited effects model?