- Media and politics
- Role of money (2012 races, 2008 presidential 'race')--inreasingly expensive and pervasive
- media outlets, corporations, consumers--how do they interact with each other?
- Media--coverage of campaigns ('races'), media 'buys' for campaign commercials, access to politicians, corporate advertisers
- Corporations--customers for their goods, services, media as vehicles for advertising/reaching audiences, access to politicians through lobbying and campaign contributions
- 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
- Citizens United ruling
- Effects on democracy? Who votes?
- Techniques used in the media
- 3rd party technique
- ('Energy Citizenss' and sourcewatch rap sheet)
- news outlets as the ultimate 3rd parties?
- Astroturfing (as opposed to 'grassroots')
- Imagery and propaganda (check out Newsweek and Time ...) -- sometimes it backfires ...
- Mighty Wurlitzer and the media 'echo chamber' (talk radio plays big role)
- Using words . . . (like 'framing public debate and discussion?')
- Persuasion and the end user
- So . . . News media as social problem?
- Some possible action
- Ownership limits--breaking up media monopolies
- Merger review (when large corporations merge, whose interests are served?)
- 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)?
- 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?
- Public media? Is this one way to reduce the filtering pressures?
- Journalism--address overreliance on large-scale news, television, official sources (that might 'source filter' stories), pervasive influence of advertising on news content
- Presidential debates--controlled by the two major parties
- Other ideas?
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