Media, society and politics lectures summary
Lecture 1
5 principles in political communication:
1. Political power can usually be translated into power over all forms of media
2. When the powerful lose control over the political environment, they also lose control over all
forms of media
3. There is no such a thing as objective journalism. Every political story that appears in every
form of media is biased
4. All forms of media are dedicated more than anything else to telling good stories and this can
often have a major impact on the political processes (commercial bias)
5. Many of the most important effects of the various forms of media on citizens tend to be
unintentional and unnoticed
Media and politics = competitive symbiosis: each side of the relationship attempts to exploit the
other while expending a minimum amount of costs. Each side has assets needed by the other to
succeed in its respective role
Political power = media power:
- Front door: the powerful are always relevant and thus get more/automatic media access and
positive media coverage. Media bias: the more powerful get covered more often and more
positively
- Back door: powerless have to work hard to make themselves relevant/interesting to get into
the media
Michel Foucalt: ‘power is everywhere: diffused and embodied in discourse, knowledge and regimes
of truth. Norms are embedded beyond our perception, causing us to discipline ourselves without any
wilful coercion from others. Panopticism: the systematic ordering and controlling of human
populations through subtle and often unseen forces
Power: the ability to achieve one’s goals or objectives. Power relations are hierarchical relations
between a superior (principle) and a subordinate (subaltern). The subordinate always has some room
to manoeuvre, some freedom and choice to resist
4 forms of power
Corrective forms (affecting the options for actions)
1. (physical) force or coercion on decisions or compliance: literally limiting options
2. The ability or disposition to change social relationships or to leave them intact, through
manipulation, propaganda, agenda-setting and non-decisions: changing the basis of choices,
so it becomes rational to comply
Persuasive norms (affecting the reasons for actions)
3. Preference shaping via institutions: shaping the meaning and significance of things
4. Value-shaping: the spectrum of actions of the subordinate is limited via ideological and
discursive hegemony and disciplining
Force and coercion:
- Physical coercion based on negatively bodily and emotional sanctions
, - Violent actions directed against the body or mind of the subaltern
- The principal reduces the options of the subaltern to practically zero
- Non-violence directed at limiting the freedom of the subaltern
Framing: frames shape individual understanding and public opinion
concerning an issue by stressing specific elements or features of the broader
controversy
Ideological hegemony: a situation where a particular ideology is pervasively
reflected throughout a society in all principal social institutions and permeates
dominant cultural ideas and most social relationships
Herman & Chomsky developed the propaganda model of media criticism
arguing that market forces, internationalized assumptions and self-censorship motivate newspapers
and television to stifle dissent
- Propaganda is to democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state
- US media function as a mechanism of propaganda through five filters: most news are being
broadcast have been filtered to express the dominant ideology and interests
- The propaganda model traces the routes by which money and power are able to filter out the
news fit to print, marginalise dissent, and allow the government and dominant private
interests to get the message across to the public
Five filters of the media:
1. Size, ownership and profit orientation
o In capitalist democratic societies mainstream media is trapped by ownership, the
interests of advertisers and the authority of the government
o Since mainstream media outlets are currently either large corporations or a part of
conglomerates, the information they present will favour these interests
o Content becomes increasingly geared towards the commercial needs of corporate
funders
2. Advertising as main income
o News is merely a filler to get privileged readers to see the advertisements
3. Sourcing = ready-made news production
o Mass media need stable and reliable news-material flow
o Churnalism: pre-packaged and ready-to-use news
o Powerful bureaucracies are profession producers of routine news
o Sourcing -> deviant opinions marginalised
4. Flak and enforces
o Flak: negative response to a media statement or a TV/radio programme. Responses
may range from phone calls, to letters, to text messages all the way to threats and
court cases
o They work because they involve costs: either withdrawal from advertises or loss of
viewers/listeners
5. Dominant ideology and fear
o The way artificial fears are created with a dual purpose: partly to get rid of people
you don’t like, but partly to frighten the rest. Because if people are frightened, they
will accept authority
,Lecture 2
Media-politics-media cycle: a cause and effect type relationship that begins with an event that alters
the political landscape which the media is forced to respond to. Politics are then further impacted by
the media’s coverage of the initial event. Politics react again, and so on…
Influence of the media is increasing while there is a functional loss of political parties (reducing direct
contact with voters). Actors adapt to media logic as a strategy = mediatization theory. Media logic
influences political behavior
Self-mediatisation: a process whereby politicians tailor their message offerings to the perceived news
values, newsroom routines and journalistic culture
Consequences of mediatisation:
- Dramatic incidents: context less-reporting of one-off institutional failures. Erosion of
institutional trust
- Stereotyping minorities and other vulnerable groups
- Distorted depiction of reality (of crime and violence in society)
- Predominant portrayal of politics as a power game
- Neglect of pay attentions to society’s major, long-term and structural problems due to
continual focus on immediate short-term stores
- Repeated limited range of visions of the civic world, which can drastically limit awareness of
alternative choices and perceptions
- Reduction of an informative and clarifying public debate
Losing control over media makes it more likely to -> lose control over events -> lose control over
information -> lose control over consensus -> causing more loss of control over the media
Indexing hypothesis: political news content generally follows the boundaries of the elite debate
- When politics are in general agreement on an issue, news coverage of that issue reflects that
consensus. When political elites disagree, news coverage will fall more or less within the
contours of that disagreement
- Issues and viewpoints that are subject to high-level political debate will receive most news
attention, while issues that are not politicised by elites will largely be ignored
, - As the degree of conflict among elites increases, so too will the degree of conflicting views
found in news coverage of that topic
- When elites ignore an issue, the range of views included in the news will be correspondingly
smaller
A well-functioning democracy will have an elite that broadly represents public opinion (reflected in
the media), while elites that ignore or blur important issues for citizens will limit the scope of the
debate to an extent that it misrepresents and may undermine the legitimacy of democratic decisions
and institutions
Spin doctors: present or transforming political information to reflect positive on a power-holder,
preventing critical journalism
Pundits: provide perspective within news stories, journalists frequently quote or invite pundits
(experts and partisan)
From: one-to-many: broad-appeal content, small number of large and powerful media institutions,
little content choice at the audience level due to a limited number of available channels and formats
To: many-to-many: massive amount of information form a multitude of sources that can transmit
their content over many channels, plus more control over both content and creation and selection by
audience members
Narrow-casting:
- Part of the public can tune out completely from politically relevant news
- Selective exposure: audiences are increasingly likely to receive information that is customized
to their personal tastes, interests, and political viewpoints to the possible exclusion of other
information
- Hyper-personalisation: algorithmic gatekeepers and recommendation systems replace
human selection
Exposure to partisan sources has a negative impact on people’s political knowledge
Lecture 3
In U.S congress, parties have grown more internally unified and ideologically distinct
Affective polarization: the emotional divide between positive feelings for one’s own party and
negative feelings for the opposing party
- Has significantly risen in the US
- This increase is primarily driven by growing negative sentiments towards opposing parties,
with feeling thermometer ratings for rivals dropping sharply since the 1970
Political polarization and negative campaign ads may have increased turnout in presidential elections
Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin are part of the Rust Belt: former heartland of the US
manufacturing industry
, - That industrial heritage means many Rust Belt voters have traditionally been union member
with a long history of voting for the democrats
- Democrats won all three states in seven of the last eight presidential elections
- When they did flip for Donald Trump in 2016, they all flipped together
Declining prosperity and opportunity:
- Lower and middle class prosperity is on the decline due to globalisation and neo-liberal
austerity measures dismantling the welfare state
- Lower and middle economic strata are offered less and less socio-economic protection
- Opportunities are shrinking due to outsourcing to countries with cheap labour and via
automation at home. House prices increase faster than income growth
White working class support Trump
Younger generation more likely to vote democrat. Young people are more e-connected, yet have
lower participation levels: negative relationship between rise of e-technology and political
participation. Young people are higher educated
Life-cycle effect in political behavior: relationship between age and political behavior is curvilinear:
people are most active in middle life and least active in the earliest and latest stages of the life cycle
Women more likely to vote democrat
Huge race-gap in voting behavior in USA
Minority voters overwhelmingly support the democrats
Education: liberation for some, for others loss of status and respect
- Expansion of higher education is very important change in European societies
- Anywhere world of geographical and social mobility, of higher education and professional
careers is no longer the preserve of small elite; now widespread
Higher, theoretically educated voters are more likely to vote for democrats than lower or practically
educated voters
Registered voters who own a motorcycle, boat, truck are more likely to support trump in general
election
New media socialize young people differently than previous generations. Commercialization changed
content and form: young people are less exposed to political information and more to entertainment.
Result is growing lack of political interest and lower levels of political knowledge among young people
Low-information voters are more likely to respond to emotional appeals. Trump’s support remained
high despite personal flaws and important republican leaders turning their back on him: emotions
Lecture 1
5 principles in political communication:
1. Political power can usually be translated into power over all forms of media
2. When the powerful lose control over the political environment, they also lose control over all
forms of media
3. There is no such a thing as objective journalism. Every political story that appears in every
form of media is biased
4. All forms of media are dedicated more than anything else to telling good stories and this can
often have a major impact on the political processes (commercial bias)
5. Many of the most important effects of the various forms of media on citizens tend to be
unintentional and unnoticed
Media and politics = competitive symbiosis: each side of the relationship attempts to exploit the
other while expending a minimum amount of costs. Each side has assets needed by the other to
succeed in its respective role
Political power = media power:
- Front door: the powerful are always relevant and thus get more/automatic media access and
positive media coverage. Media bias: the more powerful get covered more often and more
positively
- Back door: powerless have to work hard to make themselves relevant/interesting to get into
the media
Michel Foucalt: ‘power is everywhere: diffused and embodied in discourse, knowledge and regimes
of truth. Norms are embedded beyond our perception, causing us to discipline ourselves without any
wilful coercion from others. Panopticism: the systematic ordering and controlling of human
populations through subtle and often unseen forces
Power: the ability to achieve one’s goals or objectives. Power relations are hierarchical relations
between a superior (principle) and a subordinate (subaltern). The subordinate always has some room
to manoeuvre, some freedom and choice to resist
4 forms of power
Corrective forms (affecting the options for actions)
1. (physical) force or coercion on decisions or compliance: literally limiting options
2. The ability or disposition to change social relationships or to leave them intact, through
manipulation, propaganda, agenda-setting and non-decisions: changing the basis of choices,
so it becomes rational to comply
Persuasive norms (affecting the reasons for actions)
3. Preference shaping via institutions: shaping the meaning and significance of things
4. Value-shaping: the spectrum of actions of the subordinate is limited via ideological and
discursive hegemony and disciplining
Force and coercion:
- Physical coercion based on negatively bodily and emotional sanctions
, - Violent actions directed against the body or mind of the subaltern
- The principal reduces the options of the subaltern to practically zero
- Non-violence directed at limiting the freedom of the subaltern
Framing: frames shape individual understanding and public opinion
concerning an issue by stressing specific elements or features of the broader
controversy
Ideological hegemony: a situation where a particular ideology is pervasively
reflected throughout a society in all principal social institutions and permeates
dominant cultural ideas and most social relationships
Herman & Chomsky developed the propaganda model of media criticism
arguing that market forces, internationalized assumptions and self-censorship motivate newspapers
and television to stifle dissent
- Propaganda is to democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state
- US media function as a mechanism of propaganda through five filters: most news are being
broadcast have been filtered to express the dominant ideology and interests
- The propaganda model traces the routes by which money and power are able to filter out the
news fit to print, marginalise dissent, and allow the government and dominant private
interests to get the message across to the public
Five filters of the media:
1. Size, ownership and profit orientation
o In capitalist democratic societies mainstream media is trapped by ownership, the
interests of advertisers and the authority of the government
o Since mainstream media outlets are currently either large corporations or a part of
conglomerates, the information they present will favour these interests
o Content becomes increasingly geared towards the commercial needs of corporate
funders
2. Advertising as main income
o News is merely a filler to get privileged readers to see the advertisements
3. Sourcing = ready-made news production
o Mass media need stable and reliable news-material flow
o Churnalism: pre-packaged and ready-to-use news
o Powerful bureaucracies are profession producers of routine news
o Sourcing -> deviant opinions marginalised
4. Flak and enforces
o Flak: negative response to a media statement or a TV/radio programme. Responses
may range from phone calls, to letters, to text messages all the way to threats and
court cases
o They work because they involve costs: either withdrawal from advertises or loss of
viewers/listeners
5. Dominant ideology and fear
o The way artificial fears are created with a dual purpose: partly to get rid of people
you don’t like, but partly to frighten the rest. Because if people are frightened, they
will accept authority
,Lecture 2
Media-politics-media cycle: a cause and effect type relationship that begins with an event that alters
the political landscape which the media is forced to respond to. Politics are then further impacted by
the media’s coverage of the initial event. Politics react again, and so on…
Influence of the media is increasing while there is a functional loss of political parties (reducing direct
contact with voters). Actors adapt to media logic as a strategy = mediatization theory. Media logic
influences political behavior
Self-mediatisation: a process whereby politicians tailor their message offerings to the perceived news
values, newsroom routines and journalistic culture
Consequences of mediatisation:
- Dramatic incidents: context less-reporting of one-off institutional failures. Erosion of
institutional trust
- Stereotyping minorities and other vulnerable groups
- Distorted depiction of reality (of crime and violence in society)
- Predominant portrayal of politics as a power game
- Neglect of pay attentions to society’s major, long-term and structural problems due to
continual focus on immediate short-term stores
- Repeated limited range of visions of the civic world, which can drastically limit awareness of
alternative choices and perceptions
- Reduction of an informative and clarifying public debate
Losing control over media makes it more likely to -> lose control over events -> lose control over
information -> lose control over consensus -> causing more loss of control over the media
Indexing hypothesis: political news content generally follows the boundaries of the elite debate
- When politics are in general agreement on an issue, news coverage of that issue reflects that
consensus. When political elites disagree, news coverage will fall more or less within the
contours of that disagreement
- Issues and viewpoints that are subject to high-level political debate will receive most news
attention, while issues that are not politicised by elites will largely be ignored
, - As the degree of conflict among elites increases, so too will the degree of conflicting views
found in news coverage of that topic
- When elites ignore an issue, the range of views included in the news will be correspondingly
smaller
A well-functioning democracy will have an elite that broadly represents public opinion (reflected in
the media), while elites that ignore or blur important issues for citizens will limit the scope of the
debate to an extent that it misrepresents and may undermine the legitimacy of democratic decisions
and institutions
Spin doctors: present or transforming political information to reflect positive on a power-holder,
preventing critical journalism
Pundits: provide perspective within news stories, journalists frequently quote or invite pundits
(experts and partisan)
From: one-to-many: broad-appeal content, small number of large and powerful media institutions,
little content choice at the audience level due to a limited number of available channels and formats
To: many-to-many: massive amount of information form a multitude of sources that can transmit
their content over many channels, plus more control over both content and creation and selection by
audience members
Narrow-casting:
- Part of the public can tune out completely from politically relevant news
- Selective exposure: audiences are increasingly likely to receive information that is customized
to their personal tastes, interests, and political viewpoints to the possible exclusion of other
information
- Hyper-personalisation: algorithmic gatekeepers and recommendation systems replace
human selection
Exposure to partisan sources has a negative impact on people’s political knowledge
Lecture 3
In U.S congress, parties have grown more internally unified and ideologically distinct
Affective polarization: the emotional divide between positive feelings for one’s own party and
negative feelings for the opposing party
- Has significantly risen in the US
- This increase is primarily driven by growing negative sentiments towards opposing parties,
with feeling thermometer ratings for rivals dropping sharply since the 1970
Political polarization and negative campaign ads may have increased turnout in presidential elections
Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin are part of the Rust Belt: former heartland of the US
manufacturing industry
, - That industrial heritage means many Rust Belt voters have traditionally been union member
with a long history of voting for the democrats
- Democrats won all three states in seven of the last eight presidential elections
- When they did flip for Donald Trump in 2016, they all flipped together
Declining prosperity and opportunity:
- Lower and middle class prosperity is on the decline due to globalisation and neo-liberal
austerity measures dismantling the welfare state
- Lower and middle economic strata are offered less and less socio-economic protection
- Opportunities are shrinking due to outsourcing to countries with cheap labour and via
automation at home. House prices increase faster than income growth
White working class support Trump
Younger generation more likely to vote democrat. Young people are more e-connected, yet have
lower participation levels: negative relationship between rise of e-technology and political
participation. Young people are higher educated
Life-cycle effect in political behavior: relationship between age and political behavior is curvilinear:
people are most active in middle life and least active in the earliest and latest stages of the life cycle
Women more likely to vote democrat
Huge race-gap in voting behavior in USA
Minority voters overwhelmingly support the democrats
Education: liberation for some, for others loss of status and respect
- Expansion of higher education is very important change in European societies
- Anywhere world of geographical and social mobility, of higher education and professional
careers is no longer the preserve of small elite; now widespread
Higher, theoretically educated voters are more likely to vote for democrats than lower or practically
educated voters
Registered voters who own a motorcycle, boat, truck are more likely to support trump in general
election
New media socialize young people differently than previous generations. Commercialization changed
content and form: young people are less exposed to political information and more to entertainment.
Result is growing lack of political interest and lower levels of political knowledge among young people
Low-information voters are more likely to respond to emotional appeals. Trump’s support remained
high despite personal flaws and important republican leaders turning their back on him: emotions
