Pols Exam Review PDF

- \* The American media ecosystem has been around since before the country was founded. Newspapers served as vehicles to advance the cause of the Revolutionary War. \* Newspapers gradually provided products geared toward the average person as literacy rates rose in the country. Fr...

- \* The American media ecosystem has been around since before the country was founded. Newspapers served as vehicles to advance the cause of the Revolutionary War. \* Newspapers gradually provided products geared toward the average person as literacy rates rose in the country. From very early on, newspapers were largely "sponsored" or financially supported by political parties and there still exist artifacts of the era of the partisan press today. \* The 20th century saw several advances in communication technology that changed the face of media and journalism: from newsprint to radio, from radio to television, and from all three to the digital age of the Internet. \* In the early 20th century, journalism moved away from the era of the partisan press and became a profession bound to a code of ethics that highlighted objective, fact-based reporting and away from ideologically biased reporting. \* It is important to be able to discern between editorial/commentary and "news" when evaluating the products presented by the mainstream media. Most mainstream media outlets create a firewall between news and editorial. \* A commitment to objective reporting does not preclude instances of "interpretive" journalism in which professional journalists attempt to not only report the news, but provide context for the information. This differs from editorializing in important ways. \* It is difficult to isolate the exact extent to which media influences individuals. Theories of media effects have evolved as new and more reliable methodologies are used. \* ***Agenda setting***, ***framing***, and ***priming*** are three modern theories of media effects supported by empirical evidence. \* The advent of the Internet has "democratized" access to information. Most Americans have access to nearly every piece of knowledge ever discovered at the push of a button. Modern smartphones contain more computing power than the computers NASA used to send astronauts to the moon and bring them back. \* Advancing technology has also resulted in an individual's ability to completely avoid current events and news. Remaining an informed citizen is, however, an expectation that has existed since the founding of our republic. \* An excellent way of remaining informed is to develop a news *habit* which includes consuming multiple, reputable sources of information. \* While most people think of partisan bias when exposed to the term "media bias", very little empirical evidence exists to support such a claim. The very nature of the news production process makes it difficult for individual reporters or journalists to systematically slant the news. \* If a systematic bias DOES exist in the media, it would be toward the stories and reports that attract the attention of news consumers. Emotional or ***affective*** bias is present in many news reports. affective= (to focus on negative information) Ch6 \* Public opinion is an aggregate measure of the feeling or belief that a population holds. \* Surveys or polls can be used to provide some indication of the opinion on issues of political import for the population---voters, students, union members, all Americans---by measuring a sample of members of that population. \* Surveys and polls are not perfect nor are they as precise as we might hope. \* Following trends in public opinion can be used by elected officials and decision-makers to understand how "the governed" *want* to be governed. \* Not all polls are scientific or follow standard survey methodology. It is important to understand the parameters of a poll---sample size, question wording, and issue framing---before making generalized claims about how a population feels about an issue. \* Some poll results are skewed due to social desirability bias; that is, respondents tend to overreport some socially expected behaviors and underreport behaviors that appear to deviate from "normal." \* Public opinion on some issues is relatively stable over time but may be dynamic in response to changing culture or social mores. \* How one experiences political socialization can affect their opinion on political issues. \* Other factors such as age, SES, and education levels affect how a respondent constructs their opinion on issues. \* One's exposure to the "marketplace of ideas"---that is, their exposure to various forms of media, interactions with friends and family, and their geography---also has an effect on how respondents form opinions. \* There are examples where public policy has been responsive to public opinion, but there exist other examples where policy has not been responsive to public opinion. The relationship is complicated. \* Polls are not very adept at helping us understand the meaning behind a particular opinion as reflected in survey results. Not all Americans have the same definitions of labels commonly used in polling when attempting to assess political ideology. Ch7 \* Voting is the basic building block of democracy. \* In the United States, voter turnout is relatively low when compared with other, advanced democracies. \* Low voter turnout in the United States is driven by several factors. Americans are busy and politics is not of significant interest to many citizens. \* Voting is not a "cost-free" activity. \* The rational choice theory of voting suggests that the benefits to voting for the individual appear low and the costs, for some, may be high. When viewed as a cost--benefit comparison, it could be said that voting is an irrational activity. \* Tens of millions of Americans are willing to pay whatever costs are associated with voting. For some, voting is viewed as a sacred civic duty. \* Lack of high voter turnout in the United States can be driven by voter apathy. \* Feeling that one's vote doesn't really matter is common. Coupled with feelings of low political efficacy, that what someone does does not really make a difference, low turnout weakens democracy. \* All fifty states and the District of Columbia write their own election laws. States vary with regards to the number of polling places, how ballots are cast, and whether or not voters must show identification at the polls. \* Americans engage in different kinds of political participation. \* America's pluralist political system means that there are many "points of entry" to participate in politics or public affairs. \* Voting is the bare minimum expectation placed on stakeholders in American democracy. \* If regular citizens do not get involved, other powerful forces may play an outsized role in democracy to the detriment of the citizenry. Agenda setting is the media\'s ability to influence the importance of issues Voter apathy and low political efficiency contribute to low voter turnout in the US many citizens feel their vote doesn\'t matter leading to misinterest in participating in elections which ultimately weekend democratic engagement. The Internet revolutionized media and journalism, surpassing radio\'s impact in the 20th century. The Internet revolutionized media and journalism in the 20th century by democratizing access to information, allowing for instant communication and a vast array of content, fundamentally changing how news is produced and consumed. **Objective Reporting**: - - - **Editorializing**: - - - Digital technology allows people to avoid news, leading to less awareness of current events. The rise of digital technology enables individuals to easily avoid current events and news, leading to a lack of engagement with important political issues. This can hinder informed citizenship, which is essential for a functioning democracy. Editorializing expresses opinions; interpretive journalism provides context while maintaining objectivity.Interpretive journalism provides context to news without altering the facts, allowing readers to understand the significance of events. In contrast, editorializing expresses opinions and subjective interpretations, which can introduce bias. Social desirability bias leads respondents to overreport opinions that are socially acceptable, skewing polling results. This can create a false impression of public sentiment, as individuals may avoid expressing views that deviate from perceived norms. Political socialization experiences shape opinions more than just age alone. Political socialization experiences significantly shape an individual\'s political opinion by influencing how they perceive issues. Factors like family, education, media exposure, and social interactions play crucial roles in forming these opinions. High perceived costs of voting, such as time and effort, compared to the benefits, contribute to low voter turnout. Many citizens feel their votes won\'t make a difference, leading to apathy and disengagement from the electoral process.