Chapter 10 The News Media Instructor: Kevin Sexton Course: U.S. Political Systems Southeast Missouri State University.

Chapter 10The News Media

Instructor: Kevin SextonCourse: U.S. Political SystemsSoutheast Missouri State University

The Partisan Media, Is It a New Creation?

NO. It has been around since the beginning of our nation.

Partisan Press and/or Partisan Media

Newspapers and other communication sources (media) that openly supports a political party and whose news reporting

tends to very closely follow the “PARTY LINE.”

This was the primary method used by the early newspapersor daily’s In this country. As a matter of fact most of the

early newspapers in this country were created specifically to spread the beliefs of one party or another.

Two specific examples can be seen when we lookAt the Gazette of the United States and the National Gazette.

Gazette of the United States created at the request of Alexander Hamilton, Sec. of the Treasury, to publicize the policies of the Washington administration. Hamilton, gave

this paper’s owner, John Fenno all the Treasury Department’s printing Contracts.

The National Gazette, on the other hand, was createdAt the behest of Thomas Jefferson as an opposition

newspaper. In turn, JeffersonGave the printing contractsFor the State Department to theOwner of this paper, PhilipFreneau.

This type of partisan press, pushed by the need for largegovernment contracts, started to decline because of thetechnological advances in the area of newspaper production.

Yellow JournalismAs it became possible to produce a larger number of newspapers each day, thenumber of Newspapers in the United States grew. As each of these papers were

competing for READERSHIP, they had to find ways to get people to buy their newspaper.

To ensure that people would want to read their newspaper the papers began searching for, and

sometimes creating the most sensational stories they could

find or create. This Yellow Journalism, is best exemplified in the situation with the situation surrounding the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor.

As the occurrences and inaccuracies of Yellow Journalism grew more frequent, and more severe several influential editors, at several key newspapers around the country began Contemplating ways to improve the effectiveness of their

newspaper.

The resulting movement created a new type of journalism that has come to be known as OBJECTIVE JOURNALISM.

This type of journalism is dominated by an attempt to simplyreport the facts of the situation, regardless of which party

or ideology is being reported on.

At this time we see the creation of the first professional journalism schoolsat Columbia University and the University of Missouri.

Changes in Media

The most obvious change in today’s media is the growth in the number ofMedia outlets, as well as a huge change in the technology used to present

the news.

We have moved from having a handful of newspapers and magazine, each Reporting News from their particular point of view, to the being over 1,500 daily

Newspapers. Each attempting to be as unbiased as possible.

We then went from print media (newspapers and magazines) being the only way to report news, to the invention of the radio. We started the radio-age with a

handful of low-power, regional and local radio stations to over 13,500 radio stations. All of these 13,500 stations are under the supervision ofthe Federal Communication Commission(F.C.C.) which regulates the type of

Information that can be broadcast. (i.e.. You can’t use certain words on the radio).Now, there are any number of Satellite radio stations that are not

regulated by the F.C.C.

Changes in Media(Continued)

We have gone from radio being the prominent way most people got newsfrom around the world to there being television. There were three primary

stations (ABC, NBC and CBS). Again, these three stations were highlyRegulated by the F.C.C. Now we have thousands of cable, satellite and

even internet-based television stations that are not regulated by the F.C.C.

Finally, we have the hundreds of thousands of web sites, most with theirdaily blog updates. All of these sites are free from any sort of regulation

by the F.C.C. or any other organization that might moderate the discussion. Each of these websites claim to be the source of truth that all peoplein the world need to listen to. In fact, most of the blogs and websites

out there contain incorrect, ideologically-based misinformation.

This all means that Americans have many more places to get our informationFrom. But, most of it is inaccurate. Therefore we must do out research to be

sure what we are believing is, in fact true. The problem is that most Americansare to LAZY to do the research.

WE JUST BELIEVE WHAT WE HEAR OR READ.

What is Worse

With all of this in mind, I ask you this questions.

WHAT IS WORSE?

A MEDIA THAT IS OBVIOUSLY PARTISAN.

A MEDIA THAT SENSATIONALIZES THE NEWS TO SELL PAPERS.

OR

A MEDIA THAT CLAIMS TO BE UNBIASED, BUT MOST PEOPLE BELIEVE TO BEPARTISAN.

EVEN TODAY’S MEDIA EXPERTS CAN’T AGREE WHAT TYPE OF MEDIAENVIRONMENT WE ARE CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING.

The Four “Roles” of the Media In the U.S.

The author of your textbook believes that there are four “roles” that the mediaclaims to fill in the United States.

Those four “roles” are:

1.Signaling Role2.Common-Carrier

3.Watchdog4.Public Representative

Be sure you read the section in the textbook dealing with these roles.