1. Media and politics
   1. Role of money (2012 races, 2016 presidential ‘race’, 2020)–increasingly expensive and pervasive
   2. media outlets, corporations, consumers, politicians–how do they interact with each other?
      1. Media–coverage of campaigns (‘races’), media ‘buys’ for campaign commercials, access to politicians, corporate advertisers, campaigns increase ratings (advertising revenue)
      2. Corporations–customers for their goods, services, media as vehicles for advertising/reaching audiences, access to politicians through lobbying and campaign contributions . . . access to accomplish what?
      3. Consumers–workers, citizens, etc. Politicians need votes to win elections, money to influence voters (much of it through TV advertising), presumably citizens have access to public officials (their representatives, senator), they consume media, especially TV, purchase goods and services offered by corporations
      4. Politicians–Pressure to finance campaigns (money from whom?); represents time taken away from work of ‘the people’ (less time to propose legislation); Need for exposure, votes (through news coverage, campaign ads); Silverstein video shows a pretty ‘open door’ policy.
      5. Meet ALEC (website, CMD)
   3. Citizens United ruling
      1. SuperPACs (Taxes, ‘dark’ money, and parodies)
      2. How do media benefit from unlimited campaign funding?
   4. Effects on democracy? Who votes (some 2020 data here)? What percent of electorate?
2. Techniques used in the media
   1. 3rd party technique (source filtering)
      1. (‘Energy Citizens‘ and sourcewatch rap sheet)
      2. news outlets as the ultimate 3rd parties?
   2. Astroturfing (as opposed to ‘grassroots’) and corporate front groups (John Oliver)
   3. Mighty Wurlitzer and the media ‘echo chamber‘ (talk radio plays big role)
   4. Using words . . . (like ‘framing public debate and discussion?’)
3. So . . . News media as social problem?
4. Some possible action
   1. Ownership limits–breaking up media monopolies
   2. Merger review (when large corporations merge, whose interests are served?)
   3. Money and politics–who has influence over the electoral process? Who benefits from the current situation? How do major media and major parties benefit? Should campaign financing be regulated or limited (at this point, requiring a constitutional amendment)?
   4. Regulate news–require disclosure when attempts are made to blur lines between news and opinion; If the large networks are monopolies, should they be regulated like utilities in the public interest?
   5. Public media? Is this one way to reduce the filtering pressures?
   6. Journalism–address overreliance on large-scale news, television, official sources (that might ‘source filter’ stories), pervasive influence of advertising on news content
   7. Presidential debates–controlled by the two major parties

So, to summarize and add …

• Role of money (who has it, how is it used?)
• Role of voting
  • Suppression vs voter fraud
    • Voter fraud (or ballot security)
      • Evidence–Heritage Foundation
      • False Claims–FactCheck.org
      • Voter fraud commission
      • Voter fraud as mostly myth–Brennan Center
  • Voter suppression
    • Redistricting and gerrymandering
    • purges (especially of felons. In Florida)
    • Voter (photo) ID requirements (some logic in the news … ‘It’s about integrity, say legislators)
    • Restricting early voting, expanded hours
    • Secretaries of State running for office
    • Reducing number of voting locations
    • Voting machines: ‘spoilage’ and hacking