The Media

Question 1

What is the media and what are its goals?

Answer 1

The media is a medium of mass communication directed towards the public or some relatively large subset of the public.

Its goals are almost always non-political (especially for private entities); to generate revenue, to entertain, and to inform.

Question 2

What are the 3 main branches of the media?

Answer 2

• Print media
• Broadcast media
• Electronic/digital media

Question 3

What are the consequences of the goals of the media?

Answer 3

Impacts the range and depth of perspectives covered, and the cost involved to cover a lot of issues and comprehensive information is a lot.

Question 4

How does the media function as an agent of political socialization?

Answer 4

It is omnipresent in all phases of political socialization (receive political information from the media), has an influence over all other agents of political socialization, representation, setting the agenda, , etc.

Question 5

What are some issues associated with the media’s transmission of Canadian political culture?

Answer 5

• focus on entertainment over transmission of politically relevant ideas, debates, etc. (e.g. scandals)
• allow individuals to reinforce their own beliefs
• Americanization
• French/English divide in media and media consumption patterns
• concentrated ownership/conglomeration - over-simplification of political information
• journalistic bias

Question 6

What is the political role of the media?

Answer 6

The media should play a major role in:

• encouraging/supporting the free discussion of ideas
• providing the information citizens need to make informed choices
• preventing the abuse of power by providing a check on governments and their activities

Question 7

What is the media’s role in the public policy process?

Answer 7

Information Gathering and dissemination:

• transmitting info from the government to the public and vice versa
• informs us of political events, what members of government are doing or not doing, updates for laws or policies
• investigates problems, scandals, a check on government

Agenda Setting:

• selecting issues for public debate and discussion
• telling people what to think about (what is worth our attention, what the government should be paying attention to)

Priming/Framing:
- deciding how to present issues for public debate and discussion

Policy Evaluation:

• identifying “appropriate” basis for policy evaluation
• drawing the public’s attention to “good” and “bad” policy consequences