The Dynamics of Political Communication Chapter 9

Transcript:The Dynamics of Political Communication Chapter 9:
The Dynamics of Political Communication Chapter 9 Examining the Conundrums of Political News Bias © 2018 Taylor & Francis The Contemporary News Landscape Gatekeeping is “the process by which the billions of messages that are available in the world get cut down and transformed into the hundreds of messages that reach a given person on a given day” (Shoemaker, 1991, p. 1) Does traditional mainstream news still exert a gatekeeping influence over what news you see in your social media feeds? © 2018 Taylor & Francis Cable News with Attitude Fox News CEO Roger Ailes saw their job as mobilizing the masses around their preferred candidate through the mouthpiece of the media Ailes told his executives “I want to elect the next president” two years before the 2012 election (Sherman, 2014, p. xvi) MSNBC, formed at the same time as Fox News, has taken a liberal perspective © 2018 Taylor & Francis Ideological Websites The web and social media have taken political journalism in expansive, enriching but sometimes perilous new directions Some sites seamlessly combine fact and opinion, often concealing their ideological leaning Ideologically bent sites such as Breitbart News became major factors in the 2016 election © 2018 Taylor & Francis Citizens Enter the Fray Citizen journalism has become ubiquitous Example: Passersby with camera phones recording videos of police shootings of unarmed African Americans, or exposing authorities’ complicity with crimes in online posts Often conflates live streaming with truth, opening it to question What are some recent examples of citizen journalism becoming relevant to political issues? © 2018 Taylor & Francis Facebook as Decider Many websites such as Google, Facebook, and Reddit use algorithms to decide what stories to show the viewer Personalized news raises a lot of questions, such as whether citizens receive news carefully culled to reflect their biases and preferences rather than information they need to make responsible decisions A takeaway: gatekeeping is not dead, but the gates and keepers have changed © 2018 Taylor & Francis Fake News Fake news is a fabricated story created with an intention to deceive, either to gain profitable clicks or promote a political ideology Fake news was a significant factor in the 2016 election Fake stories on Trump’s behalf gained more traction Some fake news stories in 2016 originated outside of the US and represented extremist interests as well as promoting the political policies of Russian president Vladimir Putin