the text book Practicing Texas Politics Texas Edition (16th Edition), Brown, et.al. for this assignment: 3,4,5,6,10,13.

Chapter6

The Media and Politics

• Chapter Introduction

• 6-1 Where Do We Get Our Information?

  • 6-1a Print Media: Newspapers and Newsmagazines

  • 6-1b Electronic Media: Radio and Television

  • 6-1c Digital Media: The Internet and Social Media

• 6-2 The Media's Roles in Politics

  • 6-2a Providing Information

  • 6-2b Maintaining Democracy

  • 6-2c Setting the Public Agenda

  • 6-2d Shaping Our Views?

• 6-3 Campaigns and Citizen Participation

  • 6-3a Campaigns and the Traditional Media

  • 6-3b Digital Campaigning

  • 6-3c Citizen Participation in the Digital Age

• 6-4 Bias?

  • 6-4a Media Bias and the News

  • 6-4b What Research Finds

• 6-5 Regulation

  • 6-5a Regulation of Print and Broadcast Media

  • 6-5b Internet Regulation

  • 6-5c State and Local Regulation

• 6-6 Change in the Media: More Participation, More Sources, but Less News?

  • 6-6a Concentration of Ownership

  • 6-6b For Good and for Bad: The Rise of the Internet and Social Media

  • 6-6c The Future?

• 6-7 Chapter Review

  • 6-7aConclusion

  • 6-7bChapter Summary

  • 6-7cKey Terms

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics Chapter Introduction

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

Chapter Introduction

Milt Prigee/Cagle Cartoons

Critical Thinking

• Can government protect and promote the individual's needs and the society's interests in the face of great commercial power and rapidly developing communications technology? How? Why?

Learning Objectives

• 6.1 
Compare the ways in which Texans get their information today with past patterns.

• 6.2 
Describe the roles of the media in Texas politics.

• 6.3 
Discuss the roles of the media in modern Texas election campaigns.

• 6.4 
Analyze whether there is ideological bias in the Texas media.

• 6.5 
Distinguish how print and electronic media are regulated by government.

• 6.6 
Discuss the positive and negative effects of the changes the media are undergoing in Texas.

The media have long had a major impact on politics in Texas and the nation. They play a major role in maintaining our democracy: informing citizens and leaders about what governments and politicians are doing and the debates about those actions, sometimes reporting things officials would rather we didn't know, affecting the set of issues that governments consider seriously, and to some degree shaping public opinion. In carrying out these roles, the media both affect and are affected by the other political actors—government and political leaders, interest groups, and the public. Because of the importance of the media and their diverse nature, there is serious debate about whether and what kinds of bias exist and about the rapidly changing nature of the media (changes such as the decline of newspapers, the growth of the Internet and social media, and the growing concentration of ownership of newspapers, television, and digital media [as illustrated by the cartoon that opens this chapter]). These topics are explored in this chapter.

Please note two points about terminology. First, the word media is pluralplural; for example, “The media have long had a major impact.” Second, there are differences among authors on terminology. The term print media is generally accepted for newspapers and newsmagazines. Here, we refer to radio and television as electronic media and at times distinguish between broadcast and cable television. The Internet and social media are referred to as digital media.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-1 Where Do We Get Our Information?

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-1 Where Do We Get Our Information?

LO 6.1

Compare the ways in which Texans get their information today with past patterns.

Although the simple answer to the question of where we get our information is from newspapers and newsmagazines, television and radio, and the Internet and social media, the answer is more complex. Most people get news from more than one source, and whether they remember the information depends on the trust they have for the source and a number of other factors. Newspapers were once the dominant source of news for individuals. Today, however, newspapers are in decline in both numbers and readership. Television news is widely watched but is thin in content and is gradually being outpaced by the Internet and social media. Although often absent in discussions of sources of news, family and friends are an important source of news for many individuals. The most common way that people (almost three-quarters of all Americans) get news personally is, not surprisingly, from conversations, in person or over the phone. Almost two-thirds of adults follow up the information from family and friends by seeking the story in the news media—traditional or new.

As Table 6.1 shows, television is still the place where the most people get news, but the Internet is second, and newspapers, once first, are now third. The table also shows that many people get their news from more than one source. In the survey reported in Table 6.1, adult Americans were asked to which source they “regularly” turned for news about the 2012 election campaign. Respondents could give more than one response, and the total percentages add to more than 260—an average of 2.6 sources regularly consulted. Table 6.2 shows that Texans and the nation have similar patterns of attention to sources of news. Among Texans, television is still the most common source of news, but the other media are not far behind.

Table 6.1

Sources for Campaign News, 2012

Note: Numbers do not add to 100% because respondents could answer “regularly” to more than one item.

Source: Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, www.journalism.org/2012/10/25/social-media-doubles-remains-limited/.

Critical Thinking

• There are many sources of news. Can you rank them in terms of which are better sources? What are the things you consider in the ranking?

Table 6.2

Attention to News Sources in the U.S. and Texas

Source: 2012 National Election Study Time Series, Survey Documentation and Analysis, University of California, Berkeley, http://sda.berkeley.edu, analyzed by author February 6, 2014.

Critical Thinking

• The table shows no major differences in paying attention to the news between the national and Texas samples. Why is this?

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-1a Print Media: Newspapers and Newsmagazines

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-1a Print Media: Newspapers and Newsmagazines

Newspapers were long the news media for Americans. Nationally, newspapers began in the colonies in the early 1700s and had become important sources of political news by 1750. After 1800, they grew in number and news content, increasing from 92 newspapers in 1789 (the effective date of the U.S. Constitution) to 1,200 in 1835. The number of U.S. newspapers peaked at just over 2,600 at the beginning of the 20th century and declined to about 1,400 by 2009. Circulation peaked at 37 percent of the population in 1947 and then declined to 15 percent by 2009. From the first newspaper in Texas, the Gaceta de Texas (which may have published only one or two editions), to Texas's independence, few newspapers were actually published in the state. By 1860, there were 82. Most ceased publication during the Civil War, but the number increased soon after the war and on into the 20th century.

By 1965, Texas ranked third in the nation in number of daily newspapers, and 80 percent of Texas households subscribed to at least one newspaper. However, competition from television slowed the growth of newspapers, and the advent of the Internet put them into decline. Newspapers have been particularly hurt by the loss of advertising to Internet sites. Loss of classified ads to such sites as Craigslist has been especially damaging to revenue. By 2013, there were 81 dailies in the state, compared to 118 in 1975. Nevertheless, the Dallas Morning News ranked 12th nationally in circulation in 2012 (410,000) and the Houston Chronicle 14th (326,000). Like others in the state and nation, both newspapers have reduced staff and newspaper size. Nationally, by 2012, newspaper professional employment was down 30 percent since 2000 and below 40,000 for the first time since 1978.

In 2012, Texas had 404 newspapers that were published less often than daily (most commonly weekly). These weeklies tend to provide local social and political news but little state or national news. (Lots of pictures of kids, awards, and weddings help circulation greatly.) They tend to serve small towns and counties, suburban areas, college campuses, and communities with common interests such as business, legal, military, and ethnic groups. One listing shows 46 ethnic newspapers serving African Americans, Latinos, or the major Asian groups (14 in Dallas, 13 in Houston, and 19 in the rest of the state). Decline of the major dailies has given an opening to alternative newspapers in some cities, notably the Dallas Observer, Houston Press, and Austin Chronicle. Availability of print news has been boosted to some extent by the rise of several newspapers to national circulation, particularly the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, and perhaps the Los Angeles Times. These dailies, of course, carry little Texas state and local news.

Newsmagazines have always been fewer in number and read by fewer people. However, such periodicals are quite influential because they tend to be read by elites. Because newsmagazine reporters have more time to gather information and study it, their stories often provide more perspective than those published in newspapers. With its large population, Texas would seem a likely candidate for several competing newsmagazines. However, this competition has not emerged. Progressives and liberals have read the Texas Observer since 1954, but there is not a comparable conservative newsmagazine. Texas Monthly, a slick, well-written magazine, carries some political articles and commentary but focuses more on social and cultural stories. Its article on the best and worst legislators after each biennial session of the Texas legislature is watched with trepidation by legislators up for reelection. As is detailed below, political websites on the Internet have taken up some of the slack from the shortage of state newsmagazines.

Office of the weekly Menard News and Messenger in Menard, southeast of San Angelo.

Menard News and Messenger

Critical Thinking

• Will local newspapers survive the Internet challenge? Why or why not?

The print media have been particularly important sources of political information for at least four reasons. First, compared with television and radio, print media have the space to cover more stories and to develop these stories in greater detail. Although many in the general public are satisfied with only the headlines and highlights, opinion leaders and those actually involved in government and politics need more detail and more complete coverage. Hence the second reason for the importance of newspapers is that they are the major source of news for the elite (the better educated, more affluent population and the political leaders). Third, newspapers remain the largest gatherers of news. The major national newspapers and two wire services (Associated Press [AP] and Reuters) provide much of the national and international news that appears in other newspapers, on television and radio, and in Internet blogs. Newspapers tend to set the news agenda for broadcast news. The print media have more reporters to find the news and are more often the ones who break stories (that is, initially report them). Finally, the major print media today require that stories be vetted for accuracy and attempt to follow standards of objectivity in reporting. Objectivity and vetting are only gradually developing on the Internet and are often problems on the two leading cable news channels, Fox on the right (the conservative side) and MSNBC on the left (the liberal side). (See the section later in this chapter on “Bias?”)

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-1b Electronic Media: Radio and Television

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-1b Electronic Media: Radio and Television

Commercial radio in the United States began in the 1920s and by the 1930s entered its two-decade “Golden Age.” Radio, however, did not penetrate Texas and the rest of the South in the 1930s to the degree that it did elsewhere. In Texas and other states, coverage of the war fronts during World War II enhanced the standing of radio, as did its value as a distraction from the horrors of war. Nationally and in Texas, radio remains pervasive. Ninety-nine percent of American homes have one or more radios receiving broadcasts from more than 11,000 radio stations. In Texas, there are 950 stations, almost double the number of newspapers.

Radio is still an important source of entertainment, particularly music, but it has limited value as a source of political news. Radio stations usually provide five minutes of news on the hour—headlines without much detail. For state and national news, most have at best a small news staff and depend on stories from the news services or feeds from such sources as the Texas State Network or, more recently, Fox News Radio. Local news tends to be light, and politics must compete with local social, cultural, and sports events for the short time available.

Two developments have increased the news impact of radio: the rise of talk radio and the development of radio focused on news. In the 1980s, politically oriented radio call-in talk shows became popular. Two decisions by the federal government had a major impact on this phenomenon. In 1987, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) abolished the Fairness Doctrine that required stations to provide both sides of controversial topics they chose to air. As a result of the doctrine, both liberals and conservatives had been common in the small world of talk radio. Without the Fairness Doctrine, conservatives quickly outpaced the liberals. The change is rooted in a technical factor. Because of the way radio waves are transmitted, AM radio has a poorer sound quality than FM radio. As a result, since the 1960s AM stations had been losing music listeners (and with them, advertising) to the better sound quality of FM. Talk shows did not require high-quality audio, however, and were welcomed by the AM stations. Nevertheless, since the 1990s, many talk shows have moved from AM to FM.

In a second change, the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 facilitated the development of large chains of radio stations, which in turn made easier the syndication of popular talk radio programs. This made talk radio available to more stations and their listeners. Clear Channel Communications, headquartered in San Antonio, for example, has become a major national and Texas player in talk radio. It owns 840 stations nationwide, including 58 in Texas of which eight are news and talk radio stations. By 1991, conservative Rush Limbaugh had become the most syndicated talk show host in the United States, followed in the early 2000s by another conservative, Sean Hannity, and many others.

In Texas, nationally syndicated talk show hosts have substantial followings, along with hosts with Texas origins, such as Alex Jones, Michael Berry (husband of Texas Secretary of State Nandita Berry), Neal Boortz, Joe Pagliarulo, and Dan Patrick (who achieved political prominence as a member of the Texas Senate before election as lieutenant governor in 2014). Talk radio has provided an opportunity for its predominantly conservative audience members to air their views and create a sense of community. Studies indicate that talk shows are a mix of news and entertainment, with more than half of listeners simply reinforcing their preexisting views. Nevertheless, research also shows that regular listeners are influenced by the views they hear.

The political role of radio has also been enhanced by the availability of all-news stations—some local, some part of large chains, and some from satellite radio, which provides a variety of news formats. In addition, public radio provides substantial coverage of local, state, and national news. Examples include Austin's KUT, KERA in Dallas, Houston's KUHT, and Texas Public Radio, which operates several stations in San Antonio and the Hill Country. National Public Radio (NPR), the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), and local public radio and TV stations receive a small amount of public financing but raise most of their money from individual and corporate donors. In Austin, KUT's coverage is enriched by a partnership with the online newspaper The Texas Tribune. Additionally, several public radio stations in the state have combined resources for reporting on environmental and energy-related issues through a collaboration called StateImpact.

Regularly scheduled television broadcasting in the United States began in 1928. However, Texas did not have commercial television until after World War II, when the industry began to flourish nationally. In 1948 WBAP-TV, the first television station in Texas and the South, was opened by Amon G. Carter, publisher of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and a pioneer in Texas radio. In the 1950s, television flourished in the state. It appears that Texas paralleled the nation in the expansion of television. Nationally, the number of households with television expanded from 9 percent in 1950 to 97 percent in 1975, a percentage that has held steady to the present. Today, 80 percent of households have cable or satellite, although the proportion is declining among younger viewers. As of 2014, there were about 125 television stations in Texas, 12 of which are Public Broadcasting System (PBS) stations, covering 99 percent of the state's population.

As Table 6.1 shows, television news today comes in at least five different formats. From the most to the least used by the public, they are cable news (particularly Fox, MSNBC, and CNN), local news, network news (NBC, CBS, and ABC), news talk shows, and late night comedy shows.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-1c Digital Media: The Internet and Social Media

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-1c Digital Media: The Internet and Social Media

In comparison to the other media, the Internet is a recent phenomenon with its roots in the 1960s. The blooming of what we think of as the Internet (sometimes referred to as the Net) and social mediaWebsites and computer applications that allow users to engage in social networking and create online communities. Social media provide platforms for sharing information and ideas through discussion forums, videos, photos, documents, audio clips, and the like. came in the period 1994–2004. In the last decade, there has been an explosive growth of websites, both in number and function. Not surprisingly, the Net has become a vital part of politics and society. Today, news websitesAn Internet site that provides news. These sites are often affiliated with a newspaper or television station, but many are independent. and political blogsA website or web page on which a writer or group of writers record opinions, information, and links to other sites on a regular basis. are increasingly important outlets for news. It is now quite rare for a Texas newspaper (including weeklies) or television station not to have a website providing a range of news (some extensive, some not). The connection with social media is also strong. Logos for sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, and Linkedin are commonly found on the state's newspapers, television, and magazines and their Internet sites. These logos encourage readers to join conversations happening on these sites about current issues, and some users prefer to log in through social media to navigate news sites and to post comments.

Symbols of the new media: Facebook, Twitter, and the Tumblr site for Texas's online newspaper, The Texas Tribune.

Source: www.facebook.com; www.twitter.com; http://texastribune.tumblr.com/

Critical Thinking

• How have the Internet and social media influenced the reliability of news?

In addition, since 2009, the Texas Tribune has been a high-quality nonprofit online newspaper that reaches a wide range of people, including most of the state's political elite. Texas has long had political newsletters that cover major issues and happenings—generally for a fee. The Quorum Report, for example, has been a self-described source of “information and gossip” since 1983 and went online in 1998. One of the more influential political blogs in the state is by Texas Monthly senior executive editor Paul Burka (BurkaBlog).

The two major political parties, most statewide and some local candidates, and a multitude of interest groups maintain blogs, along with writers on the left and right. Examples of ideological blogs include Burnt Orange Report and Grits for Breakfast on the left and North Texas Conservative and The Conservative Cloakroom on the right. In spite (or because) of their minority status in the state, liberals have been more successful in establishing Texas blogs. As Tables 6.1 and 6.2 show, from a fourth to a third of Texans and Americans currently get news from the Internet.

Over time, the use of social media has grown considerably among all demographic groups. Today, almost three-fourths of Americans over 18 use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, with small differences in amount of usage based on gender, race/ethnicity, education, income, or residence (urban, suburban, or rural). Only age shows a substantial difference, and even then the oldest generation is not absent. Ninety percent of those 18–29 use social networking sites, compared to 46 percent of those 65 and older. Which site is preferred evolves over time. In the period 2011–2014, Facebook appears to have lost 59 percent of its high school and college users, but numbers for other demographic groups continued to grow.

People get news from social networking sites, but it tends to be incidental to looking for something else. Thus, they have more exposure to news but may disregard or forget the message because it was not their primary focus. Facebook remains the most common networking site (used by almost two-thirds of adults). As Figure 6.1 shows, 30 percent of U.S. adults get news from that site. The range of news topics users find on Facebook is broad. Entertainment news about celebrities is the most common kind of information accessed. News about national government and politics is fourth, and local government is seventh (see Figure 6.2). Half of social network users have shared the news they gather there with others on the site, and almost half have discussed the information online. A minority also have contributed to news reporting by posting photos or video they took at a news event.

Figure 6.1

Percent of U.S. Adults Who Get News from Each Social Networking Site and Who Use Each Site

Note: The percent of U.S. adults who get news on Pinterest and Vine is less than one percent each. Facebook News Survey, Aug. 21-Sept. 2, 2013 (N=5,173)

Source: Katerina Eva Matsa and Amy Mitchell, “8 Key Takeaways about Social Media and News,” Pew Research Journalism Project, March 26, 2014, http://www.journalism.org/2014/03/26/8-key-takeaways-about-social-media-and-news/.

Critical Thinking

• Is the proportion of those getting news from social media likely to increase or decrease? Why?

Figure 6.2

Percent of Facebook News Consumers Who Regularly See News on Facebook About …

Source: Katerina Eva Matsa and Amy Mitchell, “8 Key Takeaways about Social Media and News,” Pew Research Journalism Project, March 26, 2014, http://www.journalism.org/2014/03/26/8-key-takeaways-about-social-media-and-news/.

Critical Thinking

• How good are the quantity and quality of news people get on social media?

Learning Check 6.1

1. From which medium do the most people get their news today?

2. From which medium did most people get their news in the early 20th century?

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-2 The Media's Roles in Politics

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-2 The Media's Roles in Politics

LO 6.2

Describe the roles of the media in Texas politics.

The media are commonly said to fill four roles in U.S. and Texas politics: to provide information for the public and decision makers, to help us maintain our democracy, to help shape the public agenda (what government does and doesn't do), and to shape our views.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-2a Providing Information

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-2a Providing Information

The first role, providing information, is basic and sounds simple. However, the transfer of information to the public is complex. Most people are not involved in politics and at best care only marginally about what is happening politically. They are more likely to hear and remember ideas and important but unexciting information if it comes from someone they trust. This source may be a trusted newscaster such as Walter Cronkite(1916-2009), the Texan who was anchor for CBS's nightly news program for 19 years, or local news anchors such as Houston's Bill Balleza, Dallas/Fort Worth's Gloria Campos, or San Antonio's Randy Beamer. Bloggers and talk show hosts also may fill this role. Trusted “opinion leaders” are most often friends or relatives who pay close attention to the news on traditional or new media and pass on the information to people they know. Because these leaders are known and trusted, the information they provide is more likely to be heard, remembered, and further explored. A majority of Americans who hear about a story from friends and family follow up by seeking a full news story.

Knowing something about an issue increases the probability that related media stories will be heard and remembered. Members of the political elite are more likely to pay attention to the news and to get more out of it than the general public. They know more initially, and because of their knowledge they feel a greater incentive to become aware of what is happening. Research shows that there is a substantial, long-term difference between ordinary citizens and leaders in understanding the news and in levels of knowledge (remembering and putting it into context). Many scholars see a growing knowledge divide between the informed and the less informed.

An impediment to gaining information for both the interested public and the elite is the softening of the news. Growth in the number and range of alternatives to newspapers and network evening news has produced a sharp increase in competition for advertising dollars, which are closely connected to audience size. To gain more readers/listeners, news providers have increased the amount of entertainment in news broadcasts (often referred to as soft newsNews that is more entertaining, sensationalized, covers only the surface, and has little connection to public policy.) and decreased the quantity of hard newsNews that focuses on the facts, provides more depth, and commonly has implications for public policy.. Local television news in Texas and elsewhere has long focused on accidents, crime, and the reaction of local residents to national events. As a result, although crime has declined in many cities such as Houston and Dallas, regular viewers of local news often believe that crime is increasing. Similarly, followers of talk radio, one of the ideological cable television networks (Fox and MSNBC), or ideological Internet blogs may develop more political knowledge but also come to accept inaccurate or incomplete versions of reality.

Digital media make important contributions to the flow of information to the public. They remove the filters put in place by traditional media and allow the public to communicate directly. The site Reddit (commonly written as reddit), for example, allows users (rather than media professionals) to select the most important stories of the day. Unfortunately, the news role of social media has a fundamental conflict without an easy answer. On the one hand, few people use sites such as reddit (see Figure 6.1), and for those users, entertainment value often trumps substantive value in the news chosen. On the other hand, there is considerable evidence to support the charge that news selection by professional journalists is elitist in nature and does not resonate with a large part of the public.

Government, interest groups, and the elite want to “get the word out” to the public. This long meant trying to get the print and electronic press to cover their concerns as news. Today, the Internet and social media provide an array of direct outlets for users: advertisements on others' sites; their own Internet sites; blogs; and social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-2b Maintaining Democracy

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-2b Maintaining Democracy

A second task often assigned to the media is protecting democracy. Historically, the media have played a key protective role, but the quality of the protection has varied greatly. The media play a vital informational role for both ordinary citizens and leaders. Without the media reporting what is happening, citizens would be unable to make intelligent decisions in voting and other forms of political participation. We would be dependent on what the government and interest groups tell us. We also rely on the media to investigate and dig out information the government and special interests wish to hide. Over time, the ability of the press to fill these roles has fluctuated.

The Partisan Past

Throughout the 19th century, newspapers in Texas and the nation were highly partisan, often scurrilous, and not addicted to the truth. For example, newspapers around the state were strongly divided on the personality of Sam Houston in both the editorial and news pages. When newspapers reemerged after the Civil War, they divided sharply over Reconstruction's Governor Edmund J. Davis. Nevertheless, the “yellow journalismJournalism that is based on sensationalism and exaggeration.” practiced by the Hearst and Pulitzer newspapers at the close of the 19th century laid a foundation for investigative journalism, according to some historians. Others see yellow journalism as the ancestor of today's supermarket tabloids. In any event, the Galveston News in the second half of the 19th century began to move away from harsh partisanship, and by the end of the century most Texas newspapers were following suit. Two factors seem to have contributed to this movement toward more evenhanded reporting. One was the growth of news services such as the Associated Press, which meant that newspapers were sharing the same story. The other was the increasing reliance on advertising revenue. Technological changes made possible the publication of large runs of a newspaper, which increased circulation. Publishers had to become more moderate and professional because they could not afford to alienate either advertisers or subscribers. Advertisers then and now look at circulation numbers to determine whether to buy advertising space and how much to pay.

Professionalism and Democracy

In the 20th century, professionalismReporting that is objective, neutral, and accurate. gradually became the standard for American and Texas journalists. To be professional, reporting should be objective, neutral, and accurate, not based on partisanship, ideology, or the economic interest of reporters or owners of media outlets. Professional journalism has long been seen as important to democracy. Citizens and leaders gain a fuller and more accurate picture of events, and government and special interests get away with less. However, there are other perspectives. Advocacy journalists strive for accuracy but reject objectivity (presenting both sides well). Ideological publications, such as the Texas Observer, practice advocacy. In newspapers, the distinction is easier to see. It is on the “news pages” that professionalism—objectivity and neutrality—should apply. Advocacy is practiced on the editorial pages, where editors and columnists give their opinions. In television news, the news and opinion segments tend to be less clearly separated.

Professionalism is, of course, an ideal, and most suppliers of news are judged by how close they come to the ideal, not by whether they are perfect. Several trends have chipped away at the standards of professionalism, and critics have noted that professional journalists tend to see official sources (that is, government officials and other powerful people) as reliable, legitimate, and knowledgeable. Thus, professionals may overreport views of the government and the elite to the neglect of other views. Critics note, for example, that reporters seem to have long taken at face value the bragging by legislative leaders about balancing the Texas state budget when the federal government has not been able to do so. The fuller picture is that the state constitution makes it virtually impossible for the legislature to spend more than the comptroller predicts the state will have available to spend.

Similarly, being objective means presenting multiple perspectives of an issue. However, if there is no debate among the powerful, concerns by ordinary citizens may be neglected. For example, problems at Veterans Affairs hospitals in Texas and the nation were long underreported. Also, there may be two sides to an issue among political leaders but a third side held by the public that may go unreported in the news. For example, in the recent debate over anti-abortion legislation passed by the legislature in 2013, most of the reporting focused on the two extremes—pro-life and pro-choice. However, for years the largest segment of the public has tended to reject the two extremes—no abortion at all or abortion for any reason. Americans are more likely to believe that abortion should be available but only under certain circumstances. The independent nature of Internet and social media interactions give hope that citizen views, not reflected in elite opinion, will also be heard.

In recent years, the national media have become more adversarialReporting featuring opposition and a combative style. Also called attack journalism.. Aggressive use of investigations, publicity, and exposure has given them more independence and prominence. There is serious question as to whether the adversarial approach has happened in Texas, at least in the case of the traditional media (print and broadcast). The discussion of media coverage of scandals that follows provides some insight into this issue.

Most observers believe that the national media are more partisan today than during most of the last century. Clearly, some forms of media in Texas are partisan: blogs, social media, and talk radio/television. But the traditional media (newspapers and local television news) tend not to be heavily partisan. In terms of newspapers, differences are more a matter of degree than absolute. The editorial policy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, for example, is commonly seen as center-left, and its neighbor the Dallas Morning News is center-right. The Morning News, Star-Telegram, San Antonio Express-News, Austin American-Statesman, and Houston Chronicle all endorsed favorite son George W. Bush for president in 2004. In the three presidential elections from 2004 to 2012, four of the five papers endorsed at least one Republican and one Democrat. Only the Dallas paper was “red” (Republican) in all three elections.

Investigative Journalism

Today, we commonly look to the media to help keep our public officials honest by asking hard questions and investigating suspicious actions. Unfortunately, the ability of both the national and state (especially Texas) media to conduct investigations has declined. The reduction in the number of reporters is a major reason. An important tool for the watchdog role of the Texas media is the use of open meetings and open records.

Many government agencies and individual officials in Texas are reluctant to share information about how decisions affecting the public interest are made or the information used in making the decisions. In the past, meetings of school boards and other public boards were often closed to the public. However, during the 1973 session of the legislature, in the aftermath of the Sharpstown scandal (see below), the public interest group Common Cause received strong support from other public interest groups and the media to push through open meetingsMeetings of public entities that are required by law to be open to the public. and open recordsGovernment documents and records that are required by law to be available to the public. legislation. (A weak open meetings act was passed in 1967. The open records act is now officially the Public Information Act.) Today, as these acts have developed, they are among the strongest in the country.

Under open meetings law, government boards must discuss proposals and make their decisions in meetings open to the public. There are a few exceptions, such as personnel matters, contracts, and real property purchases or sales that can be discussed in executive (closed) session, but even then, actual decisions generally must be made in sessions open to the public. Ordinary citizens can, of course, attend, but it is reporting by the media that makes information widely available. Some cities and other government units now stream their meetings and make minutes and other documents available over the Internet.

Most reports, communications, and paperwork generated within executive agencies may be requested by citizens. In 2013, the legislature updated requirements to clarify the inclusion of emails. No reason need be given for the request, and there is no restriction on use of the information. Those most likely to ask for records are the news media, advocacy groups, and activists within the community.

As with open meetings, there are some restrictions as to what can be released, and this limitation can lead to difficulties obtaining information. For example, following the deadly 2013 fertilizer plant explosion in the town of West, the state fire marshal aggressively inspected all 104 ammonium nitrate facilities in the state. When a reporter requested copies of some of the reports, the documents were so heavily redacted (marked through) that they were useless to the reporter. After requesting a state attorney general's opinion, the reporter received more information, although the attorney general's office ordered the fire marshal to redact the names and addresses of the facilities. During 2013-2014, the Texas Attorney General issued a string of opinions to state agencies ruling that the location of toxic chemicals should not be made public because of the danger of terrorism. The opinions highlight the conflict between keeping information from those who would do us harm and the public's needing to know where it is safe to live, to go to school, or to work.

The media not only report information they gather from open meetings and open records requests, they also report information obtained by others using data the state requires to be reported. For example, candidates, lobbyists, and officeholders are required to report financial information such as campaign contributions and expenditures to the Texas Ethics Commission, which places the information online but not always in a readily usable form. Public interest groups such as Texans for Public Justice often compile the information so as to make patterns clearer (for example, their report Texas' Top Lobbyists identified lobbyists who received up to $328 million for trying to influence the 2013 legislative session). The online Texas Tribune has developed several searchable databases, including salaries of public employees and the Texas Campaign Finance Database: 2000–2014.

Scandals and the Media

One of the roles often portrayed for the press is investigating wrongdoing by government and its leaders. Texas has a long history of political scandals and conflicts in which the media have played a significant but seldom leading role. The press more commonly spreads the word and keeps the pot boiling, which allows time for concerned citizens and leaders to seek reforms. The classic case is the Sharpstown stock fraud scandal of the early 1970s in which federal prosecutors originated charges that resulted in three convictions (one of which was overturned on appeal). The media gave substantial coverage to the scandal and the subsequent actions of the “Dirty Thirty,” a group of legislators who forced public discussion of the issues involved. As a result, Governor Preston Smith (named as an unindicted coconspirator), Lieutenant Governor Ben Barnes (who was not a participant in the conspiracy), and a large majority of the legislature were swept from office. A flurry of mild reforms followed.

In three prominent cases, however, the media's investigations uncovered corruption. In the mid-1950s, the managing editor of the Cuero Record won a Pulitzer Prize for exposing the defrauding of veterans by the state land commissioner, Bascom Giles, who went to prison. Following up on Sharpstown, in the 1970s, the media and prosecutors found widespread corruption such as illegal hiring of relatives and theft of legislative stamp allotments. In the late 1980s, media investigations produced changes in the membership on the Texas Supreme Court.

Scrutiny of the Texas Supreme Court began when two San Antonio newspapers questioned decisions by justices that favored their campaign contributors. That led to a fuller investigation by Texas Monthly and then a national story in 1987 by the investigative television program 60 Minutes. In a rare move, the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct publicly reprimanded two justices. Three justices took early retirement. Tenacious reporting changed personnel on the court and contributed to its moving from all Democrats to all Republicans. But this did not change the fundamental problem: judges and justices still have to raise money for their election campaigns—$1.5 to $2 million for a single campaign for the Texas Supreme Court. A decade later, in 1998, 60 Minutes revisited the court and found the same problem. Democratic justices had favored their contributors: plaintiffs' attorneys. Now, Republican justices were favoring their contributors: business and insurance. (For further discussion of this issue, see Chapter 11, “The Judicial Branch.”)

In both Sharpstown and the Texas Supreme Court cases, the changes were in personnel, not fundamental changes in the system. Because the system remains unchanged, so too does the likelihood of future abuses. Serious reform is a hard sell in Texas.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-2c Setting the Public Agenda

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-2c Setting the Public Agenda

A third major role of the media is its substantial contribution to setting the public agenda (called agenda settingAffecting the importance given issues by government and public leaders.)—that is, influencing which issues are dealt with by government. There are a multitude of problems affecting the public, but if public officials are not aware of them, nothing happens. In addition, officials may be aware of problems but not want to act. For example, low funding for mental health resources in Texas has created major problems for many Texans, but strong resistance to spending the money to increase social services long left Texas in last place among the states in per capita mental health expenditures. Without the public's becoming aware and highly concerned, state leadership can ignore the problem. When a substantial segment of the public or major leaders become aware of issues, action is more likely.

An example of media influence on policy took place in early 2014. The plan of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to build a bypass around the town of Snook would have required cutting down several trees and damaging others in a stand of 200- to 300-year-old live oaks. When residents protested in the nearby Bryan/College Station media, TxDOT promised an attempt to save some of the trees but not to save all. A Facebook page and an online petition were created. Then, within days of the story's appearing in a major daily, the Houston Chronicle, TxDOT devised a new plan that would move traffic safely, save the trees, and stay within budget.

The Texas media have a limited influence on agenda setting. Competing with the media in setting the public agenda are the governor, legislative leaders, and interest groups, who have more power and resources. In addition, the decline in the number of reporters, the fragmented nature of the state's executive branch, the large number of local governments (particularly the often almost invisible special districts and the fragmented county offices), and reliance on nonlocal and out-of-state collectors of information make it likely that many possible agenda items will be missed. Although the Texas press influences major state-level agenda items and many local issues, it has too few resources to cover, let alone influence, the majority of state agencies, county offices, and special districts.

Moreover, the elitist nature of the state political system and the power of special interest groups assure plenty of competition for media attention. Grassroots movements such as the Tea Party and the Occupy Movement have learned to use social media combined with traditional methods such as rallies and demonstrations to gain the attention of the public and leaders. However, the ability of ordinary citizens to come together over an issue of concern to them and use the new media sources to add their cause to the public agenda still appears to be in its infancy (but an infancy with possibilities of healthy growth).

Students in Action

A Diverse Career and the Changing Media

Ademide Adedokun was born in London to Nigerian parents and moved to Katy, Texas, when she was nine. At Sam Houston State, she was a double major—history and political science—and active in the university and community. Among other awards, she was selected as the Outstanding Female Student at the university. With a career in public service in mind, she interned with the City of Huntsville and in the office of the local congressman, Kevin Brady.

It is common for congressional staff members to begin as interns, and this was Ademide's route. With the support of Congressman Brady and his chief of staff, she took a staff position with Congressman Pete Olson. In both positions, she worked with constituents. From there, she moved to the staff of the commandant of the Coast Guard in Washington, D.C., where she assisted the communications director in both internal and external messages. In 2012, she received a Master of Public Administration degree from American University in Washington, D.C., and was promoted to speechwriter for the commandant.

Ms. Adedokun was struck by the diversity of the media. “The media has changed,” she said, “and that means that we use a variety of methods to transmit messages: internal websites, external websites, speeches, video, and any other method we can think of.”

Asked what she learned from being a political science major, she said, “Political science taught me how to write. You cannot enter the professional world without the knowledge of how to write using correct grammar and punctuation. During the course of a workday, no matter what profession you choose, you're going to write e-mails, reports, memos, and every other kind of document.”

Source: Interview by R. Mike Yawn.

© Andresr/Shutterstock.com

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-2d Shaping Our Views?

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-2d Shaping Our Views?

A fourth role often attributed to the media is to shape our perceptions of events and issues. Many people believe that the media tell us what to believe—that is, they create opinion. Research finds little evidence for this view. Rather, it finds a much more complex process in which the media play important roles. We have seen that the media are a major source of information. However, this effect is reduced because we are more likely to perceive an issue and its importance if we already know something about the topic or the information comes from a trusted source such as a friend or favorite newscaster. Then, we are more likely to “hear” the news. Similarly, students in an introductory political science class are likely to find the news makes more sense (and therefore remember it) as they learn more background and context from the course.

Personal connection also affects our behavior. In the 2010 national elections, researchers found that putting a reminder that “Today is election day” at the top of Facebook news feeds and a button to click for polling place locations increased turnout by 60,000 voters. However, adding pictures of Facebook friends who voted increased the number by 280,000. That is, invoking people's social networks yielded an additional four voters for every one voter that was directly mobilized.

Do the media change our minds? If we actually have a developed opinion, the answer is “not often.” The reason is found in the concept of selective perception and retention. As a general rule, we tend to hear and remember those ideas that support what we already believe and to reject those views that conflict with our own. Consistently, when a group of Republicans and Democrats gather in the same room to listen to their parties' candidates for governor debate the issues, most of the group come away thinking that their candidate made the stronger arguments and won the debate. This tendency means that the media are unlikely to change the minds of those who strongly support candidates or issues, but they may have an effect on marginal supporters. Attack ads are a case in point.

Attack Ads

Scurrilously attacking your opponent was a common practice in 18th- and 19th-century politics. Though generally less mean-spirited and less common today, attack adsAn advertisement meant as a personal attack on an opposing candidate or organization. (personal attacks) are still an important part of national and state politics. Advertisements that are negative toward the opponent are quite common and can rise to sharp attacks. A major reason that candidates run attack ads is that they work—on two levels. Negative ads tend to influence the tone and content of news coverage. Said another way, they often generate free media coverage. Second, votes may be won by negative ads. The public tends to accept accurate attacks on the issues, and negativity is often more interesting (and thus more memorable) than positive ads.

People regularly complain about negative campaign ads, but the importance of the political race and the repetition of the ads cause many to “hear” the charges. Already convinced supporters will tend to reject the charges made in the ads, but marginal supporters may become less certain and abstain from voting for the candidate. This result seems to be the strongest electoral effect of attack ads. Research shows that as the number of negative ads increases, news coverage tends to become more negative, which lowers participation and trust in government. Although negativity and incivility have always had a role in American politics, research indicates that their audio and visual media presentation increases the likely impact on our emotions and therefore on our view of politics.

A classic example of successful attack ads is the 2002 race for governor between Democrat Tony Sanchez and Republican Rick Perry. Sanchez, a wealthy oilman and banker from the border city of Laredo, was part of the Democrats' “Dream Team,” composed of a Mexican American (Sanchez), an African American (Ron Kirk), and a moderately conservative Anglo (John Sharp) running for the top three offices on the ballot. The hope was to energize the Democratic Party's two ethnic bases and to compete with the Republicans for the large conservative Anglo vote. Republicans ran a series of attack ads trying to taint Sanchez with drug money allegedly laundered through his bank. Although the ads appear not to have reduced support from strong Democrats, they probably contributed to the failure of Sanchez's candidacy to mobilize the Latino vote sufficiently to overcome the Republican advantage among Anglo voters.

Priming and Framing

Two related concepts are important in understanding the impact of the news on our views: priming and framing. Most issues can be seen in different ways. PrimingThe news media indicating how important an issue is or which part of a situation is most important. may indicate how important an issue is or which part of a situation is most important. A classic example happened in the 1990 gubernatorial election between liberal Democrat Ann Richards and conservative Republican Clayton Williams. Through much of the campaign, the focus was primarily on the ideological differences between the two. As the conservative candidate in a conservative state, Williams maintained a comfortable lead. But then Williams told a joke to a group of reporters comparing rape to the weather and later refused to shake Richards's hand over charges she had made. As a result, his persona suddenly became the major focus for the press and many voters. (What kind of southern man won't shake a woman's hand, and is he an insensitive sexist?) Poll results began to change, and Richards was narrowly elected. (Cable news, the Internet, and social media greatly speed the spread of news. The impact of the gaffes could have been even larger today.)

FramingThe news media providing meaning or defining the central theme of an issue. provides meaning or defines the central theme. For example, lawsuits against doctors for malpractice, employers for unsafe work conditions, and manufacturers for selling harmful products were long viewed by much of the public as entertaining tidbits or as examples of the little guy/gal striking back at the powerful. However, in the early 1980s, groups of business people, doctors, and conservatives began a series of public relations campaigns lasting more than two decades to reframe the issue as important and costly—to convince the public that frivolous claims and expensive awards from these lawsuits were driving doctors out of the state, raising prices, and cutting into the economy. The campaigns changed the minds of enough people that the legislature passed legislation in 2003 and the public approved a constitutional amendment to limit the damage awards for these claims. In another example, the 2011 session of the legislature responded to a shortfall of state revenue by cutting a wide range of state services, including $5 billion from public education. Supporters of the cuts framed the issue as fiscal responsibility in hard times, while opponents framed it as damaging education. The dueling frames continued into 2014, even after the 2013 legislature restored a significant amount of the funding.

What Research Finds

Learning Check 6.2

1. Are the media today becoming more or less able to investigate government wrongdoing?

2. What does media framing mean?

Our understanding of the influence of the media has undergone substantial change over time. Pundits long suggested a hypodermic model in which the powerful media persuaded the unsophisticated citizenry. However, research found little evidence for this effect. It was followed by a minimal effects model that said the media could only reinforce and activate existing predispositions. Again, the evidence led in a different direction. Today, researchers find considerable evidence for a subtle effects model. The media are not all-powerful but are influential in important ways. In the words of Professors Rosalee Clawson and Zoe Oxley, “This tradition argues that the media influence citizens through agenda setting, priming, and framing; the media influence what citizens think about, which issues or traits citizens bring to bear when evaluating political leaders, and which considerations shape their thinking on political issues.”

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-3 Campaigns and Citizen Participation

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-3 Campaigns and Citizen Participation

LO 6.3

Discuss the roles of the media in modern Texas election campaigns.

The media play a major role in campaigns for public office and citizen attempts to be heard. With the decline in the ability of political parties to mobilize voters, television and newspapers have long been the major mechanism for candidates to reach potential voters. In a state as large as Texas, this is an extremely expensive undertaking and one that is not always successful. The rise of the Internet and social media has given candidates more ability to reach out directly to voters. The new media have also provided new tools for citizen groups to organize and to try to sell their message.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-3a Campaigns and the Traditional Media

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-3a Campaigns and the Traditional Media

What happens in campaigns casts light on the four major roles of the media just discussed. In the past, candidates relied on rallies and mobilization by local leaders and party organizations. With the advent of television and the decline of political parties, candidates for national, state, and many local offices came to rely on the mass media to get their message out. They seek press coverage of their events, generate situations and issues they hope the media will cover, and buy ads. For years, the ads have made heavy use of television, although by 2008 the Internet was gaining ground. The “How Do We Compare?” table shows 17 media markets in Texas, 6 more than California. As a result, the cost of a traditional media campaign is substantial. For example, in 2010 Democrat Bill White spent $26.3 million trying to unseat Governor Rick Perry. The 2002 gubernatorial campaign cost candidates (and their supporters) a record $95 million. Not surprisingly, candidates seek as much free media coverage as possible. Campaign events are designed more to gain news coverage than to involve those citizens attending, who are often more backdrop than participants.

How Do We Compare … in Media Access?

Sources: Television Bureau of Advertising, “Nielson Local Television Market Universe Estimates,” http://www.tvb.org/media/file/TVB_Market_Profiles_Nielsen_TVHH_DMA_Ranks_2013-2014.pdf; U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract, 2012, Table 1136; and U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 Current Population Survey, reported in Governing the States and Localities, “Internet Connectivity, Usage Statistics for States,” http://www.governing.com/gov-data/internet-usage-by-state.html.

Critical Thinking

• Texas has the lowest per capita newspaper circulation of all eight states and fares poorly in Internet access compared to the other large states. What factors do you think contribute to this circumstance?

The relationship between candidates and the press is often testy. Both need each other, but they have different goals. The candidate wants free and friendly coverage; the press wants entertaining news stories—controversy, scandals, and mistakes by the candidate. Candidates at both the state and national level want to control or at least influence the news. In Texas, the news environment makes it easier for the candidates to exercise control. There are fewer reporters; many of them know the candidate; and there is less of a press culture of asking challenging questions. This environment caused problems for Governors George W. Bush and Rick Perry, who went directly from working only in Texas state politics to running for president. They were not used to the rough-and-tumble aspects of national news, and as a result fared poorly in public debates and other encounters with reporters. The opportunities for direct contact with citizens through social media have enhanced the ability of candidates to bypass the traditional media. Facebook and Twitter are now commonly used by campaigns.

One of the complaints about news coverage of campaigns is that it tends to be horserace journalismNews that focuses on who is ahead in the race (poll results and public perceptions) rather than policy differences.; that is, it focuses more on who is winning than on the issues. Even after officials are elected, stories continue to focus on competition. Will Governor Perry run for governor next time? Will he run for president? Once again, entertainment appears to triumph over content. A strong reason for horserace coverage is that news management wants a large audience and prefers stories that alienate neither side.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-3b Digital Campaigning

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-3b Digital Campaigning

The 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns saw the Internet and social media come of age as a part of campaigning. Mainstream media provided blogs and online news coverage. YouTube, Facebook, and other social media provided outlets for candidates and citizens alike. Candidates began to use the Internet in a major way, putting up high-quality campaign sites and using social media to get out their message. Barack Obama was particularly successful in using the new media in both campaigns. Identifying and microtargeting potential younger voters through their email and social media accounts, his campaign was able to increase support and voter turnout among 18- to 24-year-olds.

In Texas, statewide and many local campaigns now make heavy use of the Internet and social media. In his highly successful 2010 gubernatorial campaign, Governor Perry adapted established campaign practices to modern-day reality, while his primary and general election opponents ran more traditional campaigns. Rather than use direct mail, phone banks, and knocking on the doors of strangers, the Perry campaign asked volunteers to identify 12 friends and turn them out to the polls. Facebook messages to friends were encouraged. Perry refused to meet with newspaper editorial boards (who decide on endorsements) and instead relied on friendly bloggers, social media, and personal appearances. He gave away no yard signs because, his people said, they don't work. (Supporters could buy a sign if they wished.) Social media were used to get Perry's voters organized, connected, and to the polls.

Ted Cruz's upset victory in the 2012 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate was fueled in significant part by skillful use of the Internet and social media. Among other efforts, the campaign advertised and raised funds on a multitude of platforms, targeted people who “liked” those who had endorsed Cruz, manipulated key words for Google searches, and used “promoted Tweets” (paid ads on Twitter that show up first in search results).

On the other hand, many traditional national, state, and local candidates were caught unawares by the new media, suffering embarrassment and sometimes defeat. Cell phone pictures and videos of candidates' off-the-cuff remarks and mistakes became common on social media. Some went viral. Other wounds were self-inflicted. Conservative candidate for lieutenant governor Senator Dan Patrick tweeted in February 2014, “MARRIAGE=ONE MAN & ONE MAN. Enough of these activist judges.” Even though he quickly changed the tweet, it remains on the Internet and makes “Great Gaffes” listings. (Readers should remember that comments and pictures posted on the Internet are likely to be there forever.) The Internet sometimes encourages or facilitates harsh comments that might not be made face-to-face. In the 2014 gubernatorial campaign, both major party candidates made heavy use of Facebook and Twitter to promote discussion of their issues but had a difficult time limiting negative and scurrilous comments posted about their opponents.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-3c Citizen Participation in the Digital Age

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-3c Citizen Participation in the Digital Age

One of the charges against digital media is that use of the Internet and social media contributes to lower civic engagementActions by citizens to address issues of public concern. (actions to address issues of public concern). The idea is that because digital communication is not face-to-face, users are not as connected to other people and society. However, research by the Pew Research Internet Project does not support this view. Based on a 2012 survey of Internet users, researchers concluded that there was major growth in political activity on social networking sites during the years 2008–2012. Politics, for most users, is not just a social network activity. Users are frequently active in other aspects of civic life. The study also found a common pattern: lower education and income tend to decrease civic participation. However, among Facebook and Twitter users, education and income had less effect. Finally, the young are as likely as older adults to be engaged in some political activities and are more likely to be politically active on social networking sites.

Studies have consistently shown that Texans are low in civic engagement compared to the rest of the nation. Texas is below the national average in such areas as the proportion of people voting, involved in groups, donating to charity, or volunteering in their community. This lack of engagement is also true online. Both face-to-face and online, Texans are below the national average in discussing political or community issues with friends and family.

Learning Check 6.3

1. Why are statewide election campaigns so expensive in Texas?

2. Are campaigns using the Internet and social media more effectively?

Like candidates, citizens on both the left and right have learned to use digital media to increase their influence in the political arena. The Tea Party's success in organizing grassroots campaigns, for example, is commonly attributed to the aggressive use of social media. Similarly, skillful use of the digital media on the last day of the first special session of the 2013 legislature temporarily blocked anti-abortion legislation and boosted State Senator Wendy Davis into the Democratic nomination for governor. Davis filibustered an anti-abortion bill for almost 13 hours, forcing a second special session to be called to pass the bill. The filibuster was streamed live on YouTube to 180,000 viewers. Twitter was used to bring protestors to the state capitol to support Davis, and there were 570,000 tweets about the filibuster that day, including one from President Barack Obama.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-4 Bias?

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-4 Bias?

LO 6.4

Analyze whether there is ideological bias in the Texas media.

Given the important roles played by the media, it is not surprising that activists of all persuasions often believe the media are biased against them. Until the mid-1980s, the majority of the American public saw the press as relatively unbiased, but since then substantial majorities have come to perceive bias. Research shows that parts of the media have become more partisan and ideological but that much of the “mainstream” media still adheres to standards of objectivity and neutrality. To understand this conclusion will take some explanation.

It is well established by research that over the last 30 years reporters have been more liberal and aligned with the Democratic Party than the general population, while newspaper management has long tended to be more conservative and Republican. Many from both groups do not fit these tendencies, but it is nevertheless a strong and persistent pattern. Owners and publishers tend to be more conservative, possibly because of their greater affluence and business position. Newspapers have traditionally endorsed candidates for public office, and the choices (particularly for the top offices) generally reflect the position of owners and managers. In the 21 presidential elections from 1932 to 2012, Republicans received more newspaper endorsements (17 elections) than Democrats (3 elections). (In 1996, some 70 percent of newspapers made no presidential endorsement!) Texas's pattern is more complex. In the long period of Democratic Party dominance, both parties generally nominated conservative candidates; but in the Democratic primary, there was often a contest between a liberal and one or more conservatives. Texas newspapers, with some variation, generally supported conservatives.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-4a Media Bias and the News

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-4a Media Bias and the News

Do personal preferences of reporters and managers affect coverage of the news? The answer is yes in countries with a partisan press, as was the case in the United States until the 20th century. Today, the traditions of professionalism that have come to be the standard for journalists hold that the press should report the facts as they are, not the way journalists want them to be, and that opinion should be clearly separated and identified as such. This view has dominated Texas newspapers and television since the early 1900s with, of course, some exceptions. However, the pattern is changing or at least being challenged at both the national and local levels. Today, the two cable news networks with the largest audiences are Fox and MSNBC, which have, respectively, a conscious bias to the right (conservative) and left (liberal). CNN (Cable News Network), the pioneer in cable news with a tradition of objective reporting, stands third in audience size. In an attempt to keep up with its ideological competitors, it regularly uses ideologues of the left and right to analyze events and issues. In 2012, about 54 percent of CNN's news time was factual reporting, while 46 percent was commentary or opinion. By comparison, Fox spent 55 percent of its time on commentary and opinion and MSNBC 85 percent.

Talk radio has long been dominated by conservatives at both the local and national level. On the Internet, there is a wide range of blogs, making it easy for users to get their information from congenial sources that reinforce the reader's views and entertain them. Texas has popular blogs on both the right and left, with the left tending to be better established. A relatively new phenomenon is the growth in popularity of humorous political talk shows on television—for example, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Real Time with Bill Maher—and the number of people who say they get their political information from these entertainment sources. Unlike talk radio, these programs have tended to be more liberal. The growth of social media increases the role of friends and opinion leaders in originating and framing issues, and the availability of sites such as YouTube and Twitter increases self-selection of what news and views to receive. This practice leads to confirmation bias in which people become more fixed in their beliefs and attitudes because they seek out information that supports their beliefs.

Objective reporting still remains an imperfectly followed standard for the three major television broadcasting networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC), the public networks (NPR, PRI, and PBS), and the major newspapers of Texas. At times, the media deviate from objectivity. When George W. Bush first ran for governor and later for president, he was initially viewed negatively by a large number of the reporters covering him. When he ran for governor, he was seen as uninformed and trading on his father's name. When he ran for president, he was tainted with the negative paintbrush often applied by the national press to Texas politicians such as President Lyndon Johnson and presidential candidate Rick Perry (a rube from the country, unsophisticated, and poorly educated). However, in both campaigns, Bush was able to charm many reporters who warmed to him and gave him more favorable coverage. Another example is the state press's reaction to the 2011 cuts in education funding by the legislature. The issue produced dueling frames. Much of the state press coverage of the issue appeared to accept the view that the actions were based more on anti-public-education and antigovernment ideology than on fiscal responsibility.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-4b What Research Finds

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-4b What Research Finds

Is there partisan or ideological bias in the media? The findings are clear but nuanced. There is little objective evidence of systematic ideological or partisan bias in the mainstream media. Major newspapers and network television news generally adhere to the standards of objectivity and journalistic professionalism. In the words of media scholar Timothy E. Cook, “Newsmaking is a collective process more influenced by the uncritically accepted routine workings of journalism as an institution than by attitudes of journalists.” Reporters and managers tend to act professionally and not let their ideological preferences dictate their choice of stories or direct the tone of their reporting. The ideological divide between reporters and managers probably also tends to reduce ideological or partisan bias. Nevertheless, today there is more debate between the “talking heads” representing differing interpretations on television, and more analysis stories in newspapers. There are many examples of biased coverage of issues and events; however, they balance out over the long run. Where the media have become highly partisan and ideological is in the areas in which consumers can choose their source of information and entertainment—Fox or MSNBC, which blog, which talk show?

Learning Check 6.4

1. Do studies find that there is a net bias in the media to the left or right?

2. In which area of the media is there becoming more partisanship?

Two other forms of bias are also noted in the media: a bias toward the entertaining over the important, and a commercial bias. Both are discussed later in the chapter in the section “Change in the Media.”

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-5 Regulation

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-5 Regulation

LO 6.5

Distinguish how print and electronic media are regulated by government.

In many countries, the media are owned or heavily regulated by government. In the United States, the First Amendment to the Constitution protects freedom of the press, which has meant little regulation of newspapers. Broadcast media (radio and television) were long regulated to ensure they “serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity” under federal law. In comparison to regulation in other Western nations, the regulation in the United States has been with a light hand.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-5a Regulation of Print and Broadcast Media

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-5a Regulation of Print and Broadcast Media

U.S. courts have been particularly suspicious of prior restraintSuppression of material before it is published, commonly called censorship. or censorship before information can be made available to the public. For example, in New York Times Co. v. United States, 402 U.S. 713 (1971), the U.S. Supreme Court allowed publication of a highly classified government study of the Vietnam War popularly known as The Pentagon Papers. One of the ironies in legal treatment of the media is that the courts have protected the right of the media to criticize government more than is the case in most other countries, while the FCC has regulated obscenity more tightly than have most other Western nations.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is responsible for media regulation. It has a reputation for responding to special interests and being ineffective in protecting the public interest, although it has done better in protecting individuals from unfair publicity. In cable television's early days, broadcast television successfully lobbied for regulations that imposed major and costly restrictions on cable TV. Broadcast television sought to protect its turf through government rules restricting competitive programming and requiring cable to provide new services not required of the broadcasters. It took 20 years to overcome the opposition and see a softening of the rules.

Today, the FCC substantially regulates only television broadcast over the air (technically, “free-to-air” television). Radio and cable television were deregulated in 1996. The media are subject to general laws such as those regulating business practices and monopolies. The Internet has not experienced the degree of regulation faced by the broadcast media and cable but has had to deal with a number of legal issues over time: copyright protection, pornography, cybersecurity, the harvesting of personal information from the Net, and now government spying.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-5b Internet Regulation

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-5b Internet Regulation

Perhaps the biggest regulatory issue facing the Internet today is net neutralityA legal principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially and not blocking content they do not like., which means that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially and not blocking content they do not like. The issue came to a head in February 2014 when Comcast, the nation's largest broadband and cable provider, and Netflix, the video streaming site that produces about 30 percent of Internet traffic, announced an agreement. Netflix would pay Comcast for faster and more reliable direct access to its network (and subscribers). Coming only 10 days after Comcast agreed to buy the giant cable TV provider Time Warner Cable, this agreement raised concerns about whether the merger created a monopoly, the bargaining power Comcast's size gave it, and the viability of net neutrality. In January 2014, a federal appeals court had struck down the FCC's net neutrality rules, which might have forbidden the Comcast-Netflix agreement. The FCC then announced it would attempt to reformulate its rules with input from Congress. Debate has centered on whether paying for access could become a norm that could stifle opportunities for startup Internet services and whether reduction in competition will be a long-term consequence. There are loud and articulate voices on both sides of the issues. The cartoon that opens this chapter captures the strong feelings the issue provokes.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-5c State and Local Regulation

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-5c State and Local Regulation

Learning Check 6.5

1. Which medium is most regulated today?

2. Which level of government has traditionally done the most regulating of media?

State and local governments may regulate the media in areas outside FCC rules. In Texas, regulation has been minimal, although issues over franchises for cable outlets have been a source of considerable conflict. A long-standing free press issue was resolved in 2009 when Texas became the 37th state to pass a shield lawA law protecting journalists from having to reveal confidential sources to police or in court. protecting journalists from having to reveal certain confidential sources. The law, called the Free Flow of Information Act, allows reporters to protect their sources by not having to testify or produce notes in court. Reporters had argued that they were not able to carry out their investigative role if they could not protect the identity of their sources. Prosecutors long opposed the measure because they believed it impeded evidence gathering. Both sides finally agreed to a compromise that protected sources but required journalists to identify confidential sources in criminal cases if the journalist witnessed a felony.

Texas Tribune director of technology, Higinio Maycotte (left), and software engineer, Niran Babalola, work in their Austin newsroom. Samples of other national news websites are posted on the walls. The major online nonprofit newspaper, The Texas Tribune, was founded in 2009.

Erich Schlegel/Corbis News/Corbis

Critical Thinking

• As traditional newspapers decline in Texas, will the digital media gather enough news to keep us well informed?

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-6 Change in the Media: More Participation, More Sources, but Less News?

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-6 Change in the Media: More Participation, More Sources, but Less News?

LO 6.6

Discuss the positive and negative effects of the changes the media are undergoing in Texas.

The nature of the media is changing rapidly. From the 19th century, newspapers were the major source of news for Texans. But in the second half of the 20th century, television came to be the dominant source of information for Americans and Texans alike. Now, in the 21st century, the Internet and social media are seriously challenging television news for viewers, particularly among the young. Many see these changes as positive: people now have a wider range of choices for their news and can get it according to their own schedule and wishes. Through the Internet, there is more opportunity for individuals to participate in collection and distribution of news. Others see the changes as fraught with dangers for citizens' level of accurate information.

What do we know? First, newspapers are still the major gatherers of news. Television news and the Internet depend heavily on the major newspapers for originating stories. In the case of Internet news, there is still an ongoing debate as to whether enough people will pay for news on the Net and whether enough advertisers can be obtained to finance the level of news gathering now provided by newspapers. Second, the need to draw audiences by being more entertaining has decreased the amount of hard news across the media. Third, the proliferation of channels on satellite television and blogs on the Internet has led to increased niche journalismA news medium focusing on a narrow audience defined by concern about a particular topic or area. (also called narrowcastingA news medium focusing on a narrow audience defined by concern about a particular topic or area.) that appeals to a narrow audience, which often leads to more extreme ideological and partisan views. Finally, the Internet has provided an outlet for a number of sites that check the facts in news stories and politicians' claims, such as PolitiFact, FactCheck, and Snopes.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-6a Concentration of Ownership

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-6a Concentration of Ownership

Another change profoundly affecting the media is the growing concentration of ownership. Today, just six corporations own most of the national newspapers, newsmagazines, broadcast television networks, and cable news networks, as well as publishing houses, movie studios, telephone companies, Internet service providers, and entertainment firms. The six corporations and some of their media are Time-Warner (CNN, HBO, Time); Disney (ABC, ESPN, and several movie studios); Viacom (MTV, Nick Jr., BET, CMT, and Paramount Studios); CBS Corporation (Showtime, NFL.com, and 60 Minutes); News Corporation Limited (Fox, Wall Street Journal, and New York Post); and General Electric (Comcast, NBC, and Universal Pictures). The corporations owning the media tend to be conglomerates; that is, they own companies that make or sell a variety of products, not just entertainment and information.

In Texas, local ownership of the media has declined precipitously. Of the major Texas newspapers, only the Dallas Morning News is still owned by a Texas company, the A. H. Belo Corporation, which owns a number of newspapers within and outside the state. A spin-off, Belo Corporation, owns television stations in Houston (KHOU), San Antonio (KENS), and Austin (KVUE), as well as out of state. The Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News are owned by the Hearst chain, the Fort Worth Star Telegram by the McClatchy Company, and the Austin American-Statesman by Cox Enterprises. Fifty-eight of San Antonio's Clear Channel Communications' 840 radio stations are in Texas.

Homogenization

Concentration of media ownership has four consequences that worry critics. The first is homogenization of newsMaking news uniform regardless of differing locations and cultures.—the increased likelihood that the same stories will be presented in the same way, stories that in the past might have been affected by local and regional culture and concerns. Other critics refer to the illusion of choice—many ways to get the same news. Chains tend to provide the same feed to all the radio or television stations they own, for example. The concentration of ownership has combined with the tendency of both newspapers and the electronic media to respond to their limited resources by reducing (or eliminating) the reporters who gather the news and relying on the wire services instead. A quarter of the 952 U.S. television stations that air newscasts do not produce their news programs. Additional stations have sharing arrangements under which much of their content is produced outside their own newsroom.

In a state as large and diverse as Texas, homogenization represents a considerable change. Although the Internet does provide more diversity in the presentation of news, so far the lack of revenue, reporters, and professional standards makes it more reactive and opinion oriented than a reliable source of news with a regional or local focus. A study by the Pew Trust found that 99 percent of the stories covered by blogs originated in the traditional media. Occasionally, the blogosphere does play this new role and forces the traditional media to take notice, but the blogosphere is still a work in progress.

Soft News

A second consequence of growing concentration of ownership is the decline in the amount of news and its “softening.” Students of news speak of hard news and soft news. Hard news focuses on the facts, provides more depth, and commonly has implications for public policy. Soft news is more entertaining (often sensationalized by focusing on scandal and tragedy), covers only the surface of serious issues, and has little connection to public policy.

Prior to the 1980s, the news departments of the three major television networks (NBC, CBS, and ABC) were substantially shielded from profit expectations, and their evening news broadcasts were the national news, most of it hard news. However, in the mid-1980s, new ownership took over the three networks and demanded more advertising revenue from news. In this period, technological change allowed the emergence of competition from cable television. (CNN debuted in 1980, and a wide array of new and entertaining programs and networks soon followed.) Having to compete for audience share, the network news sought more entertainment value in their stories by reducing the amount of hard news and increasing the emphasis on scandal, horserace coverage of campaigns, and controversial sound bites. Eventually, softer coverage of news would come to CNN, NPR, and PBS. Fox and MSNBC, the ideological networks, have made their staple a minimum of hard news, entertaining spin, and drawing in the ideological faithful as viewers.

Less State and Local News

In Texas, the national trend toward softer news added to a long-existing pattern of providing minimal and lighter treatment of state and local news. Nonlocal owners of the state's newspapers have tended to show little interest in state and local news, cut staff, and, most important, reduced the size of the Capitol press corpsReporters assigned to cover state-level news, commonly working in the state capital.. The number of reporters assigned to cover state news in Austin by Texas news outlets dropped from 66 in 1991 to about 50 in 2000 and then to about half that number in 2014. Generally, the Capitol press corps is exclusively print journalists. The decline in full-time reporters covering state government means not just less news about the state but also more reliance on the version of events provided by state agencies and a reduction in the amount of investigative journalism that provides oversight of what our government does and doesn't do. Some observers (such as Texas Monthly's Paul Burka) are less concerned, believing that the Internet will fill the void.

The decline of the traditional Capitol press corps should be seen in perspective. First, it is a phenomenon affecting most other large states. Second, in Texas, it is mitigated to some degree by the emergence of the online nonprofit Texas Tribune in 2009, the assignment of national correspondents to Austin, and the availability of blogs and high-quality online subscription services. NPR reporter Elise Hu described the Texas press corps, as follows:

[T]he Texas press corps is unique, political watchers say, because of the shape it's taking amid the state's recent, raging growth. Aside from the Tribune, there are influential blogs and newsletters, a regional magazine of national renown, an energetic public radio presence and newly arrived national correspondents stationed in Austin. And that doesn't even count the traditional newspaper and television presence. It doesn't hurt that Texans love reading about Texas—the notion of Texas exceptionalism, it seems, drives demand.

Local television news in Texas and elsewhere is often cited as an example of soft news. Studies regularly show much the same pattern as a Pew Research Center study in 2012. Almost two-thirds of local news coverage dealt with traffic, weather, crime, accidents, and human interest. Houston's KTRK was part of an earlier study and followed the pattern. Soft or not, local television news is watched regularly by about half of Americans, ahead of network news. Perhaps the reason is captured by the Pew researchers' conclusion:

Local TV news is more likely than other media we studied to try to portray regular people from the community and how they feel about things, rather than just officials. The reporting was straightforward and mostly strictly factual, with little of the journalist's opinion thrown in.… Viewers got straight news from their local TV stations, and it was certainly about the community.

Commercial Bias

A final concern arising from the growing concentration of media ownership is commercial bias and conflict of interest—that is, favoring the owners' company by presenting favorable stories or ignoring the bad the company does. Traditionally, advertising provides 80 percent of newspaper revenue and subscriptions provide for 20 percent. Highly dependent on advertisers and needing to be responsive to corporate owners, reporters and editors face pressure to avoid angering either. Thus, “In a survey of 118 local news directors, more than half report that advertisers try to tell them what to air and not to air—and they say the problem is growing.” A third of American newspaper editors responded to a survey that they would not feel free to publish news that might harm their parent company. And for good reason: according to reports, several employees of ABC who had been critical of Disney practices were fired when the company acquired control of ABC. In Texas, Clear Channel has been accused of censoring opinions.

Point/Counterpoint

Will the Internet and Social Media Be Able to Replace the Quantity and Quality of News Now Provided by the Traditional Media?

THE ISSUE For more than a half century, the print media, radio, and television have provided a substantial amount of news in a relatively unbiased, professional manner. However, the Internet and social media are rapidly changing the pattern. Newspapers, the major collectors of news, are in sharp decline, and television news has become softer and in the case of cable news more ideological. Internet news sites are increasing in number, and social media are becoming more diverse and more important sources of news.

The problem is that the greater availability of locations for both news and entertainment has produced greater competition between news and entertainment, in many ways melding the two together. At the same time, this competition has reduced the advertising dollars available to hire people to gather the news. Passionate feelings abound on both sides. Here are some of the serious arguments.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-6b For Good and for Bad: The Rise of the Internet and Social Media

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-6b For Good and for Bad: The Rise of the Internet and Social Media

It should be apparent that the traditional media's coverage of government and politics is still dominant but is gradually being supplemented, modified, and replaced by the Internet and social media. Local television news, for example, has seen some long-term decline in viewership but is still regularly watched by almost half the total population. Age, however, plays a major role. Close to three of five persons age 50 and over watch local news, compared to half that proportion for those 18–29. A similar pattern exists for following the news in newspapers. However, traditional media are adapting. Texas television stations and newspapers now commonly have an Internet site and provide varying proportions of their news via the Net. In the words of one executive, “We are not a TV station anymore as much as a provider of news on multiple platforms.” One of the major new issues for the traditional media, but particularly major newspapers, is whether to provide news on the Internet for free or by subscription. The issue is still to be resolved. The Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Austin American-Statesman, and Houston Chronicle provide some news free but reserve much news to paid subscribers. The online Texas Tribune is free and pays its bills through individual contributions, large gifts, corporate sponsorships, and foundation grants. News sites for the major Texas newspapers do not yet match the quality of those of the major national papers.

Some analysts see a major transition happening in the recent rapid expansion of digital newsrooms but acknowledge that it is quite fragile. The decline of newspapers cost more than 16,000 editorial jobs in the 10 years between 2003–2012, and another 38,000 magazine jobs were lost. In the same period, digital newsrooms added 5,000 full-time jobs. Some of the digital sites are flirting with profitability, but most are not yet close. In short, there are prospects that the digital revolution may eventually provide the quantity of news now available from the traditional media, but it is still a work in progress that will see less news in the short run.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-6c The Future?

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-6c The Future?

There is a great deal of debate about the future news role of the Internet and social media, including within the team that wrote this book. Objective observers generally reject the view that citizens and professionals will quickly replace traditional news media with something even better. They also reject the view that news will inevitably degenerate into ideological fiefdoms with no concern for the facts. What do we know, and what are present trends that may continue?

The media will continue to change, as it has for almost three centuries. Newspaper reporters are still the most important gatherers of news. However, economic considerations mean that newspapers and newsmagazines will continue to lose readers and advertising dollars. As they decline, the amount of news collected is likely to decline as well. Television news is also under financial pressure and will not be able to take up the slack. Both the number of people using the Internet and social media and innovations in how they are used will continue to grow.

Two critical questions face the digital media. First, can they take up the slack from the decline of traditional media and provide the quantity of hard news necessary to keep leaders and the public adequately informed? In the short run, objective observers tend to think this may not happen, but in the long run, it is very possible. Blogs and Internet news sites already gather and disseminate news. However, they will need more advertising revenue to hire the reporters to find and report the news. Social media already supplement news gathering, and their output is increasing. However, the way social media are structured means that news gathering tends not to be systematic. There are many sites with many orientations and many individuals whose contributions fluctuate with interest and available time. News also tends to be secondary to entertainment.

Second, will the news provided by the digital media continue journalistic standards of professionalism, or will news become largely partisan and even more negative and serve the interests of the few over the many? One very possible outcome is that the continuing competition between news and entertainment, the greater ability of people to choose their news sources, and the need for advertising revenue to pay for technology will mean a continuation of the present emphasis on soft news and a wide range of partisan venues. Advertisers are already pumping money into the Internet, including social media, and ideological and partisan groups are becoming more sophisticated in pursuing their goals through sites that proclaim lofty goals but simultaneously promote the interests of their sponsors. On the other hand, standards of professionalism are still strong among reporters in both the traditional and new media, and the independent nature of social media may help keep news from tending to one extreme or the other.

Learning Check 6.6

1. Are the changes in the news media trending toward more or less news gathering?

2. Are people getting news from social media?

Government regulations will play a role. Most new communication technologies face demands for regulations that limit their use, raise costs, and in general limit competition with the established media. Battles over the Internet have already begun in courts, legislative bodies, and regulatory bodies.

Finally, humans and the Internet have shown a remarkable ability to adapt and change. As this chapter shows, the news media have experienced centuries of change. The current transition to digital media is one more step down that path.

Selected Reading

The Faces of Race

Bill Minutaglio

Race and ethnicity have a long and often negative history in Texas. African Americans were subjected to slavery and Jim Crow. Mexican Americans long faced discrimination and economic exploitation. Although both groups are seeing a rising middle class, they are still underrepresented among decision makers and those who influence decisions. In 2012, for example, minorities made up only 12 percent of U.S. newspaper journalists, compared to being more than 36 percent of the population.

Bill Minutaglio is a Texas journalist (18 years at the Dallas Morning News with articles in leading national magazines), author of three Texas biographies, and an award-winning professor of communications at the University of Texas at Austin. Here he writes about racial diversity in Texas journalism.

When Charlie Strong was named football coach at the University of Texas on Jan. 5 [2014], many regional and national news accounts duly noted that he is making history as the first African-American head coach of a men's team in UT's 131-year history.

The Houston Chronicle mentioned the racial significance of the hire in the second paragraph of its first story. The Austin American-Statesman and San Antonio Express-News stories referenced it in their fifth paragraphs. The Dallas Morning News noted it in the ninth paragraph.

Strong's new job is newsworthy, and his race, given the lack of precedent, is arguably newsworthy as well. What hasn't been widely discussed is how coverage of the hire highlights the lack of diversity among the state's mainstream media and how that influences coverage. Almost all of the state's newsrooms, The Texas Observer's included, are predominantly white.

It will be interesting in that light to see how the cover of the state's flagship magazine, Texas Monthly, responds to the news of Strong's hiring.

In the 1970s' 82 issues, two black people appeared unaccompanied on Texas Monthly's cover: U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Jordan and Cootie Hill, a street hustler from Houston's Fifth Ward. (Two other black faces were featured on the 1970s covers, both as maids attending to white women).

There were no solo black Texans on the covers of the magazine's 120 issues in the 1980s.

Four of Texas Monthly's 120 covers during the 1990s featured stand-alone black Texans: athletes Dennis Rodman, Hakeem Olajuwon, George Foreman and Michael Irvin——the latter depicted with a white-powder moustache. (Carl Lewis was featured on another 1990s cover alongside two white men).

Two stand-alone black Texans graced the 120 covers of the 2000s: quarterback Vince Young and singer Beyoncé. (Others include Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith flanking white quarterback Troy Aikman).

From 2010 until now, no Texas Monthly cover has featured an image of an unaccompanied black person.

They're not alone. The Observer, while taking a conceptually different and celebrity-averse approach to cover design, has done little better in representing the state's diversity on its front page.

Why does it matter? According to the Texas Monthly website, “The single most important page of a magazine is its cover. It's the one that editors and art directors spend the most time thinking about, arguing over, and tweaking right up until the last minute.”

I've worked for three national magazines (The Sporting News, Talk and People), and the “cover meetings” always had one purely pragmatic aim: to figure out what would sell. Race was always the invisible elephant in the room. I once witnessed an exceedingly awkward debate about why a People cover was not being devoted to megastar Beyoncé: because she was, well, not the right person at the moment.

In an increasingly diverse place like Texas—a state still wrestling with bitter racial divisions—every publication needs to do more to mirror the population. Every publication needs more minority writers, more minority news, more minority covers.

I asked Jake Silverstein, the talented and thoughtful editor of Texas Monthly, about the challenge:

“Absolutely there is more to be done in terms of diversity at Texas Monthly. No question. In the past, the magazine has sometimes struggled to represent the full array of voices in Texas. We have made some strides the past few years but we still have a long way to go.… It's something I take very seriously. What I can say is that this is a problem throughout the magazine industry, and it's my hope that in years to come Texas Monthly can be a leader in helping to fix it.”

Then I asked Observer editor Dave Mann the same question. He, too, recognizes the problem:

“Lack of diversity—both on the cover of our magazine and, especially, in our newsroom—has long been a problem at the Observer, and I'm deeply troubled by it. We've worked in recent years to have our magazine better represent the state we cover, and while we've had some successes, our efforts haven't been enough.… We have to do better.”

Charlie Strong was hired to make sure the Longhorns perform better on the field. His arrival is as good a reminder as any that Texas media has plenty of room for improvement as well.

Source: Bill Minutaglio, “The Faces of Race,” Texas Observer, February 2014, p. 43.

Selected Reading Learning Check

1. True or false: Minority Texans are underrepresented in newspaper coverage but well represented in Texas magazines.

2. True or false: Texas’s major liberal/progressive magazine has extensive coverage of minorities on its covers and in its newsroom.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-7 Chapter Review

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

6-7 Chapter Review

6-7a Conclusion

In many areas, Texas has patterns that differ significantly from those of the nation, but the media at both levels have remarkably similar histories and patterns. Newspapers were long the major outlet for news and remain important today, particularly as gatherers of news and as the source of the details of the news for the elite. Television is still the source of news for more people, but its content is often soft, and it is being challenged by the Internet and social media. The growth in the number of ways to receive news provides the elite and news junkies a wealth of information. Potentially, the social media provide more opportunity for ordinary Texans to participate in the reporting of news and to select how and what they receive. The concern is that this is making news softer and more ideological. Entertainment value is a driving force.

The media continue to play a number of vital roles, albeit playing some better than others: informing citizens and leaders, helping to maintain democracy, contributing to setting the public agenda, and influencing our views to some degree. Changes in ownership of the media, the availability of better campaign techniques for office seekers and citizen groups, and the movement toward predominance of the Internet and social media portend both challenges and opportunities.

//what about non-chapter activities //

Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-7b Chapter Summary

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

Chapter Review

6-7b Chapter Summary

• LO 6.1 
Compare the ways in which Texans get their information today with past patterns.

• The sources of news for Texans are changing. Newspapers were most important in the 1800s and the first half of the 20th century. Today, the interested public gets news from multiple sources. Newspapers are still important, but television is the largest source for most people, and the Internet and social media are growing. A major concern with the changes is the decline in the amount of actual news received by the public.

• LO 6.2 
Describe the roles of the media in Texas politics.

• There are many platforms from which to receive news, but the content of the news appears to be in decline. Absorbing the news requires some effort and certain conditions, which means that the more interested citizens and leaders are likely to gain much more from the news than the average citizen. Historically, the press was highly partisan and often an unreliable source of accurate information. In the 20th century, it became a more professional provider of information in Texas and the nation, although in recent years the media have become more adversarial. The media have used the state's open meetings and open records acts to provide more information about public policymaking. In Texas and the nation, the ability to investigate is in decline because of lack of money and corporate influence, but the press has generally played a positive role in exposing the state's periodic scandals. The media, together with political leaders and interest groups, participate in setting the agenda of what government will or will not consider. Texas media have worked at this role but face difficulties and are not always successful. The media seldom change people's minds, but they do affect public opinion through priming and framing. They help to shape what we think about and the evaluations we make.

• LO 6.3 
Discuss the roles of the media in modern Texas election campaigns.

• The media play a large role in campaigns through the ads they run and the coverage they give the candidates. Because the media and the candidates have different goals but need each other, the relationship is often conflictual. Each tries to manipulate the other. Use of the Internet and social media in campaigns has become very important and more sophisticated since 2008.

• LO 6.4 
Analyze whether there is ideological bias in the Texas media.

• Research indicates that there is not a net bias in the media toward one party or ideology, although many parts of the media—talk shows, the two ideological cable networks, and blogs—have become more partisan. There is evidence of a commercial bias and a strong preference for news that is entertaining, rather than important but boring or difficult to understand.

• LO 6.5 
Distinguish how print and electronic media are regulated by government.

• The national government has taken primary responsibility for regulation of the media. Newspapers have never faced substantial regulation, and today only broadcast television is still heavily regulated. The major legal issue facing the Internet today is whether and how to apply the idea of net neutrality.

• LO 6.6 
Discuss the positive and negative effects of the changes the media are undergoing in Texas.

• Newspapers have long been the major gatherers of news. Their decline has meant fewer reporters actually gathering news for the other media to use. The growth of cable news and the increasing role of Internet blogs and social media are giving impetus to softer news and more opportunities for partisanship. The digital media provide more opportunity for citizen participation and innovation and will probably become the dominant news media. How that will affect news is the subject of a major debate.

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Chapter 6: The Media and Politics: 6-7c Key Terms

Book Title: Practicing Texas Politics

Printed By: Ali Hussain G Almutlaq ([email protected])

© 2015 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

Chapter Review

6-7c Key Terms

• social mediaWebsites and computer applications that allow users to engage in social networking and create online communities. Social media provide platforms for sharing information and ideas through discussion forums, videos, photos, documents, audio clips, and the like.

• news websiteAn Internet site that provides news. These sites are often affiliated with a newspaper or television station, but many are independent.

• blogA website or web page on which a writer or group of writers record opinions, information, and links to other sites on a regular basis.

• soft newsNews that is more entertaining, sensationalized, covers only the surface, and has little connection to public policy.

• hard newsNews that focuses on the facts, provides more depth, and commonly has implications for public policy.

• yellow journalismJournalism that is based on sensationalism and exaggeration.

• professionalismReporting that is objective, neutral, and accurate.

• adversarialReporting featuring opposition and a combative style. Also called attack journalism.

• open meetingsMeetings of public entities that are required by law to be open to the public.

• open recordsGovernment documents and records that are required by law to be available to the public.

• agenda settingAffecting the importance given issues by government and public leaders.

• attack adAn advertisement meant as a personal attack on an opposing candidate or organization.

• primingThe news media indicating how important an issue is or which part of a situation is most important.

• framingThe news media providing meaning or defining the central theme of an issue.

• horserace journalismNews that focuses on who is ahead in the race (poll results and public perceptions) rather than policy differences.

• civic engagementActions by citizens to address issues of public concern.

• prior restraintSuppression of material before it is published, commonly called censorship.

• net neutralityA legal principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially and not blocking content they do not like.

• shield lawA law protecting journalists from having to reveal confidential sources to police or in court.

• niche journalism (narrowcasting)A news medium focusing on a narrow audience defined by concern about a particular topic or area.

• homogenization of newsMaking news uniform regardless of differing locations and cultures.

• Capitol press corpsReporters assigned to cover state-level news, commonly working in the state capital.