The Presidential News System

 The first age of communication—the two decades after WWII—was an era dominated by political parties.  The second age is ushered in by the introduction of television.  The third age begins with the arrival of cable television and the internet.

 Several characteristics mark the second age of communication:  Diminished importance of political-party based messages  Rise of limited channel or network broadcast television for political communications  The growth in the size of the audience for political communication  The replacement of long-term influences on politics like party identification, with short-term influences like current events. This boosted the personal aspect of politics.

 The third age is associated with five major changes:  The rising professionalization of political advocacy  Increased competitive pressure on journalists  The rise of anti-elitism and populism in communications and journalism  A diversification of news media and communications media  A change in the structure of the audience for political content—for example the fragmentation of the audience and its exposure to “bits and pieces” of information that it picks up “here and there.”

 One last note here:  The emergence of populism in the media has led to the undermining of the importance of the hierarchical organizations in society such as the establishment press, for example, the New York Times.

 The web of interrelationships among the president, the news media, and the mass public is what is called the presidential news system.  In order to understand this, we will break down the “needs” of each of these three groups.  President  News media  Public

 Access to the public  Prime-time speeches  Help relay messages  Helps promote an image of the president (image building)  Have you to use these sparingly  News coverage of the president  Allows frequent access to the public  Allows him to convey his message on a wider range of topics  Helps with image building  Drawback—the president loses some control over the content of their message to journalists

 Audience  News generally needs to contain the following characteristics:  Novelty  Negativity/conflict  Balance  Authority/importance  Familiarity  Constancy  News about the president often meets all these criteria. Thus it attracts viewers—the number one thing news outlets need to survive.

 Accountability from public officials  The media provides information on what the president does and the results or impact of those actions and decisions  Helps the public make informed decisions about whether to continue to support and reelect the president and his party, or not.  In this capacity, the public needs to make sense of the president’s actions.  Journalists can help with this.