Gov 4 Interest Groups, Media, Polling
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jenweidner on December 14, 2009
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unit 4 test
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38 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 why are interest groups common in the US? | 1) "public opinion cleavages" 2) constitution gives places of access to government for public to be heard 3) political parties are weak so IGs can work directly in government (or throuhg parties if strong) |
| history of interest groups | 1170- independence groups, 1830-40s- religious and anitslavery groups 1860s- craft unions like farmers, 18880-90s- business associations because college education increaesd, 1900-1910- most major lobbies of today founded. 1960+- civil rights movement>70%of ICs established an office in DC |
| why those periods of rapid growth of IG? | 1) economic developments make new interest groups (ex) farmers make cash crops) 2) government policy- (ex) vetrans pensions>groups, professions like drs and lawyers given responsibility to decide qualifications for jobs) |
| institutional interests IG | individuals/organizations representing other organizations. businesses hire experts in DC to work on their behalf trade or government association concerned with the largest issues of their clients (homogenous groups issues are defintes, diverse groups issues are spread) also work for other governments, foundations, and universities |
| membership unions- do people join? why? | work for the concern of its members most people dont join one even if they do agree because 1) individuals arent significant 2)recieve benefits anyway |
| IG-americans are less likely to join? americans are the same to join? americans are more like to join? | less= unions. same=social business. more= religious/civic because sense of DUTY |
| incentives to join a IG- s, m, p | s= pleasure and compansionship, m=money, things, services for being a member, p= purpose of group, actually have a motive. more productive when opposition is in power. ideological IG's do better in controversial issues (because people are more ideological) (engage in research and law suits) |
| influence of staff | staff has most influence if members join for SOLIDARY or MATERIAL benefits.the staff therefore, can make decisions that are not opposed because the members of the group have a different motive for their membership. |
| funding for IGs- FG, fed G's, DM | foundation grants- ex) ford foundation.... federal grants and contracts- to perpetuate organization........ direct mail-a)teaser b)emotional arousal c)celebrity endorsement d) personalize with name |
| bias- what people think v. reality | most people think ICs are full of upper-middle- classers. theyre more likely to join because they have more education and income. business/professional groups are therefore better financed, BUT this describes the PEOPLE not the success of the group |
| what IG's do: information | MOST IMPORTANT TACTIC. most effective on narrow, technical issues. officials use info as cues |
| What IG's do: insider strategies: interactions with politicians (old breed lobbying and information) | 1)Old breed lobbying- 1on1 meetings with congressmen. they share washington culture +restaurants breed relationships 2) IGs are specialists in the field, they testify before congress because they know the issues best |
| What IG's do: insider strategies: interactions with politicians (political cues, revolving door) | 3) tell Congressmen ins and out/meaning of an issues and the implications of congressional choices 4) revolving door- cant lobby for 1 year after you leave government service. As they leave and join corporation firms that corporations hire> revolve in and out of public service |
| what IGs do: outsider strategies: interactions with general public MOST EFFECTIVE FOR GETTING THINGS DONE (ratings, advertising, grassroots) | 1)ratings- how much a politicians views align with those of an IG 2) advertising 3)grassroots: mobilizing citizens to get involved in political process ( ex)congress reversed FDA ban when public freaked) |
| what IGs do: outsider strategies: interactions with general public MOST EFFECTIVE FOR GETTING THINGS DONE (astroturf, trouble) | 3)one organization exaggerates public opinion to get results 4) trouble: make trouble to make them listen. making trouble often leads to lose-lose situation, few large well-funded interests are all-powerful |
| what does media affect?(pc,pp,pf)/not affect | how politics is conducted, people are percieved, and policies are formualated, NOT HOW PEOPLE VOTE |
| president v congressional prominance in the news | president is very prominant, everything he does is covered. congress not equal. senate has shown hearings since 1986, house let cameras in in 1978 |
| factors that influence how stories are written (d, aa, f, ro) | 1) deadlines 2) audience attraction 3) fairness 4) beliefs of reporters/editors |
| types of stories | ROUTINE: public events regularly covered, reported similarly by all reporters/ SELECTED stories: public but not routinely covered, selected according to perception of reporter> liberal and conservative papers have different stories/ INSIDER stories: not usually public- problem= question of leakers motive |
| reasons for leaks | 1) constitution= seperate decentralized power>BRANCHES OF GOV COMPETE. *ALSO it is LEGAL TO PRINT most SECRETS 2)adversarial nature of press since watergate: PRESS AND POLITICIANS DO NOT TRUST EACH OTHER> eager to break embarrassing stories. 3) cynicism>an era of ATTACK JOURNALISM> people BELIEVE slanted stories. 4)public dislikes big business and the MEDIA IS BIG BUSINESS 5)drive for the market share>corruption in the media |
| reasons for sensationalism | 1) cheaper than expert analysis 2) journalists distrust gov officials 3) journalists more likely to rely on unnamed sources and are therefore easily manipulated 4) |
| how to read a newspaper: coverage, placement, sources, language | COVERAGE: everyone covers the same huge stories, but the SMALLER ONES tell you about the beliefs of the editors. PLACEMENT: fp v. lp-front page=important to editors. SOURCES: person quoted tells about who the paper considers a valid source (aka their beliefs). can also use anonymous sources. LANGUAGE: "loaded" (biased) language to influence readers. MANY PEOPLE THINK THE BIASES OF THE MEDIA IS ABUSE OF THEIR POWER |
| reasons for anonymous sources | 1) test public reaction 2) sources may oppose the policy or appointment 3) source may want to take credit or shift the blame |
| gatekeeper | controls what subjects become national political issues and for how long |
| scorekeeper | keeps track of and helps make political reputations, serves as "great mentioner", helps decide who is winning and losing in politics |
| watchdog | once the scorekeepers decide that you are the person to watch they follow that person with close scrutiny (investigating personalities and exposing scandals) because it profits them |
| history of the media (pa p,po p, om, ej) | PARTY PRESS (parties created and subsidized newspapers> government sudized so that they could stay afloat and inform elite) POPULAR PRESS (1860- gov subsidies ended, publishers blended political and economic interests and made biased papers. Yellow journalism (sensationalism) OPINION MAGAZINES (middle class likes, muckraking aka investigative reporting, # of newspapers declined along with senationalism) ELECTRONIC JOURNALISM (few politicians covered because it was edxpensive to put out radio or TV ads. politicans had to be controversial to stay in the news, CBS, NBC, ABC) |
| degree of competition: broadcasting is decentralized | daily newspapers have declined because most poeple get news from radio or tv. radio and tv are very competitive |
| rules for governing media: newspapers | police cannot search newspaper offices (subpoena documents instead). Mostly free from gov. regulation. the sake of public interest permits them to print the name and picture of people without their permission. Prosecution after the fact and limited to libel, obscenity, incitement. It's only illegal to print incitement of violent gov. overthrow if someone actualy DOES it |
| rules for governing media: radio and TV | licensed and regulated by the FCC. 7 years for radio, 5 years for tv. station must serve community needs |
| RULES: equal time, right of reply, political editorializing rule, fairness doctrine | ET- if you sell time to 1 candidate, you must be willing to sell it to the other candidate. RoR- if a person is attacked, they can respond on the same station. PE-if broadcaster endorses candidate, opposition can reply. FD- ABOLISHED BY FCC (87), if presenting 1 side of a controversial issue, must also present other side. |
| Deregulation | licenses now renewed by postcards. No FCC hearings unless opposed. Ex) now more relaxed about 16 mins of commerical per hour. |
| radio telecommunications act of 1966 | one company can own up to 8 stations in large markets, 5 in small areas> few big companies own most of big-market radio. and greater variety of opinion on radio because less regulated |
| campaigning on media- efficient? | equal time rule applies (equal access for all candidates), rates can't be higher than a network's least expensive commercial rate, debates used to be sponsored by IG as "news events" (because they had to include all candidates) now STATION SPONSORS DEBATES. EFFICENT in reaching voters WHEN MARKET&DISTRICT OVERLAP, but when theyre NOT ALLIGNED FAILS (200 markets in the US) |
| 5 rules to opinion poll ("the art" lolz) | 1) RANDOM sampling of ENTIRE POPULATION of people interviewed 2) questions must be COMPREHENSIBLE 3) question must be ASKED FAIRLY 4) answer options must be carefully considered 5) not every difference in answers is significant |
| steps to put together a poll | 1) ID and describe population that poll is trying to represent 2) design method to sample the target population randomly 3) conduct interview by asking for an adult in the house 4) present an unbiased question |
| clearest source of bias and error, second | 1)question wording 2) question order |
| ensuring accuracy: sampling, equal probability of selection | randomly selected small percent of population to be represented. Every member of population must have the same chance of being selected |
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