Term
| What are the general ideas about media power and public opinion? |
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Definition
| The public tends to believe that the mass media is very powerful. |
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Term
| What are some problems conducting research on the media and public opinion? |
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Definition
| -Studies suggest that the ability of the media to influence individuals, groups and other social or political structures is difficult to measure. |
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Term
| What are problems with measuring the affect of one particular medium over another in real world settings? |
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Definition
| The ability of the media to influence individuals, groups and social/political institutions is a complicated and complex matter, which is difficult to measure. |
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Term
| The difference between imparting knowledge and changing attitudes, beliefs and behaviors? |
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Definition
*Personal experience and interpersonal communication
*Personal judgments about what is important
*"Real-World" indicators of the importance of an issue or event.
*Conflicting evidence from the media
*Low media credibility |
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Term
| What are todays public attitudes correlated with? |
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Definition
| Government and other institutions. |
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Term
| Recall Test vs. Recognition Test |
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Definition
-The average person can recognize a wide variety of political information learned through media.
-The average person is not very good at recalling facts like names of prominent officeholders or the structure and function of the government. |
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Term
| Cognitive Dissonance Theory |
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Definition
Adapted from social sciences and is when individuals seek balance in their beliefs and avoid conflict.
*People are uncomfortable when exposed to ideas that differ from their own or that question the validity of their ideas.
*Cognitive Dissonance Theory leads to selective exposure. |
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Term
| What is Selective Exposure? |
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Definition
| The process by which people expose themselves to or attend to messages. |
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Term
| What is Selective Retention? |
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Definition
| Assumes that people remember best and longest messages that are consistent with their preexisting attitudes and beliefs. |
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Term
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Definition
| Predicts people will interpret messages consistent with preexisting attitudes and beliefs. |
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Term
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Definition
| The process through which the mass media communicates the relative importance of issues and events to the public, this leads to agenda building. |
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Term
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Definition
| The process through which elites are influenced by a variety of factors, including the media and public agenda. |
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Term
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Definition
| The order of relative importance that the media places issues and events into. |
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Term
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Definition
| The order of relative importance that the public places issues and events into. |
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Term
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Definition
| The order policy priorities get set based, in part, upon the media and public agenda. |
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Term
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Definition
The activities of the media as they select, emphasize and present some aspects of "reality" to audiences, while ignoring others.
-The process by which media select aspects of a story to tell, highlight them and communicate them in a way that promotes a particular version of a problem and it causes, passes a moral judgment, and prescribes a remedy. |
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Term
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Definition
| Emphasizes mental processing of the information supplied by the media. |
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Term
| Schemas or scripts and cultural repair work? |
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Definition
Organizing devices that help people assimilate new information.
- Often grounded in information drawn from media.
- We are conditioned to believe certain things.
- When reality doesn’t conform to these, media can engage in cultural repair. |
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Term
| 5 factors that must be present in order for a media message to change public opinion? |
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Definition
1) Received
2) Understood (decoded)
3) Relevant to the Consumer
4) Discrepant from past beliefs
5)Credible |
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Term
| Who is good at moving public opinion? Why? |
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Definition
Well liked and trusted media sources can move public opinion very effectively.
*Not all media sources should be treated the same.
*Nightly news anchors
*The President |
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Term
| Uses and Gratification Theory? |
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Definition
| Individuals ignore personally irrelevant and unattractively present messages. They pay attention to the kinds of things that they find useful and intellectually or emotionally gratifying if time and effort constraints permit it. |
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Term
| What is audience fragmentation? |
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Definition
| As the number of channels increase, the amount of audience for any one channel will decrease. |
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Term
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Definition
| Disparity between those who can afford technology and those who cannot. |
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Term
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Definition
| The division between groups who have access and those who don't. |
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Term
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Definition
| Those without access to technology have less access to information. |
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Term
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Definition
| The business decision to focus on partisan audience has increased the partisanship of the electorate and politicians. |
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Term
| What is Kaid's Definition of political advertising? |
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Definition
| [A]ny message primarily under the control of a source used to promote political candidates, parties, policy issues, and/or ideas through mass channels. |
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Term
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Definition
Ego Involvement: Low = greater ad influence
Party Affiliation: Low = greater ad influence
Information Seeking: Low = greater ad influence |
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Term
| The relationship between media and politicians |
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Definition
| Politicians needs the media to achieve their goals and to know what's important to their constituents. What gets covered and how it gets covered can affect public agenda. Media need politicians to get information for stories. |
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Term
| What are the notable truces? |
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Definition
1) The Depression
2) WW 2
3) The Korean War
4)The Cold War
5) 9/11
6) International Crisis
The press doesn't want to be accused of undermining american interests. |
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Term
| Why do politicians need the media? |
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Definition
| Politicians need the media to achieve their goals and to know what’s important to their constituents. What gets covered and how it gets covered can affect public agenda. |
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Term
| Why does the media need politicians? |
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Definition
| The media needs politicians to get information for stories. |
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Term
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Definition
| Media contacts can shape the political future of a politician far more than service on important committees. |
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Term
| The functions the media perform for the president |
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Definition
1) Media inform the president about current events; including developments in the other branches of the government.
2) Media inform the president about public opinion.
3) Media allow the president to communicate to the American people.
4) Media keep the president in public view; afford him the opportunity to influence the public agenda & highly increase his chances of being re-elected. |
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Term
| What are examples of direct transmission? |
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Definition
• Government officials convey their message with a minimum of media shaping.
• State of the Union
• OBL announcement
• Other news conferences
• Government web sites |
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Term
| What are examples of Mediate transmission? |
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Definition
• The framing or presentation of news by the media.
• Sound bites
• News analysis |
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Term
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Definition
• Cultivate favorable relationships
• Visiting communities directly/avoiding national press corps
• Offer scoops
• Using foreign travel to change the agenda/prevent criticism; Bill Clinton embarked on a trip to China in middle of Lewinsky scandal. |
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Term
| What is shaping the news flow? |
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Definition
• Keep all administration members & surrogates “on message.” Present a “unified front.”
• Freeze out unfriendly journalists/outlets
• Withholding news/leaking news
• Limiting questions/only allowing photo ops
• Flood news outlets with information to bury bad news |
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Term
| What are presidential strategies and tools for dealing with the media? |
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Definition
• Web sites & Emails
• The Whitehouse Press Office
• Press secretary etc. provide Washington press corp with info
• The Office of Communications
• Long-range public relations management
• The Office of Media Affairs
• Provides stories to regional and local press orgs.
• The Speechwriting Office
• Office of Global Communications |
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