Deck 9: Evaluating Media Politics

Question 1

Outline the key differences between American and European media systems. What are the implications for news content and the ability of the media to live up to their civic responsibilities?

Answer 1

Not Answer

Question 2

To what extent does "mediality" correspond with "reality"? What factors prevent a closer correspondence?

Answer 2

Not Answer

Question 3

The conventional criticism of media-based campaigns is that they are inherently manipulative. Do you agree with this assessment? Provide supporting evidence.

Answer 3

Not Answer

Question 4

Assume you are advising either the Republican or the Democratic nominee in the 2016 presidential race. Outline your "free" and "paid" media strategies.

Question 5

Does going public strengthen or weaken the democratic process? Explain.

Question 6

In the post-Internet era, how do consumers of the news deal with the problem of information overload?

Question 7

Which of these would be the best way to improve the civic performance of the news media?

A) increasing the scope of newspaper endorsements of candidates
B) shortening the length of the campaign season
C) giving minor-party candidates more news coverage
D) lengthening national newscasts from thirty to sixty minutes

Question 8

"The American media generally fail to live up to their civic responsibilities." Explain why or why not.

Question 9

The electoral reforms of the 1960s were designed to strengthen the responsiveness of the nomination process to the views of the party rank and file. Did the reforms achieve their objectives?

Question 10

How can the level of news coverage of particular issues benefit particular candidates? Provide real-world illustrations.

Question 11

Using political campaigns as the arena, show how news coverage can be attributed to economic and organizational forces.

Question 12

Assume you are managing one of the 2016 presidential campaigns. Outline your candidate's strategy for winning the election.

Question 13

What is the impact, if any, of campaigns on election results?

Question 14

Consider the following New York Times report on _________________ (attached). Is this report representative of campaign coverage? Analyze the content of this report in terms of the standard explanations of campaign news.

Question 15

How does "gut rationality" apply to voting behavior? Does it lead voters to "correct" choices?

Question 16

Most Americans depend on the news media to learn about the world of public affairs. Explain how this dependence influences their political beliefs and attitudes.

Question 17

According to the theory of issue ownership, rational candidates will never "dialogue" with their opponents. Explain why.

Question 18

Assume you were asked to evaluate the "civic performance" of American news organizations. What criteria would you use to define their performance, and what would you prescribe as a means of raising the level of performance?

Question 19

One of the standards for evaluating democracy is the level of correspondence between public opinion and the policies pursued by elected officials. In the context of going public, is this an appropriate standard? Explain why or why not.

Question 20

Explain the concept of media priming, and show how fluctuations in presidential popularity are specific instances of the priming effect.

Question 21

What are the distinctive properties of the American media system, and how do these properties affect the programming that is delivered to the news audience?

Question 22

In recent years, local news has surpassed network news as the major source of public affairs programming. From one scholarly perspective on the news media, this is utterly predictable. Describe this perspective.

Question 23

Is a president's popularity determined primarily by the actual course of events? Or can presidents use media management to raise their popularity and insulate themselves from "bad news"?

Question 24

Using Vietnam and the Iraq War as your endpoints, trace the evolution of "deferential" journalism in the arena of national security.

Question 25

The author theorizes that the revolution in information technology may result in more substantive and issue-oriented campaigns. Explain this reasoning.

Question 26

What is the difference between pandering and leadership, and why do media campaigns provide incentives for elected officials to choose the former?

Question 27

Presidential press conferences have declined in frequency over the past thirty years. Why has the press conference been replaced by the speech as the principal venue of presidential communication?

Question 28

Explain why the strategy of going public is more suited to the executive than the legislative branch of government.

Question 29

Researchers studying the effects of media presentations on the audience initially concluded that these presentations had "minimal consequences." Explain why this conclusion was an artifact of their methodology.

Question 30

Political scientists can forecast presidential elections based on factors that have little to do with the campaign. If this is true, how can the authors argue that day-to-day campaigning actually contributes to the result?

Question 31

The mass media have replaced political parties as the principal intermediaries between candidates and voters. How has this change transformed the candidates' campaign strategies?