Introduction

Question 1

Interest Groups Influence

Answer 1

funds from public to lobby and advocate for certain issues

inform public of issue specific happenings in gov/politics

Question 2

Parties and Elections Influence

Answer 2

Public votes for parties in elections that align w their views, send signals to gov

Question 3

Mass Media Influence

Answer 3

informs public of politics and government

dominant linkage institution, but distorted, for profit, and entertainment based- not information based

Question 4

Media misunderstandings

Answer 4

referring to media as single entity
conflating journalism and media
media driven by single factor
not considering entertainment as significant bias

Question 5

Common criticisms on media

Answer 5

failure to contribute to informed citizenship (limited scope, soft news, complex issues not covered)
failure to act as forum for candidates and political parties to encourage discourse
weakening watchdog role of press
revenue
loss of confidence and credibility
audience tuning out news in favor of other media

Question 6

state of democracy

Answer 6

misinformed citizenry, political and epistemically polarization, broken discourse, cynicism, breakdown of democratic norms of mutual tolerance and institutional forbearance

Question 7

class framework

Answer 7

information environment, nature of dominant mediums, $ and media orgs, content creators, broader environments, media effects

Question 8

information environment sources

Answer 8

media and friends and fam, community, school, bureaucracy, direct campaigning

Question 9

current information environment

Answer 9

polarized, emotional, biased, over sensationalist, selective, entertainment based, cynical, overwhelming
signal to noise ratio
cynical tone

Question 10

how does the nature of newer media shape political discourse

Answer 10

high choice/algorithms: confirmation bias and polarization
phones: mass overconsumption of media, shrinks world, instant access, influence based on popularity over expertise

Question 11

evaluating money and media organizations

Answer 11

who owns the media, what are their incentives? - for profit media, conglomerates, private equity, media chains, single owners?
profit incentive biggest motivator!!!
growth in media outlets-fragmentation if audiences and hyper competition (tech and capitalism combined)

Question 12

content creators examples

Answer 12

journalists v commentators, editorial writers, show hosts

Question 13

journalism perceptions

Answer 13

objective, watchdog, autonomous from government, public advocate, libertarian, THE TRUTH

Question 14

broader environments to consider

Answer 14

political, economic, cultural, and global

Question 15

media effects on citizenry

Answer 15

lack of valuable info, agenda setting and priming, framing, entertainment effects

Question 16

media effects on elections

Answer 16

politicians vie for media attention, media covers politics like sporting events, leave public poorly informed to make choices

Question 17

media effects on public officials

Answer 17

must choose between playing for media time or actually governing, stances on policy- easier to oppose than propose (creates controversy)

Question 18

ways of knowing/sources of knowledge

Answer 18

tradition, authority, experience

Question 19

problems with experiential knowledge

Answer 19

in accurate observations, overgeneralization, motivated reasoning, selective, who involvement , mystifications, confirmation bias