Chapter 8Politics and the Media

Objectives: The student will:1. Examine the term public opinion and understand why it is difficult to define2. Analyze factors that influence an individual’s political attitudes and actions.

3. Describe the challenges involved in measuring public opinion.4. Recognize the limits on the impact of public opinion in democracy.

5. Examine the role of the mass media in providing the public with political information.

BEGIN CLASS TODAY BY WORKING ON WORKBOOK PAGE 43…#1-6, 9-11

What is public opinion?

• Use of the term “the people”

• It is a collection of the opinions of many different people – sum of all views

Different Publics• Each public is made up of all those who hold the

same view on a particular issue

• Public affairs are those events and issues that concern the people at large include:– politics– public issues– the making of public policies

• What are some examples of public affairs right now?

Influences on Public Opinion

• Family• Education• Occupation• Race• Gender

• Opinion leaders• Historic events• Mass media• Peer groups

Measuring Public Opinion

• Pg 44 in workbook answer #1-5…how and how well for each of the following ways to measure public opinion

• Election results• Interest groups• Media• Personal contacts-mail• Polls – the best measure

Polls

• Straw votes – ask the same question to a large number of people

• Still common, but not scientific

• Highly unreliable

• Scientific polling – defined universe or group, get your sample (random), valid questions, interview and analyze

The Mass Mediapage 45

• Television – have replaced newspaper as main source of political information

• Newspaper – second as main source

• Radio – most accessible form of media

• Magazine

• Answer in workbook page 45 #5-7

Media and Public Policy

• Play a large role in shaping the public agenda or the problems that need government attention

• Electoral politics – candidates rely on TV to run their campaign and less on the party

• Sound bites – the snappy 30-45 second outtakes used on newscasts

Image Management

Howard Dean

Dan Quayle

Richard Nixon

George Bush

Limits on Media Influence

• Most who are active voters are knowledgeable to the bias of the media sources.

Fact vs. Opinion