5 princiles of Wolfsfeld

Question 1

1. Political power can usually be translated into power over the news media

Answer 1

The president and other politically powerful actors can easily attract media coverage, are treated
respectfully, and are often able to frame the news in a way that suits them (front door access). Less
powerful actors such as minor politicians or protesters have much more difficulty attracting
attention, and often have to do violent or strange things to get into the media, but will then be seen
primary as the people doing violent or strange things (back door access)

Question 2

2. When authorities lose control over the political power, they also lose control over the news.

Answer 2

If the political environment turns against a political actor, even a powerful one, they can quickly lose
control over the news as well. This can be through for example leaks, scandals, or internal fights.

Question 3

3. There is no such thing as objective journalism (nor can there be)

Answer 3

News is always a choice. Journalists choose what to report, how to report on it, and which sources,
frames, and terms to use in their reporting. This means that even if a journalist wants to be objective
and unbiased, they still have to make choices, so two different journalists covering the same event
can end up with a different story.

Question 4

4. The media is dedicated more than anything else to telling a good story and this often have a major impact on the political process

Answer 4

Journalists have to output ‘newsworthy’ stories that are interesting to their audiences (and their
editors). This means that news is systematically biased to prefer stories containing e.g. negativity or
conflict. This impacts the political process by making some issues more salient than others, and
making some political actors more successful than others

Question 5

5. The most important effects of the news media on citizens tent to be unintentional and unnoticed.

Answer 5

If a specific channel has a strong ideological bias, most people will not be strongly affected by it
because they will avoid it if they disagree with it and even if they do consume it they will probably
not be persuaded since they are aware that the channel is slanted. However, in many cases all
channels share a cultural bias, that is, all Western news overreports on “good stories” like crime,
prefers local topics, and often presents a mostly western worldview. Since this bias is shared
between outlets it is not an intentional choice of the outlet and are unaware that it happens.