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Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Media (Interest Groups -…

- - - - Democratic Party: The party generally supports a left-leaning, liberal platform on the American political spectrum with an emphasis on the role of the federal government in promoting social and economic welfare.
      - Republican Party: The modern GOP supports a conservative platform on the American political spectrum, with foundations in laissez-faire capitalism, low taxes, supply-side fiscal policies and social conservatism.
    - - Multiparty Systems in Other Countries
        
        Proportional Representation: legislative seats awarded based on votes received by the party- more votes, more seats
        
        Coalition Government: two or more parties join to form a majority in a national legislature
        
        Winner-take-all system: legislative seats awarded only to first place finishers
      - Different Types
        
        Green Party: The party shares in the mission of many of the worldwide Green Parties and generally supports a left-leaning, liberal platform on the American political spectrum with an emphasis on the core tenets of environmental protection, social justice, grassroots democracy, and pacifism.
        
        Constitution Party: a conservative political party that supports "the principles of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights.
        
        Libertarian Party: The party aims to emphasize a commitment to free-market principles, civil rights, personal freedom, non-interventionism, peace and free trade.
  - - - The First Party System (1796-1824)
        
        Madison warned of "factions"
        
        Federalists= first political party
      - Jackson and the Democrats Vs. Whigs (1828-1856)
        
        Modern party founded by Jackson
        
        Whigs formed mainly to oppose Jacksonian Democrats
      - The Two Republican Eras (1860-1928)
        
        Republicans rose as the antislavery party
        
        1896 election centered on industrialization
      - The New Deal Coalition (1932-1964)
        
        New Deal Coalition: forged by the Democrats; consisted of urban working class, ethnic groups, Catholics, Jews, the poor, Southernors
      - The Era of Divided Party Government (1968- Present)
        
        Divided Government: One party controls Congress and the other controls White House
        
        Party Dealignment: disengagement of people from parties as evidence by shrinking party identification
        
        Party Neutrality: people are indifferent towards the two parties
  - - - Party in the Electorate: individuals who perceive themselves as party members
        
        Party Image: A voter's perception of what Republicans or Democrats stand for (psychological label)
        
        Party Identification: A citizen's self proclaimed preference for one party or the other
      - Party as an Organization: people that work for the party
        
        Local Parties
        
        Party Machines: a type of political party organization that relies heavily on material inducements to win votes and to govern
        
        Patronage: a job, promotion or contract given for political reasons rather than merit; used by party machines
        
        50 State Party Systems
        
        Closed Primaries: Only people who have registered with the party can vote for that party's candidates
        
        Open Primaries: Voters decide on Election Day whether they want to vote in the Democrat or Republican party
        
        Blanket Primaries: Voters are present with a list of candidates from all parties
        
        National Party Organizations
        
        National Committee: one of the institutions that keeps the party operating between conventions
        
        National Chairperson: responsible for day-to-day activities of the party
        
        National Convention: the meeting of party delegates every four years to choose a presidential ticket and the party's platform
      - Party in Government: Party members actually elected to government and generally the party the controls the government has policy consequences
        
        Coalition: a group of individuals with a common interest upon which every political party depends
        
        Politicians: generally act upon their campaign promises to please the public
    - - Linkage Institution: the channels through which people's concerns become political issues on the government's policy agenda
      - Pick Candidates
      - Run Campaigns
      - Give Cues to Voters
      - Articulate Policies
      - Coordinate Policy Making
- - - - Effective communications through media is key to political success
      - Media Event- events purposely staged for the media that nonetheless look spontaneous
      - Used for image making and news management. This is important especially for the president.
    - - Press Conferences- meeting of public officials with reporters
      - Investigative Journalism- the use of in-depth reporting to unearth scandals, scams & schemes putting reporters and politicians opposite each other
      - Coverage of presidential candidates has become less favorable
    - - Newspapers and magazines
      - Yellow journalism- a sensational style of reporting characterized newspapers in 1890s
      - Newspaper and newsweekly circulation has declined
      - Broadcast media replaced print media
        
        Television and radio
        
        Brought government and politics into peoples' homes E.g.) Vietnam War
        
        Politicians' appearances and mannerisms became more important E.g.) Kennedy-Nixon presidential debate
        
        Regulations
        
        Federal Communications Commission (FCC)- regulates the use of airways in 3 ways:
        
        1.) Prevent near monopoly control of market
        
        2.) Reviews performance of stations
        
        3.) Issues fair treatment rules for politicians
        
        From Broadcasting to Narrowcasting
        
        Narrowcasting - media programming on cable TV or Internet that focused on one topic and aimed at a particular audience
        
        Potential of cable report on news as it happens and offer myriad choices
        
        Yet resources are limited stories are not substantive
    - - Has potential to inform Americans about politics
      - Americans are uninterested in politics, therefore will not use internet for political information
      - Blogs provide additional information about new stories
    - - Finding the News
        
        Beats- specific locations from which news frequently emanates, such as Congress or the White House
        
        Trial Balloons: an intentional news leak for the purpose of assessing the political reaction
        
        Reporters and their sources depend on each other- one for story, the other to get them out
      - Presenting the News
        
        Superficial, meaning shallow, describes most news coverage today
        
        Use sound bites: short video clips of approximately 10 seconds
        
        Major TV networks devote less time to covering political candidates
      - Bias in the News
        
        Many people believe the news is biased in favor of one point of view
        
        Generally is very biased toward a particular ideology
        
        News reporting is biased towards what will draw the largest audience- good pictures and negative reporting
      - News and Public Opinion
        
        Television news can affect what people think is important
        
        The media influence the criteria by which the public evaluates political leaders
        
        Some stories or events can be made more important, others less important, depending on their coverage
    - - Media is the watchdog that restricts politicians
      - New proposals are met with skepticism which restricts scope of government, what it can do
      - If media identifies a problem, it forces government to address it, which expands the scope of government
      - Individualism and the Media
        
        Candidates run on their own by appealing to people on television
        
        It is easier to focus on one person like the president, than groups
      - Democracy and the Media
        
        "information is the fuel of democracy
        
        news provide more entertainment than information these days; it is superficial
        
        News is a business, giving people what they want
- - - - Elite power is fortified by a system of interlocking directorates of these corporations and other institutions (basically the powerful use their power to make sure they hold onto it)
      - Other groups may win many minor policy battles, but elites will prevail when it comes to big policy decisions
      - The largest corporations hold the most power
      - Real power is held by the relative few
      - Lobbying is a problem because it benefits the few at the expense of the many
    - - Iron Triangles- subgovernments composed of key interest groups interested in a particular policy, the government agency in charge of administering the policy, and the members of Congressional committees handling the policy
      - Trying to please every group results in contradictory policies
      - Many subgovernments (iron triangles) aggravate the process
      - Groups have become too powerful as the government tries to appease every interest
    - - Groups compete so no one group becomes too dominant
      - Groups play by the "rules of the game"
      - Groups provide a linkage institution between the people and the government
      - Groups weak in one resource (money, people, time) may use another
      - Lobbying is open to all so is not a problem
  - - - Consumer groups have a difficult time getting significant policy gains because the benefits are spread over the entire population
      - Public interest lobbies seek "a collective good, the achievement of which will not selectively and materially benefit the membership activities of the organization."
      - Multinational corporations are successful because there are few of them and, therefore, have an easier time organizing for political action