Ch6 - The Media & Public Opinion in Texas Flashcards
What is special about newspapers in Texas?
Newspapers and Texas grew up together, as first newspaper was published days after Texas received independence from Mexico.
Stanley McBrayer
Invented the offset press for newspaper printing in 1954, which saved the newspaper industry
What were early newspapers in Texas writing about?
Their opinion of Sam Houston.
What is the oldest surviving newspaper in Texas?
The Galveston News
Began continuous publication in 1843, raged against Houston’s pro-Union stance
Partisan press
newspapers and other media that reported a single viewpoint in an effort to persuade readers.
Continued thru Reconstruction
What moved emphasis to reporting straight news in newspapers?
In the end of 19th century, the development of large news orgs like Associated press allowed newspapers to share costs by sending one reporter to cover different stories.
Newspapers during Progressive Era
- Investigative journalism/ muckracking
- most prominent TX dailies promoted a pro-biz agenda
- some exposed gov & biz corruption and social ills
- two major issues : women’s suffrage and reemergence of Ku Klux Klan
The Dallas Express
The oldest African American newspaper
1892 - 1970
What was the effect of primarily state and local publishers?
No yellow journalism
Describe radio before WWI
There were thousands of unlicensed stations, although most were shuttered when the military took control of the airwaves during WWI
Radio
An important source of news and entertainment
Federal Communications Commission
an independent US gov agency created by Congress
oversees public airways and provides guidelines for appropriate use
Walter Dealey
the most influential individual in making radio a major force in Texas
- Worked with the city of Dallas to create WRR radio in 1920; the first licensed radio station in Texas and 2nd in the US
- WFAA was the 2nd licensed station in Texas
The Golden Age of Radio
The era in which radio reached its peak in popularity, generally the 1930s to 1940s
Fairness Doctrine
1954 - 1987
A federal law that required radio and broadcast television stations to devote equal time to opposing viewpoints; was repealed in 1987
When did commercial television appear in Texas?
After WWII
Amon Carter
Obtained the 1st commercial tv license in Texas in 1948
WBAP
the first tv station in the southern US
What is special about television and Texas?
The advent of television changed the way we looked at politics
- Sam Rayburn - the speaker of the House
- LBJ and JFK
- going to the moon
Mainstream media
traditional newspaper and television news outlets, distinct from opinion or commentary
Local and state political coverage in the media
Low and superficial
Change toward national over local ownership
New media
forms of delivering instant communications in a digitized or electronic format
Is media less or more biased today?
Less
Selective exposure
Only consuming the sources that share your views
- reinforces what we already think
Open Records Laws
- Media regularly files open record requests when it believes that a gov agency or subdivision is withholding info
- IGs and individuals file requests
- Most public docs are subject to an open records request
The Open Meetings Act
- Rigorously enforced
- Gov affairs should be discussed out in the open
- Prevents elected officials from making deals outside of the scrutiny of the public and press
- Exceptions: personnel and real estate matters
Shield Laws
Protect reporters from having to disclose their sources
Branzburg v Hayes
1972
US Supreme Court held that there’s no explicit protection of one’s sources implied by 1st Amendment, leaving the decisions to st and fed govs
Are there shield laws in Texas
No and no push for them
Polling
a measure of the public’s opinion, intensity, and direction about gov and politics
Offers a snapshot of the beliefs of the sampling of people polled at the moment they were questioned
Public Opinion
comprises the beliefs of TXns on a variety of issues
derives from political culture but deals with salient issues
Salient issues
Issues that resonate with the public.
Public opinion on them can change rapidly
Tracking polls
polls that trace public opinion over time
Focus groups
more intense polling with smaller sample size
Margin of error
the range of accuracy in a poll
Confidence rate
how likely it is that the poll, given its margin of error, represent the entire universe
Exit polls
valuable to political scientists and analysts because it gives insight into who voted for whom and why
Push polling
a tactic intended to persuade respondents, disguised as a poll
