PS 349 Final Flashcards

The most important facts are at the beginning of the story and more and more details are given further into the story.

The two-step flow process is when news from the mass media is passed along through any type of opinion leader (family, friend, classmate, celebrity, etc...).

Even though the news originally came from a mess media outlet, the person who passes the information along has the ability to selectively choose pieces of information to share. This can create the transmission of partial stories that do not represent the total story.

The “Daisy” ad was used in the 1964 presidential race. Democrats suggested Republican Barry Goldwater would make a reckless president who might start a nuclear war. The Daisy ad used the image of a mushroom cloud exploding in a cute little girl’s eye to scare Americans into rejecting Goldwater. The ad only ran once on paid television, the mass media trumpeted it at no charge to the Democrats. Benefiting from the “free media”.

The “Great Debate” occurred on September 26th, 1960 between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon. This is relevant because it was the first televised presidential debate.

• Published a journal entitled the New York Weekly Journal blatantly criticizing the current governor of New York, William Cosby. Any criticism of government officials at the time was illegal and typically resulted in severe punishments, however Zenger’s lawyer argued that these charges cannot be claimed as libel since they were entirely true.
• He was acquitted by the jury and was the first to instill the idea of a free press. His ultimate victory came with the passage of the first amendment.

• The Alien and sedition acts were the first real threat to a freedom of the press, as John Adams feared an uprising from the mass amount of Republicans who opposed him and sought to censor their work.
• The plan backfired and many Americans began to distrust his leadership, leading to a loss to Thomas Jefferson in the next election, who then pardoned all twenty-five publishers who had been convicted under Adams.

• Used as an attention grabbing story meant to evoke emotions from the audience
• A type of ‘hook’ to encourage the audience to keep reading
• Commonly used in episodic

1. Personalization- downplaying big social, economic or political picture by focusing on individual actors or stories which evokes emotional response- EX: the death of Princess Diana or the media coverage of Clinton’s sex life.
2. Dramatization- telling narratives to audience instead of facts. Goal is to captivate the audience. Not make them think. Leads to trivializing of news content EX: Glenn Beck.

1. Fragmentation- isolates stories from one another. Makes it difficult to see causes and connection over space and time. EX: Prof. Hoffmann gave the example of the bridge collapsing in Minn.
2. Authority-Disorder Bias- calls for heroes and villains. The blame game (pointing fingers). Asks: Are authorities establishing order?

• Newspapers became intertwined with political parties to reach voters, reflect agenda.
  
• Newspapers were published not just for news but to persuade and serve a political cause
  

• Aimed at holding accountable public personalities and institutions whose functions impact social and political life.
  

• Focused of specific political statements and actions instead of broad social concerns
  

• Personalized reporting; inclusion of journalist personal role, opinions and actions as part of the story, not just observing events
  

• Newspaper partisanship continued.
• Rise of penny press newspapers, which were cheap, tabloid-style papers arising in the middle of the 19th century.
• Increased pressure by advertisers and readers to be bipartisan
• More sensational stories rather than political and commercial
• Yellow journalism (Hearst and Pulitzer), scandal mongering
• Rise of media conglomerates

• Growing professionalization...journalism became prestigious.
• Muckraking (term was coined by Teddy Roosevelt in 1906) is active investigative reporting to uncover political or corporate malfeasance in contrast to partisan exposes.
• Formalization of neutrality of the press

• Presidents would choose a “house organ” (or particular newspaper) for which to feed their ideas out to the public. Lincoln was the president who ended the use of house organs because he didn’t want to be tied to one publication in his effort to preserve the Union and move past partisan politics.

• Newspapers ease political communication across the colonies (b/c there was no single ESTABLISHED religious, political, economic or cultural center)
• no sense of journalistic objectivity; journalists choose sides based on own beliefs/ the beliefs of the majority population in their area
• Age of Federalist/Anti-Federalists debates, much occurring in newspapers of the day

• moved away from blue collar profession to elite profession
• separation of opinionated articles/editorials and “objective” news; readers begin to EXPECT OBJECTIVITY and NEUTRALITY
• Standardization: allows journalists to move from paper to paper with ease
• own professional JARGON
• inverted pyramid of news writing
• Invention of radio and television

• refers to the BLURRING of the line between ENTERTAINMENT and JOURNALISM
• focuses on IRRELEVANT things (i.e celebrity weddings, arrests etc)
• changed the idea of WHAT INFORMATION is important for a citizen to know
• rise of NEW MEDIA OUTLETS to convey POLITICAL MESSAGES

“New media include not just the late night comics but all nontraditional media outlets...the new media include ‘talk radio and television, electronic town meetings, television news magazines, MTV (music television), print and electronic tabloids, and computer networks.’” - Jon Stewart, Obama not having to answer 'hard' questions

EX: When Obama was interviewed on Jon Stewart, Obama reached out to a younger crowd and Jon’s ratings skyrocketed. The two feed off of each other, hopefully for the benefit of both parties.

• The “revolving door” concept is a descriptive term for employees/journalists moving (repeatedly) between roles in their industry and in government. For example,
  

• David Gergen has worked for four Presidents (3 Rep & 1 Dem), U.S. News, CNN, and he taught at Harvard.

- A new style of journalism that arose in the 60s and 70s. Personalized reporting; inclusion of journalist’s personal role, opinions and actions as part of the story instead of trying to neutrally observe events

• The Partisan Press Era ended officially when President Lincoln refused a house organ and created the Government Printing Office.
  
• Other reasons include the following: creation of political party organizations, diminished presidential leadership, changing attitudes regarding the role of the press, changing press finances, changing status of journalists, and technological developments
  

President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Campaigned in 1952 and took office in 1953. This was covered in a video we watched in class.

The publisher of the first newspaper in the United States. Publick Occurences was the title and it was distributed in Boston.

• Benjamin Harris’s paper had a blank section that had the purpose of having people write in news and happenings in their neighborhoods that they felt was pertinent to the public.
  
• Very inclusive media style that resembles the town hall tradition that the Northeast has become famous for.
  

• Penny press newspapers were cheap, tabloid-style papers produced in the middle of the 19th century. They were less political and commercial and instead more sensational and lurid stories; gossip/crime/sports.
  
• The penny press papers depended on sales and advertising

• Ida Tarbell was an American teacher, author and journalist and known as one of the leading “muckrakers” of the progressive era. Best known for her book “The History of the Standard Oil Company”.
  
• Her work was the first corporate coverage of its time and it attacked the business operations of John Rockefeller- the best-known CEO of the the country at the time.
  

• Yellow Journalism is a term alluding to journalism featuring scandal-mongering, sensationalism or other unethical/unprofessional practices by news media organizations or journalists.
  
• Originated with circulation battles between William Randolph Hearst (New York Journal) and Joseph Pulitzer (New York World). Both papers were accused by critics of sensationalizing the news in order to drive up circulation.

• Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle focused on corruption in the meat packing industry. Ida Tarbell exposed Standard Oil’s monopoly practices. Ralph Nader focused his book on the reluctance of car manufacturers to spend money on improving safety standards.
  
• Coined by Teddy Roosevelt

Newspapers, Broadsides, Pamphlets, Magazines, Books

They were two Washington Post journalists who discovered that the Nixon administration had been bugging political opponents and using secret slush funds of money to engage in illegal acts. The Watergate scandal was a key event during the era of watchdog journalism (1973-1991) and Bernstein and Woodward were the new icons for an era of journalists who instead of focusing on social and corporate questions were more interested in specific statements and actions by politicians.

In Slander, Coulter argues that the Liberal media treats conservatives unfairly. Her primary example is George W. Bush, saying that the media makes him appear as a fool. She also uses examples, comparing the treatment of Christians to that of Nazis, and says that the New York Times did not cover Dale Earnhardt’s death until two days after it happened

Chomsky and Herman argue that the Liberal Media is a myth as the media is subordinate to corporate and conservative interests. They say that if it were liberal it would address more liberal issues such as social security and military spending.

1). Ownership Filter – owners are generally more conservative

2). Advertising Filter – must take advertisers interests into consideration

3). News Makers Filter – reporters get information from powerful sources

4). News Shapers Filter – experts shape news discussion. Make it less progressive

5). Flak Filter – 3 kinds (Government, Business, Media Minority Groups),

• Media puts out a variety of messages that listeners absorb. Citizens then evaluate these messages and arrive at their own conclusion.
  
• The media may attempt to persuade listeners, but individuals will have motivation and ability to figure out biases. Ultimately, true claims will defeat false ones.
  

• This model of influence assumes that the media simply “injects” messages straight into a person, as a needle would do with a medicine. It assumes that the viewer is passive receivers of information. Once these messages have been “injected” they have a powerful influence on the public.
  
• The public is unable to escape from this hypodermic needle. This is also called the Transmission model or the propaganda model. This was the dominant view in the early 20th century.

Does not focus on what media does to the people, but what people do with the media. Media is seen as fulfilling different human needs such as: curiosity and surveillance, entertainment, and social and psychological adjustment.

1. in the 1940’s a study to determine media effects on voting was commissioned by Roosevelt while running for his 3rd term in office the study yielded intriguing results in that it was determined the media had a negligible effect on voting.
   
2. Paul Lazarsfeld studied the data and invented the two step theory in which media affects “opinion leaders” who are generally more informed who then influence others.

In general people tend to prefer being exposed to arguments and ideas that do not conflict with their own and in fact will seek them out if they have the luxury of choice.

Selective retention suggests that people more easily retain messages that do not conflict with current beliefs when choosing memories to save.

Selective perception is the idea that viewers pay more attention to information that agrees with their existing opinions. This is because of influence by cognitive dissonance.

Ex. Feminist ignoring Clinton's women abuse, or change her views entirely

The pluralist perspective argues that there are too many forces that influence humans and that this limits the role of the media.

1. Reduce access to oppositional discourses

2. Decline of other influences (church etc)

3. Reinforcement in effect: keeping power structure in balance

4. Intermediation: turning to others for news who aren’t main source; other consumers

5. Blurring boundaries with new types of programs (reality, docudrama)

6. Eroding critical abilities through media self-promotion

7. media consumption takes away from other activities  

• The theory that the news media have a large influence on audiences by their choice of what stories to consider newsworthy and how much prominence and space to give them.
• Agenda-setting theory’s main postulate is salience transfer. Salience transfer is the ability of the news media to transfer issues of importance from their news media agendas to public agendas.
  

• Refers to the social construction of a social phenomenon by mass media sources or specific political or social movements or organizations.
  
• It is an inevitable process of selective influence over the individual's perception of the meanings attributed to words or phrases. A frame defines the packaging of an element of rhetoric in such a way as to encourage certain interpretations and to discourage others.
  

• Episodic Framing: Individual and specific reporting that is generally aimed toward a specific issue/event/person in which the story is taken out of the larger context. Fails to link specific events to their larger historical context.
• Thematic: Places political events/issues into their larger general context.

• Intentional or unintentional media coverage that has an effect on the way in which people receive and process the information. Not necessarily attempting to change political opinions, rather just using specific strategies/words in order to bring issues to the forefront.

• Framing works by telling people what issues/events deserve more importance and weight.
• Priming on the other hand, focus’s on more cognitive studies and strategies for attracting attention to issues.

• The media can focus on one person, the story and the person’s story
• The president’s dual role provides different opportunities for reporting on the president as the Head of State and the Head of Government - Examples: official state visits, dinners, campaign stops, travel to foreign countries, presidential song & plane, etc.
• Stories on Congress are tied to bureaucracy, parties, and courts...they are more complex, not as interesting, and harder to understand

News releases can be broken down into the good news and bad news and different strategies are used for each situation.

• Send out press releases
• Provide video news releases (VNRs)
• Change the topic
• Squelching - discrediting a source or providing “no comment”
• Spread the blame
• Dump lots of bad news at once
• Local news preference

News that is released on Friday evening is reported at a time when most people are not paying attention and less likely to watch or read the news on Saturday. Bad news is already old news by Monday.

The “press gaggle” is the nickname given to an informal briefing by the White House Press Secretary. These are on record but do not allow videography. (More informal and tend to occur before press briefings, so that the Press Secretary has an idea of what questions he will be asked)

“The body watch is the assignment of a small number of reporters to closely accompany the president each day so that if anything newsworthy happens, a pool report will be immediately available to all the media”

• The movement seeking to treat readers and community members as participants. (and abandon the notion that journalists and their audiences are spectators in political and social processes.) Essentially, civic journalists are like bloggers.
  
• prominent journalists criticize them for being “news regurgatators”, they don’t always give credit where credit is due, and they could be reporting misinformation.

• Wise politicians today regard their every statement as being on the record, even if not used immediately, they know it eventually will turn up the next time the news person writes a profile. Therefore, the pols are much more guarded around journalists than they used to be, much more careful to apply polish and project the proper image at all times.
  
• The dissolution of trust between the 2 groups has meant that journalists are kept at an arm’s length by fearful politicians

• Feeding frenzies can tarnish a candidates image i.e. rumors of Dukakis’s mental impairment took his campaign off its stride and probably played at least some role in his defeat
  
• Consequences for voters: candidates are eliminated before the electorate speaks, irreversible political verdicts are rendered by journalists instead of by the rightful 2 jury of citizens at the polls
  

• -the denial of electoral choice=consequence of some frenzies

• Reception Axiom: the most likely recipient of political news is a person who has already received a lot of political information
  
• Acceptance Axiom: The greater a person’s political awareness, the less likely the person is to uncritically accept the media message if it differs from his/her existing political views.

• This has to do with the perception paradox which deals with the disparities associated between local vs national media coverage. Local coverage focuses more on local representatives and events that benefit locally
  
• National Coverage doesn't mention average member; focus on the institution (frequently negatively) tends to get statement from both parties. Additionally there is a press bias toward simple narrative which focuses more on conflict and negativity.

Horse race coverage “gives the appearance of issue coverage without the reality.”  During campaigns, the media is often so focused on who is winning and who is losing, that candidates’ positions on major issues are often ignored. In the 2000 campaign, “media scholar Robert Lichter found that 71% of network television stories on the campaign had a horse racing emphasis”

Astroturf activism means activism which appears to be grassroots or populist in nature, but is really a front for a powerful organization to advance its interests. Dow chemical has been accused of this tactic, as have Exxon, Phillip Morris, Pfizer and Chevron.

Look up

Cable- Satellite Public Affairs Network

CSPAN 1 broadcasts the House of Representatives (1979)

CSPAN 2 broadcasts the Senate (1986)

CSPAN 3 broadcast other live events/ archived programs (2001)

C-Span is specifically devoted to covering Congress and politics. Things like PBS try to cater to a large audience.

• C-SPAN’s tiny budget comes not from tax dollars, but from fees paid by the cable and satellite industry.
  
• It is able to cover so much for so little because it does not attempt to do what the rest of the media does: filter and analyze the news.
  

Video Rigidity is used by the congress to limit what goes out in the media as a form of censorship. They try to only release certain information to promote the image of the congress.

• Indexing is the tendency of major news organizations to limit the range of discussion on issues to the dominant, often binary viewpoints.
  
• For instance, despite the overwhelming agreement between scientists regarding the reality of global warming, Republicans and conservative outlets often portray discussion on the issue as two-sided
  

• This statement refers to the fact that the seemingly candid and debate style rhetoric on Washingtons’ Roundtable shows, like Meet the Press, is in fact completely pre-determined and planned before the taping takes place.
  
• So, the spirit and often heated partisan debates we watch on TV are just as inauthentic as professional wrestling matches.
  

The subtle immunization of Journalists on the lecture circuit happens when journalists and the politician on the lecture circuit get to know each other so the journalists go easier on the politician in terms of questions and stories that are reported.

When American journalism began, the news was written by poor print makers. With the Dawn of Mass Media journalism became a legitimate career and meant that journalists were making more money. The Professional era(1920-1972) the move from a blue collar job to an elite profession took place. From then until today, journalism has stayed an elite profession. The pinnacle of a journalists success is to have their own tv show. Think Anderson cooper, who today is a celebrity from high class.

• Look Up

With the arrival of the television, journalists who once aspired to work for the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal now became enticed to be the host of a talk show to be their pinnacle career moment. This follows the same idea as to why media is incestuous as well. The professional efforts of journalists after television became the dominant news source in America started to slide because it became less about reporting the news, and more about showcasing yourself.

• Olberman, O'reilly

• Refers to the way some journalists are affected by becoming popular or well known either by the general public or by members of an elite group such as politicians.
  
• As an insider sometimes a journalist may become biased in the way that they report what is going on. Journalists themselves then become the elite and lose objectivity in their reporting, meaning they are not able to serve the public.

• Organizational routines are are the basic rules and practices that journalism schools and news organizations train reporters and editors to follow in deciding what to cover, how to cover it, and how to present the results of their work.

• They might influence the news product because when there are levels of conflict among public officials on certain topics, the ‘news gates’ to these conflicted stories are closed. Thus leading to important public interest stories not being reported.

• Photoshopped cbs eye, little kitten replaces Couric

• “Generalist” reporters are able to take any subject and package into the story format.
  
• “General” reporters are cheaper to hire and work quicker than beat reporters who closely follow only one facet of the news media.
  

Generalist reporters are trained to be able to write/report on any subject.

• Normative reason: gains in news comprehension by the average person.
  
• Economic reason: generalist reporters earn less and are more productive.
  

Downsides: reporters tend to be at the mercy of the news sources.

• They often don’t know their sources well enough to discount self-serving info, or they may report an opinion/hopeful guess as a statistical fact.
• Sometimes they only cover one side of a story without knowing that there are other sides.
• They are less likely to ask critical questions and more likely to report fabricated events.
  

• The more perfectly an event is staged, the more documentable and hence reportable it becomes.
  
• An example can be the “Mission Accomplished” news coverage of former president George W. Bush landing on aircraft carrier near San Diego.
• The use of imagery to illustrate the strength of our nation and the subtle image of our armed forces and strong leadership that was integral to accomplishing the mission. LOOK UP
  

• Economically efficient because reporters are able to take any subject and package into the story format. “General” reporters are cheaper to hire and work quicker than beat reporters who closely follow only one facet of the news media. Also, the story style of writing is more accessible to an audience of average intelligence. BETTER THAN ESSAYS BECAUSE TOO MUCH TECHNICAL ANALYSIS IS LESS CAPTIVATING
  

• A drawback of the story style is that it confines each news event to a standardized set of common plots. News becomes overly simplistic and reporters never attempt to tackle the bigger picture or go in depth in their analysis for fear of confusing the mass audience, and stories become a homogeneous stream of shallow puff pieces and regurgitated narratives.
  
• Look at study guide

• Gag orders and shield laws
  
• Advantages-It prevents public comment on a case which could harm the jury selection or outcome of the case.
  
• Disadvantages-Forcing a reporter to reveal a source can prevent information from being relayed.
  

The basic belief in Americans regarding media ownership is that unregulated markets make for better outcomes in choice, product quality and value because the America people have a tendency to distrust the government more than privately owned businesses.

Voice of America (VOA) is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).

1. Cross-promotion: If Viacom's paramount pictures produces a movie, it can promote it on the channels or business it owns (though VH1, ET or blockbuster).

2. Cross-production: If you make a successful movie, you can turn it into a TV show, a soundtrack, a book, etc., and make all the related profits

3. Cross-advertising: Viacom can go to a major advertiser and make them a billion dollar deal across all their different media to get their business from them, meaning the smaller companies have no hope of competing

4. Blockbusters: media conglomerates are reliant on blockbusters since they yield such large profits. One blockbuster can cover the expenses of an entire film studio for one year.

Public Responsibility Thinking:

·     Local ownership more responsive to community values

·     Different ownership of different types of media good for diversity

·     Limits on ownership in a specific sector prevents strangleholds on advertisement revenue

Business-driven Thinking:

·     Markets inherently create diversity through competition

·     Competition within each company will be created by the drive for audiences & profits

·     Therefore companies will be compelled to diversify and reflect community values

What Bennett means when he talks about a changed thinking about media ownership it is the idea that political reporting is a public good that serves the public interest (public responsibility)

1. Dominance by a few players in the local and regional markets distorts advertising rates, forcing small, independent outlets to quit, sell out, or change their formats-resulting in less diversity in music, news and minority affairs programming. News is centrally gathered and delivered throughout the company’s “media-mall”

2. The interests of corporate image and self-promotion means less critical coverage of the media industry in general and parent companies in particular.

3. News content shifts to infotainment formats due to the entertainment focus of owners and the economic efficiencies of soft news, “reality programming” and human-interest features.

4. News is regarded less as a public service commitment or a prestige builder for the parent company, and it becomes just another product line in the race for profits. Cost cutting of staff and international bureaus leads to greater dependence on pro's for news stories

During the era of professional journalism, large media corporations would often run news shows at a loss; they were able to offset these losses with alternative revenues, which meant that the news programs were under little to no pressure to make a profit off of the news

Rating Points reflects the percentage of television households watching a program relative to the total number of television household (Bennett, 7).

Shares reflect the actual viewers in a particular time slot who are tuned in to a particular program

The four months of sweeps are November, February, May and July.

“Sweeps” may refer to the period in which TV consumers participate in self-survey diaries of what they watch, which is then returned to the Nielson Media Research Center. “Sweeps” may also refer when a particular news story “sweeps” the news cycle. (Think of the death of Osama Bin Laden)

Henry Crabb Robinson: “The first true military correspondent”, according to Mayer (Mayer 196). He covered Napoleon’s campaign in 1807.

William Howard Russel: Russel covered the Crimean War of 1854-1856. He became known for writing about the “vivid horror” of the war to his English audience (Mayer 196). He was the first war journalist celebrity, according to Mayer. He was accused of both lying an aiding the enemy by the British government (Mayer 197).

Ernie Pyle: Pyle was a journalist who covered the military progress of World War II on the side of the troops. He was known for reporting honestly, though he wore a uniform and often remarked on the bravery and courage of U. S. soldiers (Mayer 200). Contrary to the rosy picture which many reporters painted about World War II, Pyle stands out for conveying a broader illustration of the war

-The American Civil War: Invention of the Byline; journalists were now being held more accountable. This was also the first war where news reports arrived before the military’s own reports to the political leaders did. WWII: reporters had access to frontlines but stories were being censored. This allowed for more confidential info to be passed on to journalists. Reporters and soldiers came from the same backgrounds and wore similar clothing.

-Operational Security: Risking the life of soldiers and civilians.

-Political: Whether or not there is support for the war and also facing the reality of war.

-Personal: To what extent is suffering private? Should sensitivity and privacy matter?
How far is going too far?

-Commercial: Appetite for vs. disgust with war images.

Pool reporting: preselected group of journalists traveling together under the guidance and protection of the military; their goal is to provide operational security and battle field access. But, there is still leakage and limited access to the battlefield. Pool reporting is preferred because individual reporters are considered more of a burden and more troublesome.

• Potential loss of information monopoly of the government.
  
• Bringing the battlefield closer to the viewer (question of making war more/less likely, whether it will desensitize the public, or show the harsh reality of war).

Local Journalists (foreign in regards to US)

• Prior Restraint is the government simply prohibiting the publication of certain material
  
• Near v. Minnesota was the first notable case in which the United State Supreme Court ruled prior restraint unconstitutional, except in extremely limited circumstances such as national security. the ruling came about after Jay Near’s newspaper, The Saturday Press, was silenced by the Minnesota Gag Law which prohibited papers to release destructive information about the government. Freedom to criticize
  

• National Security, but unclear. ex. Pentagon Papers - Nixon administration sought to enjoin the NYT and the Washington Post from publishing reports on the Vietnam War using the National Security exception from the Near v. Minnesota case.
  
• Clear and Present Danger - ex. falsely shouting “fire” in a theater and causing panic
  

• Libel: printing or broadcasting a false claim, expressively stated or implied to be factual, that may convey a negative image of an individual, business, etc. ex. The CEO of Budwiser can’t make a public claim that Coors has poison in it and kills people if it really doesn’t.
  

The “clear and present danger” test was created by justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. in Schenck v. U. S. (1919). The three standards of criteria established later in Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) proceed as such: 1) Intent to incite lawless activity. 2) Activity must be imminent. 3) speech must be likely to incite lawless activity

The chilling effect, as describe by Mayer, is the effect of excessive government regulation of the press. If newspapers face greater liability from printing exposes on powerful figures or government actions, they may hesitate or refuse to publish other important information and exposes from fear of lawsuits

Equal time, or more accurately equal opportunity, rule specifies that radio and TV broadcast stations must treat legally qualified political candidates equally when it comes to selling or giving away airtime. Exceptions include; documentary, bona-fide news interview, scheduled newscast, or on the spot news event.

The advantages for the incumbent include 1) political debates not hosted by media station considered a news event allowing for the exclusion of minor party candidates (since 1983) 2) The law also prohibits a station from censoring what a candidate says when he/she appears on the air (unless it is one of the listed exemptions) e.g. campaign ads 3) Refusal to provide air time to all candidates possible.

1. Interactivity, example, ability to vote online, blogs and journals.

--> Potential in increase citizens participation and voting.

2. Independence, able to read stories that are only of interest to you, and also increase access to diverse points of views.

3. Greater access to foreign news, can obtain information by simply visiting countries news outlets.

4. Information Depth, access to additional background via the interent.

1. Digital Divide

- two types of divides, divide between the poor and the rich but most important the divid between the rich and the rich.

2. Information overload

3. Parasitism

4. Blurring, who is the journalist?

5. Filterlessness- not much fact checking

6. More rumours and innuendos and competitive pressure on traditional media to print them.

7. Outsourcing

8. Impermanence- short life of web pages, loss of original documents because they are constantly being changed.

The two effects of cocooning are physical isolation and topical isolation. Physical isolation occurs because one no longer needs to leave one’s house for almost anything anymore whether it be consumer goods, services or information. Topical isolation is similar to fragmentation, in that one may choose to read only topics which one finds interesting, leading to difficulties discussing topics which other individuals find interesting

- Paying for what you produce, she gave the example of journalists offshore getting paid to report the news, 1,000 words for $7.50

- Very harmful to democratic process, outsourcing the news will lead to greater information bias, journalists aren’t witnessing the news, thus we are suspect to receiving gratified, ambiguous or false news

- Three Revenue sources: Newsstand sales, subscriptions and advertising

- Problematic due to the fact that the new business model relies on all of these to survive, if one of the three legs weakens, the stool cannot stand

- Solution: Charge money for the content you produce. This can be done through subscriptions for frequent users or through micro-payments

They argue that it is possible for a state run news agency to be a prominent player in the industry. Their basic reasoning is that since the news source, in this case Xinhua the official Chinese newspaper, does not have to worry about the bottom line since they are state funded. This allow them to charge a minimal price. They also point out that while their will be a clear bias it will only be regarding certain topics. Xinhua will clearly not provide info regarding china.