5.12 - The Media
The Media as a Linkage Institution
The news media is the last of the four linkage institutions, channels that connect people to government and government back to people.
The media shapes how citizens get political information through news events (reporting what happened), investigative journalism, election coverage (candidates, debates, polls, and results), and political commentary (opinion and analysis). More and more of it now reaches people through new technology and social media instead of newspapers and TV (see 5.13).
Roles of the News Media
Gatekeeper: news organizations decide what to cover and for how long. If they ignore something, the public may never hear about it. If they cover something relentlessly, it grows in importance in people's minds.
Agenda Setter: heavy media coverage of an issue, like mass shootings, pushes it into public consciousness, which then creates pressure for policymakers to actually address it, landing it on the government's agenda.
Watchdog: the media investigates government overreach, corruption, or incompetence. This is generally considered the ideal role for the press to play.
- Investigative journalism: in-depth reporting that uncovers hidden wrongdoing. Example: the Washington Post's reporting on the Watergate break-in (1972 to 1974) helped lead to President Nixon's resignation.
- New York Times Co. v. United States (1971): when the Nixon administration tried to stop the New York Times and Washington Post from publishing the Pentagon Papers, a secret government history of the Vietnam War, the Court ruled 6-3 that it couldn't block publication. The ruling applied a "heavy presumption" against prior restraint, even when the government claims national security (see 3.4).
- Why it matters here: the watchdog role only works if the press can report on government without asking permission first. This case protects that, which keeps the media working as a linkage institution that holds officials accountable.
Scorekeeper: frames politics as a game to be won or lost rather than substantive policy debate.
- Horserace Journalism: a specific version of this, focusing heavily on polling and candidate popularity rather than platforms or qualifications. Over-reliance on this can turn elections into a popularity contest and can even influence outcomes.
- This includes coverage of polls on presidential approval and trust in government. When the media reports that trust is low or a president is unpopular, it can hurt that party's candidates. Candidates who trail in the polls also get less coverage and fewer donations, which can sink them early no matter their qualifications or platforms.
Big picture
The media connects citizens to government through several roles. Gatekeeping determines what the public even sees, which feeds directly into agenda-setting power over what policymakers prioritize. The watchdog role, through investigative journalism, is considered the media's best contribution to democracy, but a lot of coverage instead falls into the scorekeeper role, treating politics like a horse race focused on polls and popularity rather than substance.