Lecture 18 Outline of Last Lecture I. Electoral College Part 1Outline of Current Lecture II. Campaigns nowadaysIII. Campaign expense in checka. FECA 1971, ’74, ’76 IV. Cheating the money systemV. Political contributions real purposeVI. Media changing over timeVII. Printed mediaVIII.Yellow JournalismIX. Objective Journalism X. “Real time” NewsXI. News trend now POLS 206 1st EditionXII. Few control the media todayXIII.Inaccuracy of media todayXIV. Different types of Media BiasCurrent LectureI. Campaigns nowadays are less party-oriented, though parties re still a huge deal. The cost of running a campaign is continuously rising. Often times, candidates that spend more on campaigns than other candidates, are more successful. II. Campaign Expense in check: a. Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) 1971- implemented to set rules for how much money can spent on a campaign. Examples of such rules were all expenses/contributions over $100 had to be recorded, limit on media, labor unions and corporations had a limit on influence. This was to make it easier for more people to campaign. b. FECA Amended in 1974- there was nothing to keep people from breaking the rules, so made the Federal Election Commission. Made more rules to make funding not quite as restricted. Such rules were candidates could be givenfunding as long as there was a limit for spending and they got Federal funding if they raised money in at least 20 states. c. FECA Amended in 1976- changing the rules again... labor unions and corporations can make PACS (Political Action Committees) to supports candidates. Buckley v. Valeo (1976)- money is speech; like an engagement ring, how much you spend tends to reflect how serious you are. III. Cheating the Money System...by:a. Soft Money- giving money to the party, not the candidate, but that does not mean the the party will not give some of that money to the candidate. It was banned in 2002, but individual money contributions continuously increases.b. Independent Expenditures- they can made to other groups as long as not given to a certain campaign or party. A group can NOT support a candidate buthave free speech about the candidate.IV. Political contributions real purpose is to not “buy” candidates but to help someone who has very similar opinions to get elected. Sometimes, though it may “buy access”, some incentive. V. Media is a HUGE source most people get their political knowledge from. It has changed over the course of history...a. Pre-agricultural Society- in the time of mostly hunting and gathering, the media communication was simple, such as one-on-one or smoke signals. b. Agricultural Society- in the time of mostly growing food that was where most all of the time was spent. Technology was a little more advanced, though only a few select people (such a monks and other religious peoples) could read andwrite books. As a result, the majority of mass media came from that those groups. c. Industrial Society- the rise of industry and urbanization, BIG jump in technology. The Printing Press, made by Gutenberg in 1450, had a HUGE impact. The speed of making books was MUCH quicker and so a lot more people began reading. This declined the Catholic power and increased Protestant beliefd. Information Society- Now. The economy is basically based on information flow. Happened in the West, along with TV and internet- they are the norm.VI. Printed Mediaa. With printing, people are relying less on the wisdom of older people and church authorities and more on the information provided elsewhere.b. With printing, communication decreases. There is a change in the way people look at information.c. Colonial newspapers were not “objective”- held very strong opinions. They were a big key in the moving the colonists toward independence from Britain.d. Newspapers give people a sort of American identity, a “common bond”VII. Yellow Journalism- assumptions, such as in the Spanish American WarVIII. Objective Journalism- censored stories, fair and balanced stories, so the newspaper’s opinion versus speculation that is in yellow journalisma. FDR created “fireside chats” - for the “public gain only”. Giving updates as a way of keeping the public informed with what is going on. Presidents still do some sort of “Fireside chat”.IX. “Real time” news- TV and radio give information that is happening livea. Eisenhower was the first candidate to be aided by TV in his campaign, a strategy that is now a normb. The election with JFK was the first where looks started to really become importantc. Radio has been on the decline with the increase in TV. d. Perspective matters- the Vietnam was the first war shot live and the images were gruesome, and many citizens became very much against the war partially because of thatX. News trend now- electronic media; it has caused decrease in literacy, and the general trend is toward easy and comfortable, including making newspapers simpler and TV going toward simpler shows such as reality TV XI. Few control the media today- chain-ownership really started in 1910. Laws are moving toward “local market monopoly”, so a few companies own A LOT-the “Big Six” companies.XII. Inaccuracy of Media today- media today set what stories they want to share and reporton. They use priming- the more the story is shown, the more important it is and the world is often shown worse than it really is. Most people do not want watch “hard news” (what is really going on) and would rather watch “infotainment” -soft newsXIII. There are several kinds of media bias, such as “money bias” and “bad news
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