“These days, each of us watches a personal screen that presents the things an algorithm has decided will best hold our attention.” … Jia Tolentino

Don’t read this thinking you have to memorize it all. But do try to get a sense of how changes can affect what people learn from consuming news.

• Media and politics–the revolving door
  • Politicians become ‘talking heads,’ pundits
    • versus subject experts (in other words, actual experts who’ve studied in a given field)–recitation of ‘talking points,’ predictable content that the audience has been ‘trained’ to The Press, once considered an adversary to the powerful, now often seen as an advocate.
    • The old expression ‘Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable’ is inconsistent with corporate news business models.
    • As news ownership consolidates in the hands of fewer corporations, it’s little surprise which (advocate or adversary to power) tends to prevail.
• The acceleration of the news cycle
  • Enabled over the years by technological advances
  • Desperate need for ‘news’ (especially in a 24/7 cycle, on networks and social media)
  • Unsurprisingly, ‘investigative’ journalism has declined–it is time-consuming and less ‘cost-effective’ in an environment where newsrooms are pressured to be first with the ‘scoop’.
  • Politicians’ private lives become fair game
    • Gary Hart, Bill Clinton, Anthony Wiener, Newt Gingrich, Al Franken, Katie Hill, the Obamas, Donald Trump, the Bidens, and a supporting cast of hundreds
    • Often this news eclipses ‘real’ news, the apparent corruption of politics, especially at the national level
  • Partisanship sells (and misleads, and divides . . .)
    • Becomes a means to attract, dangle bait, keep an audience
    • What does it mean for an informed public in a democracy?
• Media–how influential? How do they affect democracy?
  • Neil Postman and the ‘hypodermic’ theory–infotainment turns the public into mindless veggies
  • News serves a ‘gatekeeping’ function–how stories are chosen out of the thousands of choices to be made daily? Journalistic principle? Deadline pressures? Cutthroat competition? Ratings potential?
  • ‘Framing’–how are the stories chosen covered (keep them short, grade school reading level, perspectives minimized, etc.)?
  • Democracy–corruption of politics by money, blurred lines between campaigning and governing–role of consultants, public relations experts, algorithms fed by social media content, public opinion, elections happen, yes, but sometimes seem more like showcase and ritual ….
  • Important changes
    • Technology
      • Most people now have portable computers in their pockets–commonly referred to as ‘smart phones’–which can also serve as propaganda delivery devices.
      • AI — it may become harder to distinguish ‘real’ from ‘fake’ news.
      • Computing advances–algorithms now give us back what our searching and clicking patterns suggest we want more of.
    • Media regulation and the FCC (Federal Communications Commission)–from a level playing field to concentration of ownership, ‘capture’ of an agency (what industries would be interested in ‘capturing’–that is, influencing–the FCC?)
    • Campaign financing and the Supreme Court–corporations are people, says a 5-4 majority, and limits on money are almost theoretical (but what kind of person would a corporation be??)
    • Protection of the press, journalists–more complicated over time, especially post 9-11
      • Journalists threatened with jail time for not disclosing sources
      • Protections against libel–public officials have less protections
      • Where does the US rank in terms of press freedoms (55th in 2024, sandwiched in between Belize and Gabon)? For any readers who might be skeptical, here they describe their methodology.
    • The ‘news’–there is no obligation, enforced by the FCC or otherwise, not to falsify news or practice shoddy, unethical journalism.
    • Blurring the lines between ‘news’ and opinion
      • See ratings (not that the ‘news’ and ‘opinion’ may be in different columns)
      • Here is AllSides methodology description (refers as they note only to perspective, not to adherence to journalistic standards)

Alison Dagnes. 2010. Politics on Demand. NY: Praeger.