POSC340 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Overton Window, Hybridity, Infomercial
Document Summary
More and more people are engaging with political issues online. Which is leading to selective exposure and polarization. Millennials continue to be more active online politically but not offline. Facebook makes it possible that effects are staggering on huge amounts of people. Social effect range of subjects that mainstream news deems publically acceptable to discuss. Ex: 1980s-recently unacceptable for public news to discuss racial bias; but now it is more acceptable. Soft vs. hard news: daytime talk, evening news, magazines, radio call-ins, morning news gma, late-night comedy. Humor: meaning is often missing and comes from the audience, polysemy. Semiotics study of symbols and signs. Gateway hypothesis for different people: humor provides a gateway to the news, find something funny you may look it up for more information. Blur line between information and advocacy, performance art and political action: rally to restore sanity. Questioning reality of situation we are in. Participation: political knowledge plays a role.