Chapter 5 – The Media and Claims

Essay Questions.

Instructions:  Answer the following question below.

1.

A.  You are an activist who wants to draw media attention to your claim. Name at least five things suggested in your text that you could do to make your claims appealing to the media.

2.

B.  Describe at least three ways that recent changes in the news media have altered the claimsmaking process.

EACH QUESTION SHOULD BE ANSWERED IN 250 WORDS AND IN A SEPARATE PARAGRAPH

CHAPTER 5: THE MEDIA AND CLAIMS

■ Media processes that affect the claimsmaking process

■ News work and constraints on coverage of claims

■ Omnipresent deadlines, while they can vary depending on kind of media, necessitate

tough decisions about what claims are discussed

■ The newshole exists because each kind of media has limited amount of space; e.g., a

thirty-minute national news program has about twenty-two minutes of program time (the

rest is advertising), and not all of that time is spent on hard news

■ The norm is that interesting stories are more likely to be aired/written than less interesting

ones (novelty)

■ Different intended audiences shape what media workers construct as newsworthy

■ Balance as a professional norm means frequently media show two sides (but only two),

and sometimes one if news workers feel there is relative consensus of opinion

■ Geography of the media means events in New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington,

D.C., are more likely to be covered by media due to the greater number of available news

workers in those cities and the perception that those cities are centers of political and

cultural importance in the United States

■ Media as secondary claimsmakers

■ What claimsmakers need to know to acquire media attention

■ Package claims in ways that help media to do their jobs and parallel their constraints

■ Give media advanced notice of claimsmaking events

■ Choose interesting individuals to represent the social movement

■ Make events visually interesting (at least for television media coverage)

■ Seek out, if possible, media that is narrowcasting toward the audiences claimsmakers are

seeking to persuade

■ News media are not a static entity, but change over time

■ Growth of cable channels, especially twenty-four-hour cable news networks which must fill

their newshole on a daily basis

■ Much of the media have transitioned from broadcasting to narrowcasting to targeted

audiences (audience segmentation)

■ Internet’s unlimited carrying capacity for claims

■ On one hand, this is wonderful for claimsmakers, who can sometimes bypass the media

and reach out directly to intended audiences

■ On the other hand, the Internet is unfiltered, so many claims can make it hard for

audiences to sift and sort claims they encounter

■ Packaging social problems in the news

■ Seek out ownership of the social problems, so that claimsmakers are the presumptive

people for the media to go to when covering the social problem

■ Offer typifying examples which can become landmark narratives, so synonymous with the

social problem that they enter into the popular wisdom of the society

■ Create media-accessible packages for news workers to use

■ Package: familiar, hopefully coherent story (e.g., contains cause of the problem, villain,

victim who has been greatly harmed, as well as proposed solution) that has a frame that

is familiar to intended audience

■ Use condensing symbols which harken back to the social problem and are familiar to

most in the society

■ Impact of the media on social problems process

■ Remember though, media are not the sole influence on the success or failure of a

claimsmaking campaign

■ Media are frequently effective as agenda-setters, bringing an issue to public attention

■ Even here, there are constraints on media influence

■ Some events require coverage, no matter what other events might be on the agenda

■ Claimsmaking is covered when media feel the issue is newsworthy

■ Media constraints mean they must sift and sort through many claims to lift up only a

few for public attention

■ The agenda-setting function, however, can be enormously influential on the social

problems process, for both general public and policymakers may feel issues that make

the media’s agenda are worthy of action

■ Media increasingly receive feedback from general and targeted audiences, especially with

the availability of new technologies such as e-mail, and they often feel responsible to

respond to it

■ Case study: Democratizing the Means of Media Production and Reproduction

Chapter 5

The Media
and Claims

Media and the Claimsmaking Process
Slide 1

Many claimsmakers seek media attention.

How can they get it?

Why might it be difficult to get?

Media and the Claimsmaking Process
Slide 2

 Media coverage plays an important role in

how social problems are constructed.

 Activists, experts, and other claimsmakers

hope that the media will bring their claims to

wider audiences and policymakers.

 However, media coverage usually alters the

original claim.

Media and the Claimsmaking Process
Slide 3

 There are constraints on media workers.

 Deadlines

 Space and time limits (the “newshole”)

 Audience desires entertainment

 As a result, primary claims are transformed

into secondary claims by the media.

Media and the Claimsmaking Process
Slide 4

 Claimsmakers compete for media attention.

 Claimsmakers try to present their claims as

new, fresh material for the media.

 The marketplace for social problems can be

thought of as multiple arenas, each with a

limited carrying capacity.

 Media workers decide what claims are

presented in the arena they manage.

Media and the Claimsmaking Process
Slide 5

 News work locates and presents the news.

 News work is constrained by economic

factors, deadlines, and cultural limitations

(such as professionalism).

 News work seeks claims with an

entertainment value (“brand-new” stories,

easily filmed events, or claims that have

compelling typifying stories).

Media and the Claimsmaking Process
Slide 6

 News work follows professional standards.

 News workers may feel obligated to balance

coverage by reporting views from “both sides”

 News workers pay attention to rivals and the

stories they decide to cover.

 News workers try to avoid being manipulated

by claimsmakers seeking media coverage.

Media and the Claimsmaking Process
Slide 7

 Geography influences what claims are heard.

 News workers are concentrated in large cities.

 Even claimsmakers who begin in distant

places tend to migrate to larger media centers.

 Ultimately, the news is a social construction

produced by news workers.

Media and the Claimsmaking Process
Slide 8

 How do claimsmakers get media attention?

 Package claims in ways that help news

workers and parallel their constraints

 Give the media advanced notice of events

 Choose interesting individuals to represent

their cause (such as celebrity ambassadors)

 Make events visually interesting for TV

 Seek media that target the intended audience

Changes in the Media
Slide 1

 Cable channels, especially 24-hour cable news

networks, which must fill the newshole on a daily

basis, have increased in number.

 Much of the media now target particular

audiences (audience segmentation).

Changes in the Media
Slide 2

 The Internet has an unlimited carrying

capacity for claims.

 Claimsmakers can establish an online

presence at a minimal cost.

 The large volume of claims on the Internet can

make it hard to sift and sort claims.

 Social media draws attention to claims.

Packaging Social Problems
Slide 1

 Claimsmakers package social problems for

the media and the general public.

 They seek ownership of social problems so

that the media reach out to them.

 They supply landmark narratives that

become synonymous with the social problem.

 They use familiar rhetoric,

 Rhetoric far outside the mainstream is often

ignored.

Packaging Social Problems
Slide 2

 These packages are familiar, coherent

views of a particular social problem.

 Packages include condensing symbols.

 Landmark narratives, typifying examples, slogans

 Packages help the media by turning a large

amount of information into a recognizable story.

 Media packages help organize the audience’s

thinking about social problems.

News versus Entertainment

 Social problems appear in popular culture

as well as on the news.

 The way TV shows, books, and other

entertainment media construct social problems

are also affected by constraints.

 Time limits and the need for dramatization

 Entertainment media focus on individuals and

characters, rather than social forces.

Impact of the Media
Slide 1

 The media are capable of agenda setting, but

there are constraints on media influence.

 No matter what events might be on the agenda, new

events such as disasters require immediate coverage.

 The media can be influenced to cover (or ignore)

particular topics.

 Of the many existing claims, the media only

highlight a select few.

Impact of the Media
Slide 2

 The media play a visible role in the social

problems process, and that role is sometimes

exaggerated.

 The media constantly receive and respond to

feedback.

 They are connected to other actors in the social

problems process.

Impact of the Media
Slide 3