Transcript Interest groups and media

Presentation Pro
What are they?
• Interest groups- private
organizations whose members
share certain views and work to
shape public policy.
What do they do?
• raise awareness
• provide specialized information to
government agencies
• promote political participation.
PACS
• Political Action Committees (PACs)
raise and distribute money to
candidates who will further their goals.
Lobbying
• Lobbying -activity which a group pressures
legislators and influences the legislative
process.
• Nearly all important organized interest
groups maintain lobbyists in Washington,
D.C.
Restrictions
•Restriction are given to all
special interest groups on the
money they can give to a
candidate.
Propaganda and the media
• Propaganda - technique of persuasion aimed at
influencing individual or group behaviors.
• Its goal is to create a particular belief which may be
true or false.
• disregards information that does not support its
conclusion. It presents only one side of an issue.
• Information may not be true
Media regulation
• Very little regulation on what can be
presented in the media. (1ST Amendment)
• FCC – Federal communication commission
is established as a “watchdog”. Gives
licenses any land based communication in
the US.
• Each station must get re-licensed.
(determined by complaints and politics)
ie Howard Stern and Janet Jackson
“wardrobe malfunction”
Role of the Media
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Gatekeeper - influence what subjects become national political issues,
and for how long
Scorekeeper - the national media help make political reputations, note
who is being “mentioned” as presidential candidates and decide who
the winners and losers are in Washington. This often leads to the
coverage of presidential elections as if they were horse races (what
happens during the primaries).
Role of the Media
•
•
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Watchdog: Following closely the front-runner candidates, searching for
any past or current history that will make news. Media maintains close
eye on all important happenings of major candidates.
Agenda setter - TV news influence the standards by which
government, presidents, policies and candidates are judged.
Effect on Political Preferences? Research is lacking as to the true
influence that media plays on public opinion. While TV may influence
the political agenda to a certain degree, people are very unlikely to take
cues from the media on issues that affect them personally. Media
usually does more to reinforce beliefs than to change opinion.