POL369Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Rob Ford
ESSAY – Argument is the godfather contradicts itself by promoting both utopian and cynical
ideals through lawlessness, lack of trust in elected officials, loyalty. SECONDARY SOURCES –
what does cynicism and lawlessness mean?
Recap
- Journalists don’t have enough time or resources to get articles in – gatekeeping
- Newspapers value power. Power defines newsworthiness. When prominent people do
things that’s inherently newsworthy. Cultural and economic power matters. Anything to
do with Kardashians is on the news more frequently (cultural power).
- There is a hierarchy
- Journalists need raw material from politicians and people and vice versa (symbiotic
relationship).
- Highly competitive relationship as well because neither want to pay too much for it to
work for them. Reporters for example believe in objectivity. They will struggle between
being too close to their sources. This is information subsidy → politicians and their staff
are consistently releasing a steady stream of information including opinion pieces, blogs,
twitter. This information is used to Influence journalist and reporters; offering
suggestions. (agenda setting = what they talk about and framing effects = how they talk
about it)
Indexing: the range of opinions and the distribution of opinions in the news will be tied to or
reflect the distribution of an elite opinion. so you say they’re all saying the same thing (elite
consensus)
Elite division – this s good. Ex. Abortion, gun control. *Pressure to conform vs. being
entrepreneurial
Powerful elites will use the news as a bulletin board for their policy actions.
They do this through what is known as a pseudo-event → fully controlled media event or
situation.
- They have wardrobe consultants; they do not write their own speeches.
- They have access to dramatic setting and a production team. They have a ready-made
audience as well to cover what they’re doing (reporters). The fact that they have already
made audience and all the other media management stuff means there is careful planning
of these vents that allow them to control these media events. These pseudo-events
dominate coverage (ex. Trudeau and Obama interacting)
- Controlled event vs. uncontrolled event (middle = partially controlled event)
- Sometimes insiders can unofficial leak information (whistle blowers) uncontrolled
event.
- Ralph Klein example: berated the poor and had pseudo-event the next day. Tuned form
“premier berating the poor” to “premier faces demons”
- Once you deny it, it gets worse (ex. Rob ford and smoking crack) vs. Ralph Klein.
- Ronald Reagan – use of impromptu conferences. Regan going to the helicopter (staged
event). If you want to answer a question, give them an answer, if not just say you can’t
hear because the helicopter is too loud (trying to control a partially controlled event).
- Mulroney (escape route)
- Black lives matter → they don’t have conventional decision making political power. Thy
are a social movement. Publicity stunts (protests, celebrities, civil disobedience) are ways
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Essay argument is the godfather contradicts itself by promoting both utopian and cynical ideals through lawlessness, lack of trust in elected officials, loyalty. Journalists don"t have enough time or resources to get articles in gatekeeping. When prominent people do things that"s inherently newsworthy. Anything to do with kardashians is on the news more frequently (cultural power). Journalists need raw material from politicians and people and vice versa (symbiotic relationship). Highly competitive relationship as well because neither want to pay too much for it to work for them. They will struggle between being too close to their sources. This is information subsidy politicians and their staff are consistently releasing a steady stream of information including opinion pieces, blogs, twitter. This information is used to influence journalist and reporters; offering suggestions. (agenda setting = what they talk about and framing effects = how they talk about it)
