Chapter 7 Part I

Terms and Related Questions (define terms in bold and answer questions)

• High-tech politics
• Consider an example of how technology shapes both political behavior and the political agenda.  Is this a positive development?  Consider how few people tune into Obama's speech compared to how many watched Reagan's in the 1980s.  Why might this be?
• Mass media
• How does the mass media effectively communicate a message to as many people as possible?  What does this have to do with media events?
• Press conferences
• Discuss the relationship between the press and the president earlier in the 20th century (during FDR's administration) and how it evolved (or should we say devolved) closer to Vietnam and Watergate.  How did this contribute to investigative journalism?
• Which forms of media are consumed more, and which, in your opinion, are more effective: print media, or electronic media?  Why?
• How has broadcasting evolved into narrowcasting?  How does this affect the way in which people are informed by the mass media?
• Has the growing diversification of the mass media contributed to selective exposure?  Why or why not?
• Does the internet enhance or detract from citizens' political knowledge?
• How does the fact that the media is privately controlled (consider the role of chains specifically here) impact our quality of news and our knowledge?