Class 3

Lecture 2 - Role of news media in democracy

PLAN
1) Create an electoral forum for political parties and candidates
2) Provide variety of perspectives on important public issues
3) Scrutinize actions of elected officials & the state (watchdog)

1. Electoral forum for political parties & candidates

Access not guaranteed in the USA :
No entry costs in most European democracies
Mediated vs unmediated messages. This is a big difference between USA and Eure. There
is an antagonistic relationship between media and politics. In America, most journalists and
reporters refuse to be neutral. In Europe there is a tendency for more neutrality, or at least
equal treatment between different candidates.
Social Media = bypass mainstream media. Social media allows politicians to not depend on
the media anymore. They can speak directly to the voters.

2. Variety of perspectives public issues

“News is for the citizen. The citizen is that dimension of each one of us that is responsible
for, contributes to, and benefits from the cooperative endeavor of self-government. The
citizen is the basic constituent element of the public dimension of human activity. Without the
citizen, there is no self-government, no individual basis for responsibility, choice and values;
there is only the state in all its fearful, unchecked power and unaccountability. And without
the independent news function, the citizen is starved, paralyzed [and] ineffective.” Peter
Goldmark.
=> There is no self government without the citizens.

The ability for the news media to do its job of informing the public is compromised, because
people are either uninterested or unavailable.

3. Scrutinize actions of elected state officials (watchdog)

The low corruption on a democracy is dependent on a free press.
“it has been shown that democracy, measured by election competitiveness and voter
participation, lowers corruption but only if the press in the country enjoys a certain level
of freedom” (Kalenborn & Lessmann, 2013)

Two factors determine if News Media can effectively perform its Civic Responsibility :
1) Regulatory policy

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FCC is the Federal Communication Commission. The rules of the US are less impactful on
what the media does than the European ones.
The FCC is loosening up their rules for a free market for the internet. In European
democracies, there is a tighter control about what the programming media should do.
Roger Ailes, American TV Executive. “It’s my orchestra pit theory of politics. You have two
guys on stage and one guy says “I have a solution to the Middle East problem”, and the other
guy falls in the orchestra pit, who do you think is going to be on the evening news”.

2) Market Forces
In Europe, there is a mixt-model system. The government subsidizes the media, and there is
at least one TV network that is exclusively subsidized by public money. There is no such
thing in America. Mixed-media ownership leads to an increased chance of more informed
citizens.

=> There is regulatory policy and market forces that influence news. In addition, there is the
strength of political parties that will determine the news.
Political Significance of news media also depends on strength of political parties.
Countries with stronger political parties are less dependent on the media. In countries with a
strong party tradition, we get to the party to get information, we don’t need the media as
much.
In America, there is not a strong party tradition anymore. In Europe, parties are stronger
because party leaders have more power.

How did the parties become weak in America ?

US congress person represents an average of 700k citizens. Up until the 1960s, they would
ride across the country and have many meetings.
It is because of the evolution of candidate nomination process
Article II, Section I of the US Constitution discusses the procedures by which the President is
elected, however it does not provide guidance on how to nominate a Presidential Candidate.
Currently, candidates go through a series of State Primaries and Caucuses where, based on
the number of votes they receive from the electorate, they are assigned a certain number of
delegates who will vote for them at their Party’s Convention.

Caucus: Organized by political parties, a caucus is a meeting of supporters of a specific

political party who gather to elect delegates to choose whom they believe should be the
candidate in a given election.

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Primary: A method of selecting a candidate similar to that of a general election. It is an
organized statewide event put on by the state government where voters cast a secret ballot for
the candidate of their choosing.

The reform of the candidate election process and the evolution of technology had impacts on
the election system in America.

The first ever broadcast in history. It was the first time we could see live two geographic
areas. CBS News Flashback : First satellite news video.
The first ever live simultaneous coast-to-coast TV transmission from both the East Coast
(Brooklyn Bridge) and the West Coast (San Francisco Bay Bridge). Reporters on both sides
of the continent gave live reports to Ed Murrow, sitting in the control room on CBS’ Studio
41.
This revolutionized the way we used TV. You didn’t have to actually go to the speech, you
could just watch it from home. Democratization of this new technology consolidated this shift
to a media-based politics.

A revolution in the relationship between candidates and political parties

Donald Trump first registered as a Republican in 1987, but since that time, he has changed
his party affiliation five times.

The shift of technology has impacts on the American political campaigns : an increased
focus on the candidate rather than the party. The candidates try to maximize their
exposure. The party will be reformed : the parties tend to lose their power, while candidates
tend to gain more.

In California, a candidate for the Republican primaries only needs to get 1% of the
Republican voters of the State. In Vermont, you need 1000 signatures.
=> Anybody has a chance to run for primaries.

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Open primaries : a situation where any registered voter in a state can vote for any party,
even if they are not a member of this party.
Louisiana, Washington, California : not partisan blanket primaries : only one primary in
which everybody joins (from any party). Hence, it is possible for a party to not be represented
in the primaries of a state. (cf China). In 2016 and in 2020, no less than 7 presidential
candidates qualified from primaries although they had 0 political experience.
=> if parties want to make sure to win, they need to have a candidate that has enough money
to put in its campaign. A candidate that has the resources that will allow him to win the media
battle.
The average net worth of an American senator was 18 millions $.

In most European democracies, parties are stronger, and more important than the candidate.
The European parties are more rigid. In the US, you do not need to have been a Republican to
run for a Republican campaign. In Europe, you have to pay fees to the party you are a
member of.
The Selectorate is a validation committee that chooses a political party’s candidates for
public office. It also exists in the US but it is less exclusive. The Selectorate officializes the
vote.
-Highly inclusive Selectorates involve all the party members. (US)
-An in-between Selectorate consists of party agencies or party delegates.
-Highly exclusive Selectorates involve the party elite.

In Europe, it is essential that candidates defer to the party leaders before elections. Global
campaigns are way more party-centered. Hence, the media in European democracies focuses
more on the party.
Lately there has been a tendency towards more media attention to the candidate in European
democracies. There is a concern in Europe about the “americanisation” of political
campaigns.

US Media System
-Much less regulated that the one in Europe
-It is more privately owned
=> The American media will be less capable of maintaining its civic obligations.
NB : the structure of a media system influences the supply of information

There are three ownership models

1. Fully public (broadcast media)
At first it was fully public in most countries.
1927 the BBC was created, there were regulations on the electromagnetic spectrum. It was
funded through taxes.
Publicly owned systems had in common that they had to remain apolitical. They were
theoretically free from political influence. They followed principles : universal service,
information, education, diversity of programming.

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In 1979, every country in Europe (except for 3) had a publicly owned media. In 1997, every
country except for three, had a mixed system. However, in Europe, the public broadcast
media is still dominant.

2. Fully commercial
3. Mixed

In the USA : a trusteeship approach. It means that the resource is the common good, but is
managed by another organization.
The US Federal Communications Commission (government organization). Its objective is
to ensure that the public standard is being met.
“(...) act in the public interest, convenience and necessity”. => the commitment
“(...)promote the discussion of public issues; serve minority interests; avoid superfluous
advertising”.
At first, the FCC had a lot of rigor to promote democracy,.. However, it was doomed to
failure : “avoid superfluous advertising” because it is how the private media makes a profit.
Erosion of the standards of the FCC overtime. The regulations became less strict overtime.

The US is not a fully commercial system.

1965 : creation of the PBS, Public Broadcasting System. Hence, the USA has a
mixed-system. Most of the money from this station does not come from the State, but from
corporate donations and private donations. However, PBS captures only 1% of the audience.

Quantitative differences (USA vs Europe)

Public TV

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-Amount of public affairs programming and hard news during the prime time session
(7am-10PM) in Sweden, Norway, UK, Belgium : 84 minutes/day
-USA : 47 minutes/day

Commercial TV : 25min/day (Europe) vs 6 min/day. (US)

Growing gap between public TV & commercial TV

Public programming = hard news & substantive content
Commercial programming = soft news & infotainment
Ex : study of news reporting in Germany.
Top 3 private channels are infotainment 37% of the time. However infotainment represents
only 7% in the news report in the 2 public channels.

Geographical Reach
Proportion of National vs International news stories
Study of 16 channels across 8 different countries shows commercial tv provides less
international news.
TF1 : 39% of international stories. France 2 : 47% more.

Coverage of African Nations : BBC vs CNN (study of the BBC in 2017).

BBC has a way higher number of news reports than CNN concerning Nigeria, Ethiopia and
Egypt.

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The only measure where America is competitive is in knowledge of “domestic soft news”.
(entertainment, sports, celebrity).
The problem with soft news is that it has an impact on citizens' ability to understand the
world.

Egalitarianism
“In those societies where the media provide ample coverage of hard news and where the
schedule of news programming is adjusted so as to capture the attention of even relatively
inattentive citizens, easy access to information can compensate for inadequate motivation..
In Denmark and Finland, where news bulletins air regularly during the peak television
viewing periods (such as just before nationally televised sporting events), a sufficient number
of citizens who are not especially interested in politics nonetheless find themselves in the
path of news reports, thus allowing them to acquire information..
Thus, in countries where news programming is more substantive and the delivery of news is
scheduled to capture a substantial ‘inadvertent’ audience, we observe a significant narrowing
of the traditional knowledge gap. It is in this sense that the supply of news contributes to civic
competence.”
James Curran, 2009
The structure of the media has serious effects on the news programming. Public affair
programming seems to be better for democracy.
A public system broadcasting information gives a more restricted way of seeing politics
according to the World Bank (reading).

Media Regulation
Media programming rules & democracy

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-Regulatory frameworks. The rules that govern the media programs.
The organization that regulates the media in the US is the FCC. From strict rules to soft rules.
Three major networks dominate the market today :
-ABC
-CBS
-Peacock (?)
Many court battles that always favored the FCC in the 40s, 50s.
The FCC had an ideological shift in the 1960s-1970s that led to a liberal kind of regulation.
The Courts did not decide for this shift but the FCC itself.
Ronald Reagan (1980-1988).He pushed a lot of deregulation. The FCC adopted a new market
place approach.
Before the 1970s, the FCC had 14 major points :
- report on community events on local areas
- the broadcasters had to have political broadcast
- …
If they didn’t respect it, they would either have fines, or have their license withdrawn.
1970s : stations had to respect a 5% informational programming & 10% non-entertainment
rule.
1984 : these requirements were dropped by the FCC.

The major consequence form this deregulation :

1. Local newscast (network news) = low public affairs
The broadcasters switched from network national news to more local news programming.
Why is that a problem? Local news programming tends to lack meaningful public affairs
programming. It takes away the deep political affairs’ programming.
News about government & policy dropped from 54% to 15% between 1976 & 1992 in a
Philadelphia market study.
50% of all network news reports in 2000 had no policy content compared to about 33% in
1980.

2. Weakening restrictions on ownership rules

1940s-1980s :
- no more than 7 TV stations per single group
- dual network rule (major networks could not buy each other)
- cross ownership limits (tv, radio & press) : limited the amount of stations owned in a
local market.

In the 1980s, those rules were canceled. Hence, concentration of companies that owned the
majority of the media.

2004 = 179 tv stations owned by five companies (Tegna, nexstar, gray, sinclair, tribune
media)
2014 = 378 tv stations owned by the same 5 companies

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“In radio, the top 20 companies operate more than 20% of all the radio stations in the
country; just one, Clear Channel, dominates operation stations in 191 of the 289 markets. In
local TV, the 10 biggest companies own 30% of all television stations, reaching 85% of all
television households in the United States. In network television, the owners are all giant
corporations. »

Project for Excellence in Journalism, 2003 : Company size is inversely related to quality
journalism
Small US companies (less than 3 tv stations) * 2,5 grade A for quality journalism vs stations
owned by the largest 25 companies.
Criterias :
- cover whole community
- be significative and informative
- demonstrate enterprise and courage
- be fair and balanced
- limit sensationalism

The biggest corporation : Sinclair. A study of 2016 says that Sinclair is more and more
conservative in its content.

Diversity of perspectives
The Fairness Doctrine 1949 : Broadcast license holders are to present controversial issues of
public importance in a way that fairly reflects differing viewpoints.
It replaced the MayFlower Doctrine 1934. In the 1930s, the government was worried of the
radio becoming more popular than the newspaper. The government used a trusteeship
regulation : the radio would make money through advertisement. The Mayflower doctrine
limits political discussions on the radio. It is possible to explain the news, however it is not
possible to give one’s advice.

By the 1940s, when TV started to take over, the government had another dilemma : three
powerful corporations. They don’t want to transpose the Mayflower doctrine to the TV. They
allowed the TV to have political points of view, however they have to be fair : represent the
different points of view.
The fairness doctrine also implies that the media has to report fairly. The networks must
cover all the important issues.

The Fairness doctrine was canceled by Reagan.

The Personal attack rule : if a network criticizes a candidate, the latter must be allowed to be
invited on the show and be able to defend himself.
This rule was also withdrawn by Bush.

Video : compilation of common messages from Sinclair. Broadcast group accusing national
media of spreading fake news - source deadspin.
Transformation in American telecommunication. The number of voices has decreased.

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Political campaign coverage
Regulating news media
Equal time & equal access rule.
Us broadcasters only provide candidates with equal terms, not necessarily equal time.
vs the countries of the OECD all give free airtime for party political broadcasts.
In the UK, formal requirements of impartiality in the news programming, on their public as
well as commercial channels.

In many countries, it is forbidden for parties to advertise outside of regulated hours (France,
Spain, Belgium, UK, Denmark).
However, the European court of human rights said that the limitation of speech of political
parties was a violation of the human rights chart. Trial with a Norway political party.

4.3 m ads in the 2022 elections in the US.

Official TV Ad for European elections of 2014. PS political party. très pragmatique

Official TV ad for European ELections 2019-LFI. plus sensationnel.

Net neutrality : we can not privilege one apartment’s water stream over another apartment’s.
Differences of treatment in the use of the internet. “Creates an even field for all consumers”.
FCC repeals Net Neutrality in 2017.

Recap
News Media ability to uphold 3 civic responsibilities (electoral forum, public issues,
watchdog role) in a democracy depends on two conditions :
- regulation
- market forces
In societies where there is more public television, we tend to find more engaged citizens, and
more well informed citizens on politics.
The Media of the US is falling short of expectations : no substance

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