The Media Flashcards
(23 cards)
What do the Studies by Cappella and Jamieson show about News Frames, Political Cynicism and Media Cynicism?
Show that subtle changes in the way news stories are framed can affect consumers responses, activating their cynicism when strategic or conflict-oriented frames are used.
Who stated that “political cynics are also media cynics who believe that journalists distort the political process”?
Cappella and Jameison
How do Cappella and Jamieson conclude there paper?
When reporters persisitently focus on self-interest as the motivation for political decions, they may be helping create the mistrust that feeds their own reporting and ultimately feeds back on the insitutiont they represent
What is the core argument of Ceron and Memoli work on Media and Trust in Europe?
Results show that the pro-or antigovernmental slant of media outlets interacts with the individual ideological views of each citizen and confirm that media act like “echo chambers” that reinforce preexisitng attitudes.
Conversely, the consumption of counter-attitudinal information barely alters trust in government nor does it produce hostile media effects.
What do Ceron and Memoli results show?
The negative relationship between trust and the consumption of content from media outlets skewed away from the cabinet is greater among citizens whose ideological position is already far from that of the government.
Conversely, the positive association between watching public television and trust is strengthened among citizens who are already ideologically close to the cabinet.
What are some of the flaws in Ceron and Memoli data?
Cause they analyse cross-sectional data on a single point in time it is impossible to establish the causal direction of the relationship highlighted.
an alternative explanation of the results could be related to the ingroup/outgroup feeling, which can generate mistrust toward the source of crioticism when it is perceived as an outgroup source.
What are the results of Ceron and Memoli study on the effect of internet usage in Europe?
The mere usage of Internet per se, is unrelated with democratic support whereas the consumption of on-line news matters.
Social media can also expose citizens to other counter-attitudinal opinions, increasing the likelihood of flames that increase skeptiicism toward democracy.
Who states that “the freedom of expression and the freedom of press are the fundamentals of democracy”? (good for intro)
Ceron and Memoli
According to Ceron and Memoli work does the use of interenet or SNS (social networking sites) affect the satisfication with democracy?
No
Cofefficients for internet usage and SNS are not stastically significant
What do Ceron and Memoli work show about the effect of variables related to the consumption of tracitional news and why does this occur.
Positive and significant.
Observe that the consumption of news from new media (institutional websites and on-line traditional media) is associated with satisfication with democracy,.
Conversely, the consumption of news from social media is associated with lower satisfication with democracy.
New media still rely on a Web 1.0 format and broadcast information following a top-down approach similar to that provided by off-line mass media.
As such, political information is diffused by the political elite that can slant news to preserve own interests and suppor the established democratic political system, allowing only limited room for alternative viewpoints.
Conversely, the umediated nature of user-generated content published on social media and SNS paves the way to a bottom-up stream of information and allows the circulation of alternative newes and views without the mediation of dominant media outlets.
What is the core of Hibbing and Theiss-Morse argument about how the media role affect public negativity toward Congress
Argue that interpretations of the medias impact on public negativity towards Congress depend on both the type of medium people use and the reactions being measured.
The media has an impact on peoples emotional reactions toward Congress but not on their cognitive evaluations of Congress.
Our findings that media exposure effects emotional reactions but not evaluations suggests, just as we theorised, that pre-existing stable cognitive evalutations of Congress are largely unaffected by media use whereas the provocative and often sensational media covrage of a “scandal-ridden” Congress arouse strong negative emoitions against members of Congress.
We find little evidence that the nature and extent of a persons exposure to media news has an idenificiable effect on that persons cognitive evaluations of Congress as a collection of members.
All this changes when shifting to the publics emotional reactiosn to Congress.- medica cannot be blamed for Congress low evaliuations byt they can be balmed at least in aprt ofr the publics negative and often visceral emotional reactions to Congress.
Who first created the term videomalaise and to what did it refer?
Robinson- 1970s
refers to negative public attitudes that resulted from watching television news.
According to Mutz how does the experience of political conflict differ from real life conflict?
Central tendency in media is to highlight emotionally extreme and impolite expressions, whereas the central tendency in face-toface communication is toward politie and emotionally controlled interactions.
TV wordl also provides a uniquely intimate perspective on conflicts- in lit on human proxemis, the distance deemed approporiate for face to face interactions with public figures in American culture is 12 feeet…Yet as televeisedc political conflicts intensify, cameras close in with tighter and tigher perespectives on the people involved.
How does Mutz conduct her study?
Shows participaitons different broadcast between politiicans one where they act civil one where they act uncivil toward each other
Content of exchange.
What do Mutz results show?
All 3 measures of trust were significantly influence in a negative direction by the less civil exchange. Trust in Politicians became more negative, even though the content of the talk show made it clear that neither candate had ever been a member of Congress
Viewing a civil interaction leaves political trust unchanged, but viewing an uncivil interaction- even for a mere 20 minutes- signficiantly lowers levels of political trust over not vieweing at all.
show that unciuvil political discourse has detrimental effects on political trust. Not only were attitudes toward politicians and Congress affected, but levels of support for the instiutions of government themselves also were influenced.
Importntlyt these effects occureed even though the extent of substantive diasagreement/political conflict was held constant.
Under what two cases does Steven Barnett put forward the negative impact of political journalism?
1) that print and broadcast jounralists are becoming more actively complicit in a process which is degrading democracys institutions and undermining political representatives
2) by connecting these arguments about the debasement of journalism to the very current argument about a crisis in parliamentary legitimacy, in political engagement and in political trust.
What three phases does Larry Sabato divided postwar American Journalism into?
1) 1940s-1966: lapodog journalism- this was the era when the press was too servile to say anything about Roosevelt’s polio, about Kennedy’s prolific affairs or about Johnson’s public drunkenness and womanising
2) 1966-74: watchdog journalism- this was the era of Watergate and of Vietnam, when Woodward and Bernestein romaniticised the idea of investigative journalism and journalists themselves came to realise they had for too long been part of establishment cover ups.
3) From 1974-Onwards Sabato calls junkyward dog journalism. In His words “it has become a spectacle without equal in modern American policitcs, the news media…go after wounded politicians like sharks in afeeding frenzy…many…observers see journalsists, as rude, arrogant and cynical given to exaggeration, harassment, sensationalism.
How does Steven Barnett divide the british experience of media?
1) From 40s to early 60s- age of deference- not only were broadcast journalists fawing and submissive in their apprioach to politicians but politicans could barely conceal their reciprocal contempt for the upstart medium of television
2) from 64-70s it was was possible to see broadcasters gorwing into a greater watchdog role, partly fuelled by the unfolding Watergater scandal on the other side of the Altantic. The second phase might thus be described as the age of equal engagement, when journalists were prepared to question and challenge politicians, and politicians accepted a reciprocal obligation to be held to account and engage in genuine debate.
3) at this point the main technique of journalistic resistance became overt disdaining strategies: building into their reports explicit commentaries which tried to reveal the politicans plays and distance themselves from the subminal messages. This then was the age of journalistic disdain, which flowed directly from the journalists sense that their critical and independent function was being progressibely undermined.
4) there are now serious questions being asked on both sides of the Altantic about whether a line has been crossed from detached scepticism to derision, cynicism and ridicule. there is real concern that we have entered the fourth and most destructive phase: the age of contempt.
What are some of the implications according to Barnett of the age of contempt?
Shows in America a study of the impact of negative campaign commercials established some years ago that, while they served to reinforce the partisan loyalities of those already committed to a political party, they also fuelled more disengagement from the gorwing numbers of non-partisans.
Another study looked at the impct of whaat the authors called “strategic news frames”- that is stories about politics which do not address policy issues but adopt the kinds of disdaining strategies outlined above. They found that strategic campaign news did enhance cyncisism about the candidates involved.
Barnett argues that our democractic system depends on a body of brought, motivated individuals wishing to become political representatives and aspiring to govern. But why should anyone be motivated when they see only vitriol, scorn and derision as the reward to a political career?
What is the core of Thomas Patterons argument?
Argues that the meida as an instiution is unsuited for its new found powers and in particular journalists values perpetuate a sceptical stance towards the major instiutions of society, foucsing on campaign strategy rather than the issues.
Emphasises failure over success and questions of personel character over policy debate.
What is Norris critique of previous research on media?
research on media is drawn in black and white terms and siggest there is a single unique tv experience. This has led to insecurity of whether it is simply the affect of number of hours watching tv which affects the public as Ptunam suggests or whether the content of what people are watching is equally important.
What is a problem with Norris work?
causal pathway is unclear as question on whether tv encourages participation or whether those that are already active turn to tv to keep up to date.
What do Norris result show?
Intial results show amount of time people spent watching tv was signficiantly correlated with all type of participation.
However, when looking at the content of what people watched the picture changes e.g. those who regularly watched network news wefere signficiantly more likely to be involved inn all types of political ctivity and the relationship between watching public affairs programs and civic engagement reman even stronger.
Suggests we should not blame tv watching per se for political disengagegement, but rather than content of what people ware watching.
the relationship between tv and civic engagement is more complex than one might think.
