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Media and Democracy

Week 4

Bennett: News: The Politics of Illusion

Key ThemesGatekeepingNews as Democratic Information SystemPoliticians, Press, and the PeopleDefining News

War on Terror: Chilling EffectSoft 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 1981Fox 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