wayneopenle宽ctureonmediainfluence.pptVIP

Hierarchy What can be influenced? 1. Issues/people What gets covered Journalists show bias just by the topic they choose to cover. Example: Beat system. Journalists cover buildings. What can be influenced? 2. Framing of issues/people What aspects of stories get covered Example: Cuts in welfare programs vs. increase in taxes. Which makes a better story? What can be influenced? 3. Quality of coverage How positive/negative the coverage is Example: Adversarial relationship between government officials and reporters. Monica Lewinsky case? What can be influenced? 4. Who gets quoted Sources frame stories Availability, quotability, name recognition, known opinion What can be influenced? 5. How someone gets quoted “...Quotes … can be … changed by … simple grammatical … techniques...” Can the speaker string a complete sentence together? What can be influenced? 6. Visual content Do photographers capture the most significant “frozen moment of reality”? Do photographers capture the unusual? What can be influenced? 7. Juxtaposition People connect elements placed near each other. Libel case in Albuquerque Nixon commercial What can be influenced? 8. Choice of words Hidden meaning in words Walk? Talk? What can be influenced? 9. Context Reporting can be accurate, yet misleading by removing the context of the information. Half-hour interview to get one or two sentences. Levels of influence From Shoemaker and Reese, “Mediating the Message” Hierarchy of influence Shoemaker and Reese Hierarchy Level I Influence of individuals Reporters influence media content merely by selecting story topics. Reporters also influence media content through framing. Key study David Manning White (1950) Used the term “Gatekeeper” first coined by Lewin, a sociologist. Mr. Gates White kept track of stories selected by a wire editor in Peoria, Ill. White asked Mr. Gates to keep track of why he selected some stories and eliminated others. Gatekeeping results “Not interesting” “B.S.” Don’t car