Lesson 42 of 1524
The Media
The media do not only report a list of facts. They help decide which facts feel like the story.
Practice this chapterPrior restraint, stopping publication in advance, is very hard for the government to justify. Near v. Minnesota and the Pentagon Papers case are the landmarks.
A public figure who sues for a false statement must show actual malice: the publisher knew the statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. That is a harder test than a private person faces.
Two media effects
Agenda setting chooses the subject. Framing chooses the angle.
What we think about, then how we think about it.
Worked example
Two outlets cover the same factory closing. One leads with workers losing wages. The other leads with the company’s tax bill. Neither story invents facts. What media effect is the difference an example of?
- 1Both outlets put the closing on the agenda. Readers of either story know the factory is the subject.
- 2The stories do not emphasize the same fact. One makes wages the meaning of the event. The other makes taxes the meaning.
- 3That choice of emphasis is framing. It steers the reader toward a cause and a villain without changing the event.
- 4It is not libel, because the example does not say either story is false. It is not prior restraint, because nothing was stopped.
Result: Framing.
Why. Agenda setting would explain why the closing is covered at all. Framing explains why two true stories point the reader in different directions.
The fairness doctrine is not still in force. It was repealed in 1987. Do not confuse it with the equal-time rule for candidates.
Practice margin
This chapter
A fresh set from this chapter only. Choose 10 or 20. Multiple choice and fill-in, with no repeat inside the set.