Chapter 4: Public Opinion, Political Socialization, and the Media

The complex process by which people acquire their political values.

The collected attitudes of citizens concerning a given issue or question.

Position in society, based on a combination of education, occupational status, and income.

The implication that people choose what benefits them personally.

The means employed in mass communication, often divided into print media and broadcast media.

The degree to which a news story is important enough to be covered in the mass media.

An independent federal agency that regulates interstate and international communication by radio, television, telephone, telegraph, cable, and satellite.

Under the Federal Communications Act of 1934, the requirement that if a broadcast station gives or sells time to a candidate for any public office, it must make available an equal amount of time under the same conditions to all other candidates for that office.

An FCC rule that requires broadcast stations to make their facilities available for the expression of conflicting views or issues by all responsible elements in the community.

Media executives, news editors, and prominent reporters who decide which events to report and which elements in those stories to emphasize.

Election coverage by the mass media that focuses on which candidate is ahead rather than on national issues.

The belief that television is to blame for the low level of citizens’ knowledge about public affairs.

A list of issues that need government attention.

Journalism that scrutinizes public and business institutions and publicizes perceived misconduct