Media Politics: A Citizen's Guide / Edition 4

by Shanto Iyengar

Overview

Current and authoritative, from a top scholar in the field.

Media Politics encourages students to take a critical look at the relationship between media and politics by analyzing how the media influences American politics and how politicians use the media to get elected, stay in power, and achieve policy goals. Drawing on recent research on topics students care about—including new digital and social media and the polarization of politics—and the author’s specially curated online video archive, Media Politics remains the most current text for the course.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393664874
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	11/01/2018
Edition description:	Fourth Edition
Pages:	390
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Shanto Iyengar holds the Chandler Chair in Communication at Stanford University where he is also Professor of Political Science and Director of the Political Communication Laboratory. Iyengar’s areas of expertise include the role of mass media in democratic societies, public opinion, and political psychology. Iyengar’s research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Ford Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Hewlett Foundation. He is the recipient of several professional awards, including the Philip E. Converse Book Award of the American Political Science Association for the best book in the field of public opinion, the Murray Edelman Distinguished Career Award, and the Goldsmith Book Prize from Harvard University. He has authored or edited several books including News That Matters, Is Anyone Responsible? and Explorations in Political Psychology.

Table of Contents

Video Archives xiii

Acknowledgments xix

1 Introduction: Image Is Everything 1

Media-Based Politics In The United States 3

Outline Of The Book 5

Behavior and Performance of the Press 8

Shaping the News 11

Media Effects 13

Going Public 15

Conclusion 17

2 The Press and the Democratic Process: The American System in Comparative Perspective 21

Media Politics As The Successor To Party Politics 25

Patterns Of Media Ownership And Regulation 31

Public versus Commercial Ownership of Broadcast Media 32

Alternative Approaches To Media Regulation 39

Broadcast Media 39

Print Media 44

Regulating The News Media's Coverage Of Campaigns 47

Conclusion 49

Summary 50

Further Readings 51

3 The Media Marketplace: Where Americans Get the News 53

Audiences 56

Credibility 63

What Gets Reported? 66

Market Pressures 68

A Case Study Of Local Television News 72

Organizational Processes And Routines 74

Autonomy and Objectivity as Dominant Values 74

Interpretive Journalism 76

Combat Stories 79

Accessibility and Appropriateness 83

Routines and Procedures 85

Sources 86

Conclusion 88

Summary 91

Further Readings 92

4 Reporters, Official Sources, and the Decline of Adversarial Journalism 94

Indexing The News 95

National Security News: The Triumph Of Official Journalism 101

News Coverage of the Vietnam War: A Case Study of Indexing 101

The Lessons of Vietnam: Restricted Press Access 104

The Lessons of Grenada: Media Pools 106

A Refinement of Media Pools: Embedded Journalists 108

Conclusion 110

Summary 112

Further Readings 113

5 New Media, New Forms of Communication 115

The Diffusion Of Technology 117

Effects Of New Media On Consumers 122

Internat Use and Civic Engagement 123

Selective Exposure to Online News? 126

The Attentive Public Hypothesis 128

The Partisan Polarization Hypothesis 129

The Issue Public Hypothesis 134

Case Study: The Polarization of the Blogosphere 136

Social Media as a News Source: Implications for Selective Exposure 138

CASE Study: The "Weaponizing" of Social Media in the 2016 Presidential Campaign 141

Impact Of The Internet On Political Organizations 145

Case Study: New Media and Regime Change 147

Internet Campaigning Comes of Age 148

Conclusion 150

Summary 151

Further Readings 152

6 Campaigning through the Media 154

Strategies For Managing The Press 156

Avoiding Feeding Frenzies 156

Dealing with the Objectivity Imperative 157

Playing the Expectations Game 158

Managing Events 160

Regulating Access 162

Playing One Source against Another 164

Dueling Press Releases 165

Advertising Strategy 166

Targeting the Audience 168

Planting the Seed: Early Advertising 172

Image versus issue Spots 172

Issue Ownership 174

Wedge Appeals: Us versus Them 177

Negative Advertising 180

Negative Themes 181

Case Study: Immigration Campaigns in California, 1994 and 2010 182

Reactivity: Attacks Provoke Counterattacks 184

Direct Mail As An Alternative To Televised Advertising 188

Campaign Finance Reform: A Brief Overview 190

Buckley v. Valeo 191

Soft Money and Issue Advocacy 192

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act 194

Citizens United and McCutcheon 195

Candidate Debates 196

Conclusion 200

Summary 201

Further Readings 203

7 Campaigns That Matter 204

Political Context Versus Campaign Effects 204

Voter Dynamics: Forecasting Presidential Elections 206

The Influence of Campaigns 208

Voting As An Expression Of Partisanship 209

Holding the Base 211

Attracting Swing Voters 218

Educating Voters 221

Learning And Momentum In Primary Campaigns 226

Campaigns And Turnout 230

Conclusion 235

Summary 236

Further Readings 237

8 News and Public Opinion 240

Conceptualizations Of Media Influence 241

The Choice of Methods 244

Identifying Causes: The Advantage of Experiments 244

Generalizability: The Advantage of Surveys 247

Combining Experimental and Survey Approaches 250

Varieties Of Media Effects 251

Learning 251

Agenda Control 254

Setting the Elite Agenda 259

Psychological Accounts of Agenda Setting 260

Priming Effects 261

Framing Effects 267

Persuasion Effects 273

Receiver-Related Contingencies 273

Source- and Message-Related Contingencies 278

Conclusion 279

Summary 281

Further Readings 281

9 Going Public: Governing through the Media 283

Case Study: A Tale Of Two Disasters 287

Presidential Communication 288

The President's Media Managers 289

Getting the Message Out 292

News Coverage 292

Case Study: A Day In The Life Of The Presidential Press Secretary 296

Speechmaking 298

The Press Conference 301

Alternatives to the Press Conference 305

The Public Congressperson 307

Committee Hearings 307

Policy versus Electoral Goad 309

Presidential Popularity 311

Inevitable Decline? 312

Real-World Cues 315

The Role of Presidential Rhetoric 316

Why Media Management Meters 318

The Rally Effect 319

Conclusion 322

Summary 322

Further Readings 324

10 Evaluating Media Politics 326

Politicians And The Popularity Game 326

Pandering on "Law and Order" 327

Pandering versus Leadership 330

Uninformed And Polarized Voters 333

Commercialism, Interpretive Journalism, And Combat Stories 337

Case Study: Recommendation-Strengthen Public Service Broadcasting 339

Conclusion 342

Summary 343

Further Readings 344

References 345

Credits 361

Index 363