Media as the "Fourth Estate"
Access to information is essential to the
health of democracy for at least two reasons.
First, it ensures that citizens make
responsible, informed choices rather than
acting out of ignorance or misinformation.
Second, information serves a "checking
function" by ensuring that elected
representatives uphold their oaths of office
and carry out the wishes of those who elected
them.
In the United States, the media is often called
the fourth branch of government (or "fourth
estate". That's because it monitors the
political process in order to ensure that
political players don't abuse the democratic
process.
Others call the media the fourth branch of
government because it plays such an
important role in the fortunes of political
candidates and issues. This is where the role
of the media can become controversial. News
reporting is supposed to be objective, but
journalists are people, with feelings, opinions
and preconceived ideas.
How Media Helps Shape Public Opinion
A clever choice of words can make things
seem different than they are. For instance,
during the Vietnam War, the Defense
Department of the United States used many
misleading phrases in news reports. Instead
of "forced transfer of civilians" they said
"relocation", and instead of "lies" they said
"elements in the credibility gap." By using
carefully chosen phrases, the Defense
Department made their war efforts seem less
harmful to the people in the United States.
They aren't "vouchers", they are "opportunity
scholarships"; it's not "tax cuts", it's "tax
relief."
If we didn't know better, we'd think that the
dogs have gone crazy and started attacking
humans in unprecendented numbers (ala
Hitchcock's "The Birds", but in fact dog
attacks on people are down . It's simply that
the Diane Wipple story has drawn public
attention (and media focus) to the dog-bites-
man story.
Media's Influence on Politics
The influence of the mass media affects
politics in the United States greatly. The
public's point of view is changed by the way
the news is reported. When the public's
views are affected, the voting polls are too. In
turn, when votes are changed, different
public officials are elected. The government
officials are the men and women who make
the laws and generally run the country. The
mass media is at the beginning of a long
chain, but nonetheless, the media has a
powerful effect on politics in the United
States.
Role of the media during the election cycle
and beyond...
Primary season: Importance of doing well
in Iowa and New Hampshire...goal is not
necessarily to win, but to win over
expectations (Clinton in '92). Candidates
who exceed expectations win, those who
fall short lose.
Horserace coverage: typical of media
coverage of elections. Not coverage of
issues, but report of who's ahead, stats,
and %s of public opinion.
Sound bytes: contribute to problem. We
now expect brevity. We expect issues and
campaigns to be summed up in seconds.
No time for content in a 10 second sound
byte.
"Line of the Day" begun by Reagan WH.
Pre-empted the press. Presidential
manipulation of the press by setting the
agenda before the media could decide
what to cover.
Importance of a good White House Press
Secretary: The creation of this position
represents the importance of maintaining
a good relationship with the people and
the press. Theodore Lowi describes the
Press Secretary as "the apex of a huge
public relations apparatus in the executive
branch which devotes an extraordinary
amount of staff, resources, and time to
generating a positive image of the
president." Dee Dee Myers, Mike McCurry:
important to build good relationship with
White House Press Corps. Tough job: must
balance loyalty to pres and appearance of
being "on board" with maintaining trust
and respect of press (so that they will
cover you favorably.)
Consequences of "media politics"...
Decline in party influence -foremost among
the changes brought on by the new media
politics is the declining influence of
political parties, particularly in
presidential elections. During the 40s,
when social scientists first investigated the
impact of media on the outcome of
presidential elections, party allegiance was
the most important determinant of the
vote. Today, the candidate as a personality
is the primary determinant, and party
affiliation comes in close to last. When
voters base their decisions on a
candidate's personality, character, or stand
on the issues, the media becomes a very
significant player b/c they are the chief
source of info about these matters. As
image becomes more important, the role of
parties naturally declines. When voters
can see and hear candidates in their own
living rooms, they can make choices that
differ from those made by the party. The
role of party as campaigner for the
candidate has become almost obselete.
More candidates enter the races and
campaign on their own strengths, raising
their own money and building their own
organizations.
Increase in power of media in elections and
campaigns (media as "king makers" ) -
more than ever, media personnel can
influence the selection of candidates and
issues during election time. The selection
process begins in the primaries when
newspeople, on the basis of as yet slender
evidence, must predict winners and losers
in order to narrow the filed of eligibles.
Concentrating on the front runners in
public opinion polls makes the media's
task more managable, but it often forces
trailing candidates out of races
prematurely. Example of little known
Georgia Governor, Jimmy Carter. NBC
called Carter "the man to beat."
Afterwards, he got the covers of
Newsweek and Time. Conversely, the
media has been known to destroy
candidacies: Joe Biden and Gary Hart in
1988.
Marketing imperative - the type of
candidates that emerge has also been
altered by the new media politics. Political
recruiters have become extremely
conscious of a candidate's ability to look
impressive and to perform well before the
cameras. People who are not telegenic are
eliminated from the pool of available
recruits. Abraham Lincoln's rugged face
probably would not have passed muster.
Franklin Roosevelt, who was keenly aware
of the likely harmful effects of a picture of
him in a wheelchair (which would make
him appear weak), never allowed photos
to be taken while he was being lifted to
the speaker's rostrum.
The post-modern campaign - mass media
coverage has become the campaign's
pivotal point. Campaigns are arranged for
the best media exposure before the largest
suitable audience. To attract media
coverage, candidates concentrate on press
conferences, talk show appearances, or
trips to locations that serve as good
backdrops for photo ops. Appearances on
various entertainment shows are now
routine (anyone remember Clinton
blowing his sax on Arsenio?) Candidates
plan their schedules to dovetail with
media coverage habits. They spend
disproportionate amounts of time
campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire
where media coverage is heavy.