Chapter 8: Mass Media and Public Opinion Section 1 Objectives Examine the term public opinion and understand why it is so difficult to define. Analyze how family and education help shape public opinion. Describe four other factors that shape public opinion. Key Terms public affairs: events and issues that concern the people at large, such as politics and the making of public policies public opinion: those attitudes held by a significant number of people on matters of government and politics mass media: those means of communication that reach large, widely dispersed audiences simultaneously peer group: those people with whom one regularly associates, including friends, classmates, co-workers, and neighbors opinion leader: any person who has an unusually strong influence on the views of others Introduction What is public opinion, and what factors help to shape it? Public opinion consists of the attitudes held by a significant number of people about public affairs matters of government and politics. It is shaped by a wide variety of factors, such as family, school, race, occupation, gender, mass media, peer groups, opinion leaders, and historic events. Different Publics Public opinion in the United States is typically divided. Any given public issue is likely to have separate groups with their own points of view. In addition, people disagree about which public issues are important. Few issues capture the attention of all Americans. Most issues are of little interest to the majority. Public Affairs Checkpoint: What do public affairs include? Public affairs include events and issues involving politics, public issues, and the making of public policies. Examples include political parties, candidates, taxes, unemployment, national defense, foreign policy, and so forth. Technically, public opinion includes only those views that relate to public affairs. Public Opinion
Public opinion consists of those attitudes publicly expressed by a large number of people about matters of government and politics. How might the responses shown on this 2008 chart about the most important public issues change in 2012? Political Socialization Public opinion is shaped by many different factors throughout our lives. The process by which a person gains his or her political views is called political socialization. This process begins in early childhood and involves the influence of many experiences and relationships. Two of these are family and school. Family Influences Parents have a strong influence on the basic beliefs that will shape the political views of their children. Children tend to favor the political parties supported in the households in which they were raised. School Influence Schools try to prepare students to become good citizens by educating them about our political system. Schools also give students an informal education about decision-making, influence, and compromise. Other Factors In general, occupation and racial background are usually more significant than factors such as gender or place of residence. However, the nature of the issue can change what factors influence people s views on it. Four other key factors that influence public opinion are the mass media, peer groups, opinion leaders, and historic events.
Mass Media The mass media includes radio, television, magazines, and newspapers. More than 98 percent of the 115 million U.S. households have a television, and most are turned on for eight or more hours a day. Peer Groups Checkpoint: How does one s peer group shape his or her attitudes? Belonging to a peer group tends to reinforce what a person has already come to believe. This happens in part because peer group members share many socializing experiences and tend to be reluctant to disagree openly with others in their peer group. Opinion Leader Some people listen to and draw ideas from opinion leaders. Many opinion leaders hold public office, while others are journalists or prominent members of society. What is the cartoonist implying about the media? The Great Depression Historic events can shape public opinion and policy. In the 1930s, the Great Depression wrecked the U.S. economy, shifting popular support to Democrats and persuading many Americans to support an increased role for the national government in U.S. economic and social life. The 1960s and 1970s In the 1960s, the nation was shaken and divided by the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the assassinations of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. The 1970s saw the Watergate scandal and the resignation of President Nixon. The events of these two decades caused many American to lose respect and trust of their government. Review Now that you have learned about what public opinion is and what factors shape it, go back
and answer the Chapter Essential Question. What is the place of the media and public opinion in a democracy? Section 2 Objectives Describe the challenges involved in measuring public opinion. Explain why scientific opinion polls are the best way to measure public opinion. Identify the five steps in the polling process. Understand the problems in evaluating polls. Recognize the limits on the impact of public opinion in a democracy. Key Terms mandate: the instructions a constituency gives its elected officials interest group: a private group that works to shape the making of public policy public opinion poll: a tool used to collect information by asking people questions straw vote: a nonscientific poll that asks many people the same question universe: the whole population that a poll aims to measure sample: a representative slice of the total universe random sample: a polling group of randomly selected people quota sample: a polling group constructed to reflect the major characteristics of a given universe Introduction How is public opinion measured and used? Public opinion is measured by election results, personal contacts, media reporting, and especially by polls. The most common polls are straw polls, while the most accurate measures of public opinion are scientific polls. Officials use public opinion to guide their public policy decisions. Measuring Public Opinion Election results reflect public opinion to some degree, but often express voters views only on a few broad issues. The people also express their opinions in e-mails, letters, phone calls, or public meetings. The media both mirrors and helps shape public opinion. Interest groups share the views of their members in hopes of influencing policy. Public officials get feedback on public opinion from their many contacts with the public, in the form of mail, phone calls, public meetings, and personal visits with constituents. Public Opinion Poll
Public opinion is best measured by polls that ask people questions, but scientific polling techniques are needed to get accurate results. What do you think the cartoonist is saying about pollsters here? Straw Polls Straw polls try to measure public opinion by asking many people the same questions, often by phone, email, or mail. This method is very unreliable, as there is no guarantee that the people who respond represent an accurate cross-section of the population. For example, a straw poll during the Great Depression picked the wrong presidential winner because it overlooked the large number of poor people who voted. Scientific Polls Scientific polls are more accurate. There are hundreds of polling organizations in the U.S. today. Gallup and Pew are two of the best known. Scientific polls have five basic steps: Define the universe to be surveyed Construct a sample Prepare valid questions Select and control how the poll is taken Analyze and report the results Universe and Sample The universe is the group whose opinions the poll tries to discover. For large groups, pollsters create a sample, or representative slice. A random sample is made of randomly selected people. Most national polls use random samples of 1,500 people to represent the U.S. population. The law of probability says that a proper random sample can be quite accurate. A typical margin of error in a scientific poll is plus or minus 3 percent. A quota sample is less complicated but less accurate. Pollsters try to create a quota sample so that it reflects the major characteristics of a given universe, such as race or gender. People often belong to more than one category, making it hard to create an accurate sample.
Interviewing and Analyzing How pollsters interact with people can affect poll accuracy. Most polls today are telephone surveys. Pollsters use computers to analyze and publish polling data. Evaluating Polls When evaluating the intent of a poll, ask yourself the following questions: Who is responsible for the poll? Polls sponsored by political campaigns may try to mislead voters. Why is the poll being conducted? Polls meant to boost a candidate s approval ratings are not reliable. When evaluating a poll s methods, ask yourself the following questions: What is the poll s universe? Ask if the sample is truly representative. How was the sample chosen? Samples should be selected randomly. How were questions written and asked? Leading questions can alter results. When was the data collected? Opinions change quickly during elections. Checkpoint: What is difficult for polls to measure? Scientific polls are fairly accurate, but have difficulty measuring the intensity, stability, and relevance of opinions. Intensity: how strongly someone holds an opinion. Stability: how likely an opinion is to change. Relevance: how important an opinion is to the person who holds it. Limits on Polls Democracy is more than measuring public opinion, and polls are not substitutes for elections. Minority interests must be protected against the excesses of majority views and actions. Polls are best at focusing attention on public questions and stimulating discussion of them. Review Now that you have learned about how public opinion is measured and used, go back and answer the Chapter Essential Question. What is the place of the media and public opinion in a democracy? Section 3 Objectives Examine the role of the mass media in providing the public with political information. Explain how the mass media influence politics. Understand the factors that limit the influence of the media. Key Terms medium: a means of communication weblog: Web site postings usually devoted to a specific subject, like politics public agenda: the societal problems that the nation s political leaders and the general public agree need government attention sound bite: short, focused reports that can be aired in about 30-45 seconds
Introduction How has the development of different media helped inform the public about politics? People can now get political information from a wide range of media, including television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet. Accessibility to political news has thus increased, though in-depth coverage of news events may not have improved. The Role of Mass Media The mass media includes methods of communication that reach large audiences simultaneously. The five major types of mass media that influence American politics today are television, Internet, radio, newspapers, and magazines. Mass media in the United States are independent of government control. At the same time, most people gain their knowledge of government and politics from the mass media. The Role of Mass Media How has the percentage of Americans who get their campaign news from network news and the Internet changed since 2000? Television Television news began to boom in the 1950s. TV replaced newspapers as the main source of political information in the 1960s and is the main source of news for 80% of Americans today. Three major national networks ABC, CBS, and NBC dominated early television news. The major networks have been challenged in recent years by independent broadcasting groups, cable broadcasters such as CNN, and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). Newspapers Newspapers were the main news source in the colonies and early nation.
Newspapers were so influential in the late 1800s that so-called yellow journalists were able to use sensational editorials and headlines to help push America into war with Spain. Today more than 10,000 newspapers are published in the United States. About 45% of the nation s adult population read a newspaper daily. But the number of daily newspapers has been declining as people turn to radio, TV, and the Internet for news. A few major newspapers still have national influence, in part because they cover stories in greater depth. Radio In the 1920 and 1930s radio became a major source of political news. Radio remains influential today due to its convenience, the popularity of talk radio, and radio s ability to focus on specific groups of listeners. Magazines The first political magazines appeared in the mid-1800s. In the decades before radio and TV, magazines were the major national news medium. Some 12,000 magazines are published today. Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report are key sources of political news and commentary. Other magazines with smaller circulations also focus on public affairs. The Internet The Internet is fast becoming a leading source of political news and information, behind TV but now ahead of radio, newspapers, and magazines. Nearly 2/3 of Americans say they go online on a regular basis. Most newspapers, magazines, and television stations maintain Web sites, usually with free content. The same is true of government agencies, interest groups, political parties, public officials and candidates. Today there are also many weblogs and podcasts devoted to topics involving government and politics. Media and Public Opinion The media plays a large role in shaping the public agenda, the social problems that leaders and the public focus upon. People rely on the media for most of the information they receive on public issues. The media plays a key role in determining what policy issues the public thinks and talks about, by emphasizing some issues and stories while ignoring or downplaying others. The media may not tell people what to think, but in a way, it does tell them what to think about. What is this cartoonist saying about media influence on the public? Media and Politics
Politicians are also strongly influenced by major news organizations, including the major TV and cable networks, news magazines, and newspapers. What is this cartoonist saying about media influence on politicians? Media and Electoral Politics Checkpoint: How do candidates use media coverage to their advantage? Candidates for public office use the media to appeal directly to the people without having to rely as much on their political parties. They also control their media image and manipulate media coverage, using staged events and sound bites to present themselves in a positive way and get maximum exposure. Limits on Media Influence Most radio and TV programs do not cover public affairs, and their news coverage is not typically in-depth. Few people follow media coverage of political events very closely. People tend to follow political news that agrees with their own views. Being an informed citizen thus takes the effort to seek out in-depth news coverage of public affairs. Review Now that you have learned about how the development of different media has helped inform the public about politics, go back and answer the Chapter Essential Question. What is the place of the media and public opinion in a democracy?