U.S. Government and Civics / Unit 10: Public Opinion, Media and Civic Participation
10.4 The Media and Politics
Notes
The media connect citizens to government. Freedom of the press is protected by the First Amendment.
- Roles: gatekeeper (deciding which stories get attention), scorekeeper (tracking who is winning), watchdog (investigating wrongdoing, such as reporting on Watergate).
- Agenda setting: by covering some issues heavily, the media influence what the public thinks is important.
- Framing: how a story is presented shapes how people understand it.
- Horse-race journalism: focusing on polls and who is ahead rather than on policy issues.
- Changes: more news online and on social media, more partisan outlets, and echo chambers where people see mostly views they already hold. Algorithms can show users content similar to what they already click.
- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licenses broadcast stations; print and online outlets are not licensed.
Practice
Reporters investigate and expose corruption in a city government. They are acting as:
The watchdog role means holding officials accountable.
Coverage of an election that focuses mainly on polls and who is ahead is called:
Horse-race coverage treats elections like a race.
After weeks of heavy news coverage about school safety, more people tell pollsters it is the most important issue. This shows:
Media attention influences which issues people see as important.
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