Introduction to American Government Development of the News Business

Development of the News Business The news media are the organizations that: •Gather • Package • Transmit the news through some proprietary communications Introduction to American Government technology. April 21, 2009 Developed primarily as private POLS 1101 business enterprises The University of Georgia uncontrolled by Prof. Anthony Madonna government. [email protected] Development of the News Business Early Papers • Colonial times. • Profit motive. – Publishing extremely expensive task. – High unit costs – the costs of transmitting a news product to each • But also suppliers of vital civic information. consumer. – Competition to increase audiences • Printing process. for their news. – Time-consuming, labor intensive – Mid-1770s approximately twenty-five weekly newspapers were serving the colonies. • However, the news media have undergone • Pamphlet -- most popular means of communicating. vast changes over time. – Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. – Durable, reusable. 1 Early Papers Early Papers • With the emergence of the Federalist and Democratic- Republican Parties in the 1790s, commercial concerns directed newspapers toward party politics. • Parties launched newspapers wherever they competed in order to advance their particular vision for the Republic. – Little objective reporting. – Required subsidies from parties to maintain themselves. – But also required audiences to justify the party’s support. Andrew Jackson’s administration (1829-1837). • Parties used these newspapers to: – Three journalists in his cabinet. – Advocate their platforms and candidates. – Jackson had close relationship with the editor of the Washington Globe. – Attack their opposition. •Gave Globe government printing contracts. • Appointed fifty-seven editors to patronage positions. – But changeable fortunes of parties in election years provided a poor foundation for building a business. The Rise of the Penny Press The Rise of the Penny Press • A larger audience was the main alternative to relying on a party subsidy. • Businesses had an incentive to reach a mass audience (not just the party faithful). • Market size depended on price (and that depended on unit price). • With the combination of steam power and better presses, • Success of the “penny press” related to the price, but just as much to economies of scale were finally achieved. the shift in what was considered “news.” –The New York Sun was the first paper to enlist the new – Human interest stories, crime, the weather, business, social events. technology. – Political news was covered less, and in a muted fashion, as publishers sought to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. – New York Herald sold for a penny (others still sold 6- – Competition for a mass readership became more intense. cent limited editions. 2 The Golden Age of Newspapers The Emergence of Radio and Television In many ways the period between 1883 and 1925 was the golden age of • Enter radio and television and exit the glory days of the newspapers. newspaper. – They basically held a monopoly over communication. • In 1920 Westinghouse launched the nation’s first – National political news proceeded commercial radio station. through their pages or not at all. – KDKA, Pittsburgh. – Their monopolies centralized their – Soon there were hundreds across the nation. editorial power. • Initially had little to do with civic affairs. Over the past half-century the extensive power of newspapers has eroded substantially. • Brief announcements of the news. – Go to newspapers for the “whole story.” Declining circulation figures. – Soon radio began to take advertising dollars away from Substitution of radio and television. newspapers. The Emergence of Radio and Television Regulation • Television, as an industry, did not emerge until twenty-five years later, • Rapid development of broadcast infrastructure. at the close of World War II. – Locally owned stations affiliated with one of three • Once a station was established (and national networks. consumers paid the initial high cost of – Each major market also had an affiliate of the national a radio or TV set) the cost of delivering news was relatively low public television network and one or two independent (the cost of receiving it nil). stations. – And it was fast. – Instant news, no delay, more – Essentially an oligopoly in terms of production and immediacy. distribution. • This was very undemocratic. What if the few who • Today, radio remains a significant but secondary source of news. controlled the output decided to influence elections? – Talk radio format. • Regulator apparatus was in place already. 3 Regulation News as a Consumer Product • Equal time rules prevented broadcasters from favoring one • Unlimited news programming has not yielded a candidate over another with free or easier access to the better-informed citizenry. airwaves. • Content. •The fairness doctrine sought to assure that different points of – Determined by targeted audience. view on controversial issues had access to the airwaves. • National or local. • Currently, the law also limits a company’s ownership to no – Also determined by carrying capacity. • Amount of information a particular more than 39 percent of the national television audience. technology can economically provide its – 2004 Viacom and News Corp. audience. – Focus on the “median” viewer. • Kept them from expanding beyond 39 percent, while not – Credibility. forcing them to divest their current holdings. • Offers primary data, sound, and video • FCC disallows cross-ownership of newspapers and local images straight from the source. television stations. Consumer Preferences Consumer Preferences • Public likes to have multiple sources of news. • Infotainment programming: – Access to several news providers makes consumers less a blend of news and vulnerable to the bias that producers might introduce in entertainments, such as talk selecting and reporting news. shows, political comedy and – But public less inclined to worry about bias as much as even MTV shows up in convenience. surveys as a source of political information. – Television dominates and is the preferred source for news. – Drift of consumers from newspaper to television • Is infotainment a good thing? appears unlikely to stop. – Internet, however, may erode television’s predominance. • Change reflects changing composition of the news audience. 4 Newsmakers: Politicians and Public Officials Newsmakers: Politicians and Public Officials • When politicians engage in • Press secretary. news making they are trying to influence the course of political events. – Job is to generate favorable news about • Reporters must keep a keen eye on their audience’s interest the officeholder. in the proposed story. • Interaction of politicians and reporters. – President’s press – Different goals. secretary has the – Tension between reciprocity and competition. biggest job of all. • Politicians and public officials participate in news making with two audiences in mind: • The public and fellow politicians. • Usually the means to communicate with fellow politicians and evoke a response. Newsmakers: Politicians and Public Officials Newsmakers: Politicians and Public Officials • Trial balloon. • News leak. – Discreet news-making strategy. – News strategy: politician – Giving strategically consequential “floats” a policy or some information to the news media on the other idea with a reporter on condition that its source not be the condition that the source identified by name. of the story remain • Can provoke action. anonymous. – “Deep Throat” and Watergate. – If it gets a favorable – Mark Felt, second in command at the response, the politician then FBI, leaked information to Washington publicly announces the Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein. proposal. – Inoculating leak -- Kenneth Star and Clinton sex scandal. 5 Newsmakers: The Military Reporters and their News Agencies • Advantage if military can control news. • The role of the reporter is so pivotal to making news that a • Today, it is difficult for the military of a democratic professional creed has grown up around the job. country to control the news. – Contemporary war coverage. • Reporters make the initial decisions about a story’s • Hundreds of journalists (print and broadcast) newsworthiness: define its context/framework. covering the action. • Unescorted and unconfined. • They may even take on the role of the story’s advocate -- • Satellite phones, video transmission backpacks. attempt to sell it to the editors. • 24-hour cable news. – All work to bring the war directly to the public. • Pressure on reporters today: – Military respond with media strategy. – Feed the monster. The Beat Implications from the Beat System • Both newspapers and broadcast • Beats encourage daily reporting media cover the regular sources of (whether it is news or not). important stories systematically by permanently assigning reporters to certain venues, • Those agencies of government that traditionally called beats. are not on a beat are less likely to generate news. The White House, Supreme Court, State Department, • The beat system encourages pack Congress, and so on. journalism, which increases the likelihood of similarity in news coverage across media outlets. 6 Politicians and Reporters The Numbers Game • Politicians and reporters. - Tension in their relationship. • How many individuals have access to key - If they could, each side would exploit the other. information is important to reporters and - Classic prisoner’s dilemma. politicians. “The fact that we didn't do the

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