Civics 101
Political Information
- Public Opinion
- Public opinion = ideas, beliefs, and attitudes held by many people
- It represents what a large number of people think, not what all people think
- It influences what issues politicians focus on, what they do, how they vote
- Politicians may pursue policies that public opinion favors and avoid policies public opinion opposes
- Public opinion is influenced by people’s long-lasting beliefs and focus as well as events that influence or change people’s beliefs and focus
- Three key elements of public opinion:
- Direction = public opinion on an issue is positive of negative
- Ex: for or against more education funding
- Intensity = public opinion on an issue is strong or weak
- Ex: parents with kids in school may feel more passionate about education funding and the elderly may be more indifferent to school budget cuts
- Stability = how much public opinion changes over time
- Ex: people may see how school budget cuts lessen the quality of education students receive and, therefore, start to change their attitude about education funding
- Direction = public opinion on an issue is positive of negative
- The Media
- Democracy requires citizens to be well informed so the media is an important source of information
- The media includes format like newspapers, websites, magazines, books, radio, tv, podcasts
- Functions:
- Provides information about the news: issues, people, and events
- Influences what the government focuses on and does
- Influences what people think is important and/or how people feel about the news
- Acts as a “watchdog” for government activities (ex: exposing corruption)
- Media bias = reporting news in a non-objective way
- Reasons for bias:
- Most media outlets are for-profit businesses:
- Seek to report news in a way that attracts customers
- Seek to satisfy advertisers
- Want to support an ideology
- Want to support a particular group, party, etc.
- Most media outlets are for-profit businesses:
- Types of media bias:
- Bias by story selection = focusing on a news story or not reporting the story
- Bias by story placement = putting a news story on the top of a website, front page of a newspaper, start of a broadcast, etc. implies more importance than other stories
- Bias by spin = adding subjective comments to a news story to express a particular ideology or perspective
- Bias by omission = leaving out facts or multiple points of view
- Bias by labeling = describing a person/event with terms that influence the perception of that person/event (to be positive or negative)
- Could also be that some people are identified with labels and others are not
- Ex: calling someone “a right-winger,” “well-respected,” “far left,” etc.
- Bias by selection of sources = choosing sources for a news story that match a particular ideology or perspective and ignoring other sources
- Reasons for bias:
- Journalists have different types of sources
- On the record = information given by a source that the journalist can publish and use the name of the sources
- Unattributable = information given by a source that the journalist can publish, but cannot use the name of the source
- Off the record = information given by a source that the journalist cannot publish – the information serves as “background” information for the journalist
- Anonymous = information given by a source without the journalist knowing the identity of the source
- Government and the media
- The relationship between government officials/candidates and the media is interdependent
- Government officials/candidates need the media’s help to get their message out
- The media needs access to government officials/candidates to report news stories
- Methods of government communication with the media:
- Press release = announcement given to the media by government officials/candidates
- News briefing = when a government official/campaign official passes on information to the media and may answer questions from reporters
- Often conducted by a press secretary
- Press conference = event in which a senior government official/candidate answers questions from journalists
- Leak = when a government official/candidate secretly passes on information to the media
- The leaker could have permission to do so or could be acting alone to expose something
- The relationship between government officials/candidates and the media is interdependent
- Legal rights of the media in the U.S.
- The First Amendment provides for freedom of the press
- This protects the media against prior restraint
- Prior restraint = government censorship of information before it is published
- This protects the media against prior restraint
- Shield laws = laws that protect reporters from revealing their sources
- Privacy Protection Act (1980) = federal law preventing government (federal, state, and local) from seizing source information from a journalist
- States have their own shield laws
- Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) = federal law that requires the government to release files to the public (unless the files compromise national security)
- States have similar laws
- Limitations:
- The media cannot publish false information that will harm the reputation of a person
- Slander = spoken
- Libel = printed/published
- This is difficult for a government official to prove
- A media outlet may share information with the government prior to publication to determine if publishing the information could harm national security
- The media cannot publish false information that will harm the reputation of a person
- The First Amendment provides for freedom of the press
- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates who receives a license to broadcast over the airwaves
- The federal government owns the airwaves (tv, radio, internet)
- FCC manages decisions related to content and ownership
- Content:
- FCC can require stations to devote some time to covering public affairs, but cannot censor information
- Previously, FCC upheld the “fairness doctrine” – media broadcasters were required to cover a range of issues with a range of viewpoints
- FCC can give fines or revoke broadcast licenses for obscene content
- Ownership:
- FCC can limit the number of stations (tv, radio) that one owner controls
- Telecommunications Act (1996) = removed or loosened restrictions on media ownership
- Has led to greater concentration of ownership and reduced competition
- Allows a few owners to control the content presented to many more people
- Content:
- Polls
- Poll = a survey that provides information about what people think about an issue, government official, candidate, policy, etc.
- Conducted by news organizations, colleges, politicians
- Provide information about public opinion
- Pollster = a person conducting a poll
- Types of polls:
- Scientific poll = use of representatives samples and fairly worded questions
- Representative sample = a small group of people that represent a larger group being studied; achieved through random sampling
- Random sampling = a technique that chooses a representative sample indiscriminately so the sample includes people of different ages, incomes, races, etc.
- Representative sample = a small group of people that represent a larger group being studied; achieved through random sampling
- Push poll = use of questions worded to encourage a specific answer
- Straw poll = unscientific and often rely on people to volunteer to participate, making the sample biased
- Exit poll = questioning voters as they leave a polling place
- Scientific poll = use of representatives samples and fairly worded questions
- Value of polls:
- Help government officials/candidates get an understanding of public opinion
- Election results also convey public opinion, but occur once every few years
- Can lead to a change in strategy, focus, emphasis based on polling information
- Specific demographic groups can be targeted by polling to provide detailed information about what the public at large thinks or what a specific demographic group thinks
- Help government officials/candidates get an understanding of public opinion
- Concerns:
- Government officials/candidates will only do what is popular and not what they truly believe is right
- Polls can discourage voting if polls show voters that one candidate is far ahead
- The media’s focus on polling detracts from focusing on issues
- Polls may be inaccurate
- Sampling error = the people chosen to participate in the poll may not actually be representative of the larger group
- This risk increases when the sample is very small compared with the larger group
- Sampling error = the people chosen to participate in the poll may not actually be representative of the larger group