AP Gov Chapter 7 vocab

Question 1

High-tech politics

Answer 1

a politics in which the behavior of citizens and policy makers and the political agenda itself are increasingly shaped by technology.

Question 2

mass media

Answer 2

television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and the internet, and other means of popular communication.

Question 3

media events

Answer 3

events purposely staged for the media that nonetheless look spontaneous. in keeping with politics as theater, media events can be staged by individuals, groups, and government officials, especially presidents.

Question 4

Press conference

Answer 4

meetings of public officials with reporters

Question 5

Investigative journalism

Answer 5

the use of in-depth reporting to unearth scandals, scams, and schemes, at times putting reporters in adversarial relationships with political leaders.

Question 6

Print media

Answer 6

newspaper and magazines as compared with broadcast media.

Question 7

Broadcast media

Answer 7

television and radio, as compared with print media.

Question 8

Narrowcasting

Answer 8

media programming on cable TV or the internet that is focused on one topic and aimed at a particular audience. Examples MTV, ESPN, and C-Span.

Question 9

chains

Answer 9

newspapers published by massive media conglomerates that account for over four-fifths of the nations daily newspaper circulation. often these chains control broadcast media as well.

Question 10

beats

Answer 10

specific locations from which news frequently emanates , such as congress or the white house. most top reporters work a particular beat, thereby becoming a specialists in what goes on at that location.

Question 11

trial balloons

Answer 11

an intentional news leak for the purpose of assessing the political reaction.

Question 12

sound bites

Answer 12

short video clips of approximately 10 seconds. typically, they are all that is shown from a politician’s speech on the nightly television news.

Question 13

talking head

Answer 13

a shot of a person’s face talking directly to the camera. because this is visually unappealing , the major commercial networks rarely show a politician talking one-on-one for very long.

Question 14

policy agenda

Answer 14

the issues that attract the serious attention of public officals and other people actively involved in politics at the time.

Question 15

policy entrpreneurs

Answer 15

people who invest their political “capital” in an issue. according to John Kingdon , a policy entrepreneur, “could be in or out of government, in elected or appointed positions, in interest groups or research organizations.”