democracy and the news media

1. Democracy and the News Media
Political Science 475
Professor Mark Peffley

2. First,The Basics
• Why Study the Media in a PS Course?
• What Are the Media?
• WhatTypes of Content and Influence Does it Have?

3. Types of Media that Influence Politics
Traditional
News Media
Soft News Social Media Entertainment
Media
(examples here)

4. Political Contents in the Media
(provide examples)
• Explicit and Intentional
• Explicit and Unintentional
• Implicit and Intentional
• Implicit and Unintentional

5. Question:What is the role of the news
media in a modern democracy?
• Most agree:The media play a vital role in American
democracy, for good or ill.
• Many disagree on:What role should the news media play
in a democracy?What role do they play?What is a
democracy, anyway?
• Today: two clashing models of democracy, with very
different roles of news media, mass public and political
elites.

6. How Can the Media LetThis Happen in a Democracy?
(2004 election, almost 2 years after the Iraq invasion)

7. How Can the Media LetThis Happen in a Democracy?
Two examples of widespread political
misperceptions
• July, 2006: widespread support for the conspiracy theory
that Bush administration officials were complicit in the
9/11 terrorist attacks.
• “likely” that “[p]eople in the federal government either assisted
in the 9/11 attacks or took no action to stop the attacks because
they wanted the United States to go to war in the Middle East.”
• Apr 21, 2011: CBS News/ NewYorkTimes poll: 25% of all
Americans incorrectly think President Barack Hussein
Obama was not born in the United States.
• If so, all the laws passed under his presidency are unconstitutional!

8. Partisan misperceptions
• Democrats far more likely
to believe 9/11 conspiracy
theory
• Republicans far more
likely to believe “birther”
myth

9. Did he have sex with that woman,
did he lie about it and did it matter?
• Answer, especially for Democrats: not so much.

10. Obama’s Inauguration:
Is that the Bible or the Koran!?

11. “If you don’t read the newspaper you
are uninformed. If you read the
newspaper you are misinformed.”
--MarkTwain
“The power of people who vote en blanc and
don’t care about the facts can be fearsome.”
--MichaelTomasky, “How the House Really Works”

12. Misinformation & misperceptions
are both politically consequential
and problematic.

13. Could there be such widespread
misinformation if the U.S. media
were doing its job?
• Who’s at fault?
• How can this happen?
• Who is asleep at the wheel?

14. What would it take to correct these
misperceptions?
• What are the sources of inaccurate information?
• How do people get it?
• Why do they cling to it and resist corrections?
• Knowing all this, what would it take to change
misperceptions?
• Can the media make a difference?

15. What should the role of the media
be in a democracy?
• Depends on what we mean by “democracy.”
• Depends on numerous constraints influencing the media.

16. What do we mean by “democracy”?
Classical Representative
Democracy
Elitist Democracy
Theorists Locke, Jefferson, Rousseau, Dewey Plato, Lippmann
PoliticalValues 1. Popular sovereignty
2. Political equality
3. Political liberty, public
deliberation
1. Elite deliberation of modern issues
2. Minimal popular sovereignty to enable
political stability of democracy
Role of masses Highly sophisticated, capable of
self-rule, active
Unsophisticated, incapable, passive
Role of political elites Delegates Guardians,Trustees
Role of media 1. Help inform citizens about issues
2. Forum for candidate debate
3. Watchdog, scrutinizing government
& candidates
Media as leaders, experts & propagandists
to encourage public support for the wise
policies of political elites.

17. Classical Representative Democracy (CRD): An ideal to strive for?
How can the media help?
A. Fundamental values, principles
1. Popular Sovereignty: the ultimate source of authority rests with the
people and the government does the people’s bidding.
2. Political Equality  Majority Rule: Each person carries the
same weight in voting and other decision making. "1 person, 1
vote“
3. Political Liberty  Public Deliberation: basic freedoms,
including freedom of the press to help the formation and
expression of the popular will and its translation into policy,
(encouraging public deliberation).

18. I. Classical Representative DemocraticTheory
(Mill, Locke, Jefferson, Dewey)
B.Role of Representatives
1. Delegate role vs. trustee
2. Responsiveness via elections (& a critical press)
C.Role of Mass Public: political sophistication
1. Rational
2. Politically informed
3. Politically active
4. Politically tolerant

19. D. Role of the Media
• Provide a forum for candidate debate
• Help inform the citizenry about issues & government
• Serve as aWatchdog, scrutinizing government &
candidates

20. 1. Provide a forum for candidates to
debate their qualifications for office?
Who Won Google Searches
During the Debate?

22. 2. Contribute to an informed citizenry
by providing a variety of perspectives
on important issues of the day

23. Twice as much time as all the other candidates combined

24. Trump Exclusive Boosts NBC’s
‘MeetThe Press’To Biggest
Audience SinceWinter Olympics

25. 3. Serve as a Watchdog, scrutinizing the actions of
government officials and candidates on behalf of
citizens, who don’t have the opportunity to follow
politics closely.

26. ChuckTodd Corrects Donald
Trump's False Immigration Claims
On NBC's MeetThe Press

27. 1:00
Who does it better? The traditional news or the soft news?

28. Jon Stewart's 10 Favorite 'Daily
Show'Targets

29. Who recently said this about
Carly Fiorina?
• "Look at that face!Would anyone vote for
that?"
• "Can you imagine that, the face of our next
president."
• "I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not
s'posedta say bad things, but really, folks,
come on. Are we serious?"

30. • And there, in a nutshell, isTrump's blessing and his curse: He can't seem
to quit while he's ahead.The instincts that carried him out to a lead and
have kept him far above the captious field are the same ones that landed
him in ugly stews with ex-wives, business partners, networks,
supermodels and many, many other famous women.
• At 69, he can still carry on like the teen…After I met Ivanka and praised
her to her father, he said, "Yeah, she's really something, and what a
beauty, that one. If I weren't happily married and, ya know, her
father . . . "
• Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/trump-seriously-
20150909#ixzz3lLDnWO5h

31. If you google “Kentucky,” what’s in
the news?
Davis?Davis?
Managing the media:
1. Huckabee, presidential candidate, overshadows Ted
Cruz after Kim Davis is released from Rowan Co. jail.
“an aide to Mr. Huckabee blocked the path of the
senator, who appeared incredulous.”
2. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Gov. Bobby Jindal
of Louisiana have also criticized Ms. Davis’s jailing.
3. Fiorina, Christie & Trump said clerks must issue
licenses.
4. Gov. Steven L. Beshear, a Democrat in his final year in
office, said he does not have that authority and will not
intervene in “a matter between her and the courts.”

32. Media Portrayal
The good The not so good

33. If the media’s performance of its 3
roles in a democracy is so far below
the ideal, what should be done?
Two alternatives:
• Figure out how to improve the media’s performance.
• Revise our standards for “democracy” & the media’s role
so reality matches performance?

34. What do we mean by “democracy”?
Classical Representative
Democracy
Elitist Democracy
Theorists Locke, Jefferson, Rousseau, Dewey Plato, Lippmann
PoliticalValues 1. Popular sovereignty
2. Political equality
3. Political liberty, public
deliberation
1. Elite deliberation of modern issues
2. Minimal popular sovereignty to enable
political stability of democracy
Role of masses Highly sophisticated, capable of
self-rule, active
Unsophisticated, incapable, passive
Role of political elites Delegates Guardians,Trustees
Role of media 1. Help inform citizens about issues
2. Forum for candidate debate
3. Watchdog, scrutinizing government
& candidates
Media as leaders, experts & propagandists
to encourage public support for the wise
policies of political elites.

35. II. Elitist Democracy (Plato, Framers, Lippmann)
Walter Lippmann: his writing and experiences
1. On human nature & mass sophistication:
The “primary defect of popular government is that members of the public are
characterized by “violent prejudice, apathy, preferences for the curious trivial
as against the dull important, and the hunger for sideshows and three legged
calves.” (PublicOpinion, 1922, p. 230)
2. On the need for trustee representation:
Even if the people improved their character, they still would not know enough
to guide the government because they simply do not spend enough time
learning about political issues to understand them.
3. Lippmann’s experiences
Editor of New Republic duringWWI, urging participation in war.WH special
rep. in Europe writing propaganda leaflets, interrogated prisoners, and
coordinated intelligence operations with the Allies.

36. II. Elitist Democracy (Plato, Framers, Lippmann)
4. Lippmann’s solution
a. Downgrade the role of the masses
1) Minimal popular sovereignty (voting only)
2) Lower participation and involvement
b. Trustee representation:
1) Give political elites full reign to make policy for us.
2) They are the Guardians of democracy, protecting it from the masses.
c. Enhanced role of an expert elite (esp. media)
1) Elite deliberation & filtration of public sentiment
2) Intellectuals and journalists (media) organize the facts for the influential elites
3) Newspapers and magazines (media) lay out conclusions for the public to
follow.The media serves as a propaganda tool.

37. ChuckTodd Corrects Donald
Trump's False Immigration Claims
On NBC's MeetThe Press

38. What other roles should the media
play to enhance democracy?
If you could insist that the news media adhered to
principles designed to promote a politically
informed public, what would those principles be?

39. How should media cover
candidates and government?
• Should the media simply report candidates’
statements or evaluate them for their veracity and
policy implications?
• Should journalists be stenographers or watchdogs?
• Should there be fact checkers or should the media just
get out of the way and let citizens decide?
• Should the media invest in watchdog journalism to
check the veracity of candidates’ statements and
investigate potential malfeasance in government?

40. Other Ideal Media Roles
(beyond Iyengar’s)
1. Public affairs journalism (hard v. soft news)
2. Mirror reality
3. Accountability/watchdog journalism
4. Marketplace of ideas
References:
1) See Robert Entman, Democracy Without Citizens on the journalistic dilemma
betw #s 2, 3 & 4.