Lecture 5 Flashcards
Principle 4
The media are dedicated more than anything else to telling a good story and this can often have a major impact on the political process.
What makes ´a good story´?
Good stories are interesting → motivate people to consume
(market logic)
Many news values related to storytelling
–> Conflict, negativity
Stories only remain in the news as a series of conflicts and temporary resolutions
(Cook 2006, Governing with the News)
Gans: enduring values
Ethnocentrism (America first)
The ideal of democracy
Responsible capitalism
Small-town pastoralism
Rugged individualism
Social and moral (dis)order
Infotainment
a derogatory term meant to suggest that the news isn’t a serious means for informing the public; it is a simply another entertainment channel.
Criteria for an event to be newsworthy:
Drama
The Ultimate Cynics: The Spiral of Cyncism (Cappella, Jamieson)
Ø The news media, they argue, almost always use a “strategic frame” to cover politics.
A strategic frame= one that looks at politics as simply one ongoing contest after another.
- Horse race coverage: in political campaigns journalists are more interested in covering the race itself (winners and losers)
- Gotcha journalism: reporters follow the candidates around waiting for them to do something sufficiently stupid to warrant a headline
Journalists look for negative news and ‘game frames’
→ Game frame: politics as a game, framing as winners & losers, actions aimed at winning
Politicians provide these frames about their opponents
(cf self-mediatization; as a consequence, ‘good guys’ leave politics)
Public becomes more cynical,
increasing demand for negative/game news
During election campaigns, candidates have tremendous incentives to “go negative.”
Horse race coverage:
in political campaigns journalists are more interested in covering the race itself (winners and losers)
Gotcha journalism
reporters follow the candidates around waiting for them to do something sufficiently stupid to warrant a headline
Game frame:
politics as a game, framing as winners & losers, actions aimed at winning
Not all media are equally sensationalist. Important because:
- direct relationship between sensationalism and cynical coverage (VB: When journalists are more interested in finding shocking materials than in informing the public, they are more likely to turn politicians into either evil villains or bumbling idiots)
- Difference between “hard news” and “soft news”.
The increasing importance of the Internet as a source of political information may serve to raise levels of sensationalism and political cynicism to even greater heights.
The more sensationalist media are more cynical one would expect that a steady flow of negative news could lead people to drop out.
Difference between hard news and soft news
Traditional hard news is often unappealing to politically inattentive individuals.
For politically inattentive citizen soft news is more efficient than hard news to help people vote for the candidate party who best represented their self-described preferences.
Difference hard and soft news (DIMENSIONS)
- Focus dimension:
Soft: thematic and episodic framing Hard: individual relevance, societal - Topic dimensions:
Soft: not politically relevant
Hard: politically relevant - Style dimensions:
Soft: personal and emotional reporting
Hard: unemotional (facts) and impersonal
Media malaise
the idea that continual exposure to the negativity in the media not only leads to cynical citizens, it also encourages people to “check out of politics.
When people lose faith in the poticial system, they have less motivation to get involved.
Virtuous circle
attention to the news media enhances people’s tendency to get involved in politics and this prompts more attention to the news.
Media, War and Terrorism
- Conflict, violence, ‘good’ visuals
High news values, good story - Focus on ‘episodic’ rather than ‘thematic’ frames
Actions, violence, victims, not underlying causes, historical embedding - War: rally around the flag
Uncritical reporting, strong consensus around ‘supporting our troops’
Rally around the flag
increased short-run popular support of a country’s government or political leaders during periods of international crisis or war.
CNN Curve
- Initial positive war coverage
CNN Effect: media as agenda setter and accelerant
Rally around the flag
(→ Hallin’s Sphere of Concensus)
- Followed by decline
Bodybags, abuses, failures, leaks
Discussion (of means & goals) rather than consensus
Authorities lose control
Media Responsibility and War
“[..] inappropriately italicized by lavish front-page display
and heavy-breathing headlines”
“[..] provided perspective or challenged information in the faulty stories were played as quietly as a lullaby. “
“Hunger for scoops [..] Front-page syndrome”
“The failure was not individual, but institutional”
“War requires an extra standard of care, not a lesser one”
The drama of war and terrorism
News media have a clear economic interest in conflict
News about war and terrorism is usually less cynical than other forms of political news, especially in the early stages of conflict
Role of the news media in war:
- War is very good for the news business, its provides a level of drama that is hard to find anywhere else.
- Coverage of these conflicts tends to be less cynical than other types of political news
(due to the level of drama)
Terrorism
In sum, news about war and terrorism is inherently dramatic, and this is why journalists have always considered this a wonderful place to find good stories.
This coverage of war and terrorism is generally much less cynical probably because such an approach would take something away from the drama.
The routines for covering terrorism are also cause for concern because they can in the end make it that much easier for such extremists to achieve their goals.
While the reasons for all this are understandable, they highlight the serious consequences of putting such an emphasis on “good” stories
Need for drama also has a problematic influences on attempts to end conflicts
Unintended consequences: media plays a destructive role in peace processes:
- Journalists’ need for drama: a peace process is mostly boring.
- Emphasis on immediacy: the fresher the news the more interesting and exciting it is. > News deals with events, not (peace) processes. Peace is a long-term investment.
Peace & Negotiations
Peace talks “boring” (from ‘good story’ perspective)
No news/conflicts until final announcements
Good stories are bad for peace / negotiations
–> Leaks from inside (accidental or purposeful)
–> Radicals within party opposed to peace / compromise
–> Third parties interested in disturbing process
