Cpt - Due Week 6. PDF

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Due Week 6....

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Chapter 10 - The News Media: Communicating Political Images Critical Thinking Exercise

Directions: Answer two of the following questions. 1. Define high-choice media system. How does it contribute to a less-informed public? To a more partisan public?

A high-choice media system is when there are multiple news outlets which means you have multiple sources as to how you receive your news. We are in control of what we want to see and hear. This helps with the people who don’t want to hear the news. It is such a broad, but popular topic now that people have the choice to either listen to what is going on in the world or not to. For the partisan side, it was seen that traditional news outlets still have much larger audiences, but the one’s who show a more partisan view are more popular. People tend to want to watch stuff in which the news is siding with what they are already believing in.

2. Contrast the media’s watchdog role with their common-carrier role. Is there a tension between these roles - does carrying out one of them work against carrying out the other?

The watchdog function is essentially when the media is ready to expose the officials for anything that they do wrong. The media has essentially been called a fourth branch of government because of it. The common-carrier role is when the law officials communicate with the public because if the public did not know what was going on, the officials would not get their support. They differ because one is the media exposing the wrongfulness of officials, while the other is the direct person letting the public know what’s happening. Essentially an example is if the President let’s the public know what’s going on, it more likely wont get twisted; however, if they keep things in private then the media can twist things around and expose them as thee watchdog role does.

3. What are the consequences of the fact that the press is charged with informing the public but at the same time needs to attract an audience in order to make a profit and fund its news-gathering operations?

A major consequence is that some news stations will go far to stretch the truth because they need exciting news to attract viewers. They always want to be the first ones giving the “breaking news” so some stations will go to a lot of extremities to make the news more exciting so they get more viewers. It will bring a lot of heat on the company though if they are caught taking it too far to the point that it’s a blatant lie....