The Media & Political Information Flashcards
(19 cards)
Key roles of the media (Why is the media important to democracy)
- Inform the public about current political issues and events
- Provide a forum for candidates, politicians and the public to debate policies and issues
- Act as a watchdog on the actions of politicians and government
Principaled journalism
Reporting that involves being as accurate, fair, and balanced as possible. Relying on original sources, being transparent regarding citing of sources and presenting multiple viewpoints
Where do most people get their news?
Digital media, internet, digital newspaper
How can the media influence public opinion and politics?
The media can influence public opinion and politics by framing, priming and agenda setting. Furthermore social media influences public opinion by creating filter bubbles and echo chambers
What does media bias look like?
All news is slanted due to human nature and opinions.
Adversarial journalism
Form of reporting where the media adopts a skeptical or hostile posture towards the government and public officials
Journalism of assertion and affirmation
Assertion- Publishing information as quickly as possible with minimal fact-checking
Affirmation- Putting forth of opinion and info that is consistent with consumers preexisting beliefs
Agenda setting
Gatekeeping medias designation of some issues, events or people as important and others not
Framing
Process of presenting info from a certain perspective in order to shape audiences understanding of that information
Priming
Process of calling attention to certain issues and not others when reporting on political events and officials
News aggregators
Websites that pull together information from a wide range of online sources, provide a broad perspective and avoid partisan or filtered news.
Sources of political news
- News websites
- Social media
- Television
- Radio and broadcasts
- Newspapers
Broadcast media
EX. TV and radio, tend to take the form of one publisher to many viewers
What happened during the pandemic to public trust in the media?
Pubic trust in the media increased
Confirmation bias
Tendency to favor information that confirms a persons existing beliefs
Equal time rule
Rule that broadcasters provide candidates for the same political office equal opportunities to communicate their messages to the public
Rebuttal rule
Federal communications regulation, individuals right to respond to personal attacks made on a radio or TV broadcast
Misinformation vs disinformation
Misinformation- False, inaccurate or misleading unintentionally
Disinformation- False news information is intentionally misleading, conspiracy theories
Fake news
Inaccurate, used to benefit one candidate or party
