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Summary Making Sense of Media & Politics (Five Principles in Political Communication)
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College aantekeningen Media, maatschappij en politiek (S_MSP) Making Sense of Media and Politics
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Politics and media!!
Chapter 1: Political Power and Power Over the Media!
!
A good rule of thumb is that journalists run after politically powerful and politically weak run after
journalists. This brings us to the first of the five principles. Political power can usually be translated
into power over the news media. One reason journalists consider the powerful more newsworthy is
that these people who are most likely to have an impact on the country and the world. Here’s
another way to think of this idea. The relationship between journalists and political leaders can be
considered a competitive symbiosis. It is a symbiotic relationship because each depends on the
other in order to achieve their goals. Leaders want publicity and the journalists want interesting
information they can turn into news. The reason the relationship is also competitive is that each
wants to get the most from the other while paying as little as possible. Leaders want to get lots of
publicity without having to reveal too much and reporters want to get the juiciest information
without having to give a free ride to the politician. The more powerful leaders have the best
information to sell and that’s why journalists compete for the privilege of getting it, especially if they
can get first crack at the story.!
Unless the political leadership is debating an issue, journalists are rarely able to bring other
perspectives to the table. True democracies however must have a genuinely independent press
who present a wide range of viewpoints for us to consider.!
!
Power Comes in Many Forms!
Does the fact that powerful elites get covered more mean that they get covered more positively?
The answer, for the most part, is yes. There are basically two doors for getting into the news. The
front door is reserved for VIPs: the people with political power. When these people enter, they are
usually treated with respect. They are covered because of who they are as much as for what they
are doing or saying. Having a large staff and a bit of money also allows powerful political actors to
hire a talented web team who are responsible for keeping journalists in the loop and preparing
interesting videos for general distribution. This means that political power can also be translated
into power over the new Internet-based media. In addition, the media are more than happy to talk
about shortcomings in great detail. !
The other way to get into the news is through the back door. This door is reserved for weaker
political actors who only become newsworthy if they do something especially weird or deviant. The
powerful can be pretty boring and still get into the news. But if you are not important you better be
interesting. Not every protest get negative coverage. It is the size of the protest that provides the
necessary drama.!
There is one strategy that weaker groups can sometime use to provide news people with drama
without completely sacrificing legitimacy: civil disobedience. This tactic provides drama with a
minimal amount of downside. The relative success of such tactics depends on three factors: the
level of violence that the authorities use against the group, the extent to which people can identify
with your cause, and the level of violence you use. !
!
Another ramification (vertakking) of our first principle is the idea of cumulative inequality. Not only
does political power translate to power over the media, but the political actors who most need
access to the news are the ones that find it most difficult to obtain. As in many areas of life, when it
comes to exposure in the news media, the rich generally get richer and the poor remain poor.
Those with real political power certainly enjoy getting good publicity and it also helps them achieve
their political goals. But because they have power, they are less dependent on the news media
than others; they can get things done directly. The powerless, on the other hand, have little chance
of achieving anything without some public attention. The only way they can get in is if they hide
inside the cake and jump out when least expected.!
In general however, the news media are major agents for maintaining and even intensifying the
power gaps in society. The rules of access insure that the powerful are constantly seen as more
important and in many cases more respectable than the weak. This in turn makes it easier for them
to maintain or change their preferred policies. !
, What About the New Media?!
The new technology does make a difference, sometimes even a huge difference. But in addition to
the new opportunities that have become available because of the new media, there are also some
important limitations. The new advantages and the limitations of this new technology can be
understood by looking at the type of challenger that could most benefit from these changes:
political movements.!
There are four major goals political movements attempt to achieve where the new Internet media
could be useful. It should help movements in their efforts to mobilize supporters to their cause, it
allow them to reach a much wider audience, provide a way to have an influence on public opinion
and to have impact on politics. Even if a movement has the best technology available it will remain
small and obscure unless it appeals to a relatively large number of people who are willing to devote
time and money to the cause. Also, the traditional media still have only so much space and time to
allocate, even if their web sites provide more space than in the past. But traditional media remains
the best tool for generating political waves about an issue.!
Slaktivism: there are quite a number of digital activities people can carry out that make them feel
good about themselves but have absolutely no impact on either society or politics. !
Despite all these limitations, there are two very different types of movements who seem to have
benefited the most from the emergence of the Internet. The first are what are known as
Transnational Advocacy Networks (TANs). Groups dealing with climate change, the dangers of
globalization, nuclear proliferation, cruelty to animals, and human right are all examples of
movements who have far more power and influence now than in the past because of their ability to
mobilize supporters and resources from around the world. The second type of group that has seen
a major change in their fortunes due to the Internet is terrorist organizations. The internet
provides these groups with a number of important advantages. Terrorist organizations can instantly
exchange informations, distribute inspirational material and video, coordinate tactics and strategy
and the Internet also provides terrorists with an extremely effective and anonymous method for
doing strategic research before an attack.!
!
So in some ways the new media have radically changed the relationship between political and
media power. But due to the rules of political competition, these cases remain the exception rather
than the rule. When it comes to the ability of movements and other challengers to organize and
mobilize it is certainly a new age. On the other hand, the new technologies appears to be less
revolutionary when it comes to getting a message to the broad public or bringing about real
change. Equally important, the ability of political actors to successfully exploit the new media
depends first and foremost on who they represent, their goals, and the political environment in
which they are operating. The powerful, it turns out, still have the upper hand. So if things are so
great for the political powerful, why are they constantly whining about news coverage? It turns out
that despite their many advantages even the most powerful lose control over news stories. This
brings us to the next part of our story. !
!
!
Chapter 2: Political Control and Media Independence!
!
Although political power always provides advantages, the news media sometimes go from being
lap dogs to attack dogs. When the authorities lose control over the political environment, they also
lose control over the news.!
The political environment is simply a general term of everything that people and groups in a
particular place and time are saying and doing about an issue. Journalists construct news stories
about an issue by turning their usual elite sources and trying to gauge the public mood about the
topic. In a sense every piece of data they collect provides them with clues about the state of the
political environment.!
!
!
!
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