media and public opinion Flashcards
high-tech politics:
in which the behavior of the citizens and policymakers and the political agenda itself are increasingly shaped by technology
Mass media:
television, radio, newspapers, magazines, the internet, and other means of popular communication
Media event:
events purposely staged for the media that nonetheless look spontaneous
Press conference:
meetings of public officials with reporters
Investigative journalism:
the use of in-depth reporting to unearth scandals, scams, and schemes, at times putting reporters in adversarial relationships with political leaders
Print media:
newspapers and magazines
Broadcast media:
television, radio, and the Internet
Narrowcasting:
media programming on cable TV or the internet that is focused on one topic and aimed at a particular audience (e.g.: CSPAN)
Chains:
newspapers published by massive media conglomerates that account for over four-fifths of the nation’s daily newspaper circulation
Beats:
specific locations from which news frequently emanates, such as Congress or the White House
Trial balloons:
an intentional news leak for the purpose of assessing the political reaction
Sound bites:
short video clips of approximately ten seconds; highlights of a politician’s speech
Talking head:
a shot of a person’s face talking directly to the camera
Policy agenda:
the issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actively involved in politic at the time
Policy entrepreneurs:
people who invest their political capital
Public opinion:
the distribution of the population’s beliefs about politics and policy issues
Demography:
the science of population changes
Census:
a valuable tool for understanding demographic changes
Melting pot:
the mixing of cultures, ideas, and peoples that has changed the American nation
Minority majority:
the emergence of a non-caucasian majority
Political culture:
an overall set of values widely shared within a society
Reapportionment:
the process of reallocating seats in the House of Representatives every 10 years on the basis of the results of the census
Political socialization:
the process through which a young person acquires political orientations as they grow up, based on inputs from parents, teachers, the media, and friends
sample of the population:
a relatively small proportion of people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the whole
Random polling:
the key technique employed by sophisticated survey researchers, which operates on the principle that everyone should have an equal probability of being selected for the sample
Sampling error:
the level of confidence in the findings of a public opinion poll
Exit poll:
public opinion surveys used by major media pollsters to predict electoral winners with speed and precision
Political ideology: =
a coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose
Gender gap: =
a term that refers to the regular pattern by which women are more likely to support Democratic candidates
Political participation:
all the activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders of the policies they pursue; most common is voting
Protest:
a form of political participation designed to achieve policy change through dramatic and unconventional tactics
Civil disobedience:
a form of political participation that reflects a conscious decision to break a law believed to be immoral and to suffer the consequences
