Political Communication and the Media

Question 1

What is the general media landscape in Britain?

Answer 1

• Vast majority of Print (>70%) and Online (>40%) consumption is BBC
• 29% use Facebook for news
• Brits believe TV to be the most ‘accurate’ form of news; then online; then papers; then social media
• In general, Brits trust the news
• Print sales decline over recent years: has huge effect on agenda

Question 2

What were the Leave papers?

Answer 2

• Daily Telegraph
• Daily Mail
• The Sun
• The Daily Express

Question 3

What were the remain papers?

Answer 3

• Financial Times
• The Times
• The Guardian
• The Daily Mirror

Question 4

What are the roles of media in democracy?

Answer 4

• Accountability
  
  • Investigate use of power and bring it to public attention
• Information
  
  • What’s happening
• Facilitate formation of public opinion
  
  • Provide them with facts and analysis

Question 5

What are media effect?

Answer 5

• Varied and contested
• Direct Influence
• Indirect Influence

Question 6

What direct effects models of the media are there?

Answer 6

• Hypodermic Influence

* Reinforcement

Question 7

What is hypodermic needle?

Answer 7

• Hypodermic needle model
• Media has a direct, immediate and powerful effect
• Think this way - we’ve worked it out for you
• Opinion forming behaviour by the press
• Murdoch tabloids?

Question 8

What is reinforcement?

Answer 8

• Good ads can’t sell a bad product
• People vote Brexit because they want Brexit
• How to explain stability of voting preferences?
• Limited media effects
• Reinforce existing attitudes
• Media responsiveness to consumer preferences
• Consumer selectivity: causal direction opposite to hypodermic needle; electorate shapes medias views
• Views are not easily changed by the media
• 3 layers of public opinion

Question 9

What are the three layers of public opinion?

Answer 9

• Opinions (changeable)
• Attitudes (more resistant to change)
• Values (least changeable; influence over attitudes and opinions)
  
  • Shaped by social factors: class, education, gender etc

Question 10

What are the criticisms of reinforcement?

Answer 10

• Not a free media market
• Oligopolistic print media
• Range of perspectives restricted
• Cross-media ownership
• Global news corporations
• Political values as robust as claimed?

Question 11

What indirect effects models of the media are there?

Answer 11

• Framing

* Agenda Setting

Question 12

What is framing?

Answer 12

• Media promote the ‘frame’ through which an issue is perceivrd
• Shapes what consitntuers a ‘problem’
• Shapes nature of the ‘problem’
• Consequently shapes types of solutions

Question 13

What is agenda setting?

Answer 13

• Too many issues too little space:
  
  • What to include/omit?
  • What to make a headline?
• Media gate-kipping role: what gets reported?
• Media profit/ratings driven
  
  • Preference for the sensational
• Moral panics

Question 14

What was the phone hacking?

Answer 14

• News of the World 1843-2011
• A series of allegations and cover-ups: Prince William’s voicemails hacked etc.
• Took full force with a police investigation in 2011
• Leveson Inquiry 2011-2012

Question 15

What is true of media political strategies in Britain?

Answer 15

• Alastair Campbell - paradigm shift: active media strategy
  
  • ‘Communications was not something you tagged on at the end, it is part of what you do’
• Centralisation - personalisation/presidentialisation
  
  • ‘on message’
  • e.g. pre-approval of media appearance, daily talking points
• Professionalisation
• Politicisation: making sure releases drive commentary
• Twitter, less for audiences reaching Politicians, more for politicians shaping the agenda