| Term | Definition |
|---|
| cue (political) | A signal, frequently provided by interest groups, that tells a politician what values are at stake in an issue and how that issue fits into his or her own set of political beliefs. |
| direct mail | A mailing from an interest group focused at a specialized audience whose purpose is both to raise money and mobilize supporters. |
| Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act of 1946 | A law which required groups and individuals seeking to influence legislation to register with the secretary of the Senate and the clerk of the House of Representatives. Quarterly financial reports on expenses were also to be filed. |
| ideological interest group | An organization that attracts members by appealing to their interests on a coherent set of controversial principles. |
| incentive | Something of value offered by mass-membership organizations to get people to join; it is a benefit exclusive to members. |
| institutional interests | Individuals or organizations representing other organizations. |
| interest group | An organization that seeks to influence public policy. |
| lobby | A group that attempts to influence legislation through direct contact with members of the legislative or executive branches. |
| lobbyist | A person attempting to influence government policy on behalf of a lobby. |
| material incentive | Something tangible, such as money or services, which attracts people to join mass-membership organizations. |
| membership interests | A type of interest group that represents the interest of its members. |
| pluralistic political system | A description of the American political system, once used by scholars, contending that the policy-making process encompasses the effective competition of interest groups. This account is generally considered wrong, or at least incomplete. |
| political action committee | An organization which finances candidates and may lobby. Such organizations can contribute no more than $5,000 to a federal candidate in any election. |
| public-interest lobby | An interest group whose principal purpose is to benefit nonmembers. |
| purposive incentive | An incentive to join a mass-membership organization based on the appeal of the group's goal. |
| ratings | A type of cue supplied by some interest groups that ranks legislators on their degree of support for a particular cause, such as unions or the environment. These can be helpful sources of information, but are often biased. |
| social movement | A widely shared demand for change in some aspect of the social or political order. |
| solidary incentive | An inducement to join a mass-membership organization based on the sense of pleasure, status, or companionship derived from membership. |
| adversarial press | The suspicious nature of the national press toward public officials. |
| attack journalism | The current era of media coverage that seizes upon any bit of information or rumor that might call into question the qualifications or character of a public official. |
| background story (news) | A tactic by government officials to win journalistic friends. The official purportedly explains current policy on condition that the source of the information not be identified by name. |
| confidentiality | Reporters' keeping sources of their stories secret. Most states and the federal government allow courts to decide whether the need of a journalist to protect sources outweighs the interests of the government in gathering evidence in a criminal investigation. |
| equal-time rule | An FCC regulation requiring that if a station sells time to one candidate seeking an office, it must sell time to the opposing candidate as well. |
| fairness doctrine | An FCC rule, abolished in 1987, that required broadcasters to give time to opposing views if they broadcast one side of a controversial issue. |
| feature stories | A type of news story that involves a public event not routinely covered by reporters and that requires a reporter to take initiative to select the story and persuade an editor to run it. |
| Federal Communications Commission | An agency of the federal government with authority to develop regulations for the broadcast media. |
| gatekeeper | The role played by the media in influencing what subjects become national political issues and for how long. |
| insider stories | A type of news story that involves information not usually made public which requires investigative work on the part of a reporter or a leak by some public official. |
| loaded language | The use of words to persuade people of something without actually making a clear argument for it. |
| market (television) | An area easily reached by a station's television signal. |
| mental tune-out | The attitude of a person who ignores or is irritated by messages from radio or television which do not agree with his or her existing beliefs. |
| Muckracker | A journalist who investigates the activities of public officials and organizations, especially business firms, seeking to expose and publicize misconduct or corruption. |
| party press | Newspapers created, sponsored, and controlled by political parties to further their interests. This form of press existed in the early years of the American republic. Circulation was chiefly among political and commercial elites. |
| political editorializing rule | A regulation of the FCC providing a candidate with the right to respond if a broadcaster endorses the opposing candidate. |
| popular press | Self-supporting daily newspapers aimed at a mass readership. |
| prior restraint | Government censorship by forbidding publication of the information. |
| right-of-reply rule | A regulation by the FCC permitting a person the right to respond if attacked on a broadcast other than in a regular news program. |
| routine stories | A type of news story that involves a public event regularly covered by reporters. These stories are related in almost exactly the same way by all the media. The political opinions of journalists have the least effect on these stories. |
| scorekeeper | The role played by the national media in keeping track of and helping make political reputations. |
| selective attention | Perceiving only what one wants to perceive from television or radio reporting. |
| sound bite | A video clip used on nightly newscasts. The average length of such clips has decreased, making it harder for candidates to get their message across. |
| trial balloon | A tactic by an anonymous source to float a policy to ascertain public reaction before the policy is actually proposed. |
| watchdog | The role played by the national media in investigating political personalities and exposing scandals. |
| yellow journalism | The use of sensationalism to attract a large readership for a newspaper. |
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