Media Quiz Flashcards
Refers to the power of the media to decide what’s newsworthy. The role played in the media in influencing what subjects become national political interest and for how long.
Gatekeeping
Refers to the power of the media to portray what goes on in government. The role played by the national media in investigating political personalities and exposing scandals.
Watchdog
Refers to the power of the media to interpret events (angle of the story). The way that politicians or interest group leaders define and issue when presenting it to others
Issue-framing
The power of the media through news coverage to focus the public’s attention and concern on particular events, problems, issues, personalities, and so on.
Agenda Setting
Holds leaders accountable, publicize issues, entertain, inform, keeps people actively involved in society and politics, serves as an intermediary between the government and the people
Functions of media
Companies merge to create large conglomerates of many newspapers and broadcasting stations
Media consolidation
an officer or director in one corporation serving on the board of a competitor. In this way the corporations will more or less adopt the same or similar principles, and will thus politically behave similarly and contributes to a lack of diversity in the news.
Interlocking directorates
Where most news services get there news. Wire services strive to give the news as unbiased as possible.
Wire services
An activity arranged primarily to stimulate media coverage and attract public attention to an issue/personality
Media event
an employee who exposes unethical or illegal conduct within the federal government or one of its contractors
Whistleblower
Shareholders
Who owns media corporations
CEO
Who controls media corporations
Dissémination of contact (spreading content)
What do ceo’s have control over
The more companies a corporation owns, the more power it will have in influencing media audiences, and the wealthier they will become because of their created concentration of power
How do media businesses get wealthy?
When there are many locally owned businesses and therefore more distribution of choices
Localism
Localism because they want a marketplace with as many voices as possible so they have many choices about how to satisfy their various needs for information and entertainment.
Do consumers favor localism or concentration? Why?
Business people to maximize profits
Who favors concentration? Why?
Horizontal merging, vertical merging, and conglomerate merging
3 ways concentration of power can happen
When media companies buy other media companies of the same type. Ex: a radio station buying another radio station
Horizontal merging
When one media company decides to purchase suppliers or distributors. Ex: film companies buying theaters and talent agencies
Vertical merging
A media company buying both other media companies and/or companies unrelated to the media, like a tv station buying restaurants.
Conglomerate merging
Preserve and ensure diverse viewpoints and limit owners’ domination of local and national media outlets. They have rules that restricts the number of local radio stations one company could own, limits the national audience teach for one broadcaster, restricts companies for owning multiple tv rations in a local market, and ban the ownership of both a newspaper and a tv station in the same market
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Eliminated the 40-station ownership cap on radio stations. Intended to increase competition (technological changes will permit a flourishing of telecommunications carriers, engaged in competition, resulting in a multitude of communications carriers and programmers being made available to the America consumer)
1996 telecommunications act
Reagan administration, FCC, and congress embarked on a deregulatory approach toward communications policy and began chipping away at the protections for ensuring media diversity
What happened beginning in the 1980s
Lack of perfect marketplace competition
What’s a major concern regarding media ownership consolidation
Independent media outlets across the country were swallowed up by media heavy-hitters due to the unusually high barriers to entry to the media sphere. It costs too much.
What actually happened after the telecommunications act of 1996 passed
