The experiences of Gary Condit show the profound effect national media can have on politics. Chandra Levy, a college intern of Condit’s, vanished in 2001. After it was discovered that Levy and Condit had been having an affair, national media outlets speculated a causal link between Condit and Levy’s disappearance. Though Condit was never connected to what was eventually classified as a murder, Condit was defeated in a 2002 election. This one instance accurately portrays the media’s ability to perpetuate thoughts and beliefs, regardless of political importance.
With current technologies, the mass media, the multitude of media sources, are able to cover countless political happenings in multiple forms. Because of this, identifying the source of information (as well as underlying motives) is crucial in dissecting a report.

Evolution of American Media and Regulation

Since their inception, American newspapers have pushed political ideologies, from urging colonists to defy English rule to determining a new government for the new nation. The post–Civil War period saw the rise of yellow journalism, which used bold headlines and entertaining writing to appeal to a wider audience. In addition, muckrakers or investigative journalists openly criticized politicians and policies to raise public concern. Post–World War I America utilized radios and eventually TVs to receive information from national media sources. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was initiated in 1934 to regulate the new technologies, called broadcast media. The chief purpose of the FCC was to ensure no single broadcast corporation could monopolize a community and only provide their point of view. The FCC enacted the fairness doctrine, which is now no longer in place, to ensure all broadcast stations presented multiple political points of view. Also, the FCC mandated the equal time provision, which required stations to give equal amounts of airtime, outside of news reports, to competing candidates.
In 1996, Congress enacted the Telecommunications Act in order to deregulate media and communications. The Telecommunications Act accelerated two trends:

1. Concentration: corporations are permitted to own more than one media source in a single community.
2. Cross-ownership: corporations are permitted to own multiple kinds of media sources in a single community (i.e., TV and print).

These trends gave rise to media conglomerates like NBC, ABC, CBS, and so on, which relay information in multiple forms.
Though the FCC is increasingly moving to deregulation, the it will still enforce penalties and fines for broadcasting “obscene material” (i.e., radio “shock jock” Howard Stern, Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl “wardrobe malfunction”).

Media Sources

1. Newspapers: Published from small towns to big cities and provide local incites as well as international events. Are thought to be “dead” and will likely fall to the wayside with increases in global technologies.
2. Magazines and Books: Offer in-depth, more critical, and often one-sided points of view to important current events.
3. Television: Broadcasts range from simple, fact-based reporting as on NBC, CBS, and ABC to radical, one sided and humorous as on The O’Reilly Factor, The Daily Show with John Stewart, and The Colbert Report.
4. Radio: Programs are often centered on a single, strongly opinionated individual who fields questions and comments from listeners and offers his or her own insights. The majority of politically based radio programs are conservatively oriented.
5. Internet: Offers every kind of previously mentioned media, though usually in limited fashion. Also provides a forum for the average citizen with a connection to voice his or her opinion for the world to hear.

Key Differences in Sources

• Information in print sources like books or newspapers is difficult to change on short notice.
• Different sources offer different depths of analysis (i.e., a 30-minute TV broadcast will only be able to broadly cover a topic compared to a 12-page article from a magazine).
• The availability of resources shape what news is passed on to the consumer (many Internet sites, local media, and other smaller operations use major TV and newspaper sources to base their reporting).

The Influence of the Internet

• Offers the widest array of factual and analytical information of any source
• Allows ordinary citizens to report their political experiences firsthand
• Created more opportunities for “home-grown media”
• Despite the wealth of information available online, there is no conclusive evidence that citizens are better informed politically than previously for four principal reasons:
  1. Thirty percent of adults are not regular Internet users.
  2. Information is too plentiful and crucial information often remains hidden.
  3. The ease with which something is posted on the Internet and lack of fact-checking organization create questionable reliability (i.e., Wikipedia).
  4. Normalization Hypothesis: as more people look to the Internet for information, major media outlets post the same information as available on the air or in print, so people are exposed to the same information but in a different form.

Leaks, Sources and Shield Laws

• Information, often highly classified information, can leak to major media outlets if a  government official provides it.
• Governmental organizations have two main tactics to prevent classified information from being leaked:
  1. There are laws to prevent the publication of classified information, and if information is published, that allow the prosecution of those responsible for leaking the information.
  2. Officials can try to persuade reporters to voluntarily omit sensitive and specific information while still publishing the story.
• Government officials hold a press conference to inform the public of important happenings.
• However, these press conferences are often “staged,” meaning the official will only provide very select information or will only allow a particular list of questions to be asked.
• Many states have shield laws that allow the reporter to withhold information or names of their sources or “leaks.”
• However, there is no shield law on the federal level, and federal prosecutors may require a source’s information be made available.

How Do Americans Use the Media to Learn about Politics?

• Americans have an abundant source of political information readily available to them.
• The by-product theory of information transmission suggests that Americans acquire political knowledge and opinions unintentionally rather than seeking it out.
• The use of TV and newspapers for political information has significantly dropped in the past fifteen years while the use of Internet sources has dramatically increased.
• A person’s preferred source of media often reflects their overall understanding of modern politics.
• Individuals who turn to comedy-based political shows and one-sided talk radio shows for political coverage appear to be the best informed politically.

Impact of Media Coverage on American Citizens

• The influence of the media’s political coverage on the average citizen is called media effects.
• What is omitted from reports and the manner information is presented in is often more influential than the information that is covered.
• There are four main media effects that largely shape a citizen’s viewpoint:
  1. Filtering: journalist’s and editor’s decisions about what information to report
  2. Slant: giving favorable coverage to one candidate or policy without providing a balanced perspective
  3. Priming: the altering of the public’s image or a candidate caused by negative or positive coverage of the candidate
  4. Framing: influence caused by the way a story is presented, including or excluding details, explanations or context
• These media effects do not imply that all reports are deliberately spun and intended to sway the audience one way or another.
• Space or time limitations in print or broadcasts will often result in unintended media effects.
• In general, conservatives think the media is liberally biased while liberals think the media is conservatively biased.
• Many publications or broadcasts make no secret that they are left or right leaning.
• A hostile media phenomenon occurs when people view generally balanced coverage as biased against a preferred policy or candidate.
• There is little evidence to suggest the American media is left or right leaning.

Media Coverage of American Politics

• Attack journalism, in which “bad news makes for good news,” focuses on scandals and controversies.
• Campaign coverage often over examines the horse race qualities of the campaign, in which poll results and questions of who is leading who take precedent over substantial issues and stances of the opposing candidates.
• Media coverage also emphasizes soft news, the use of sensational and entertaining reporting over hard news, the presentation of important information, figures, and facts.
• Many scholars suggest the general distrust American people have with the American government is due to the presentation of information by the American media rather than the government actions themselves.
• When dissecting information from media sources, it is important to note the motives of the source (media effects as well as profitability of a story).

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