E9

1.) Jane McSnoop reported that the government has in fact been hiding aliens in a secret underground building in New Mexico. When asked who gave her the confidential government information, she refused to tell. Why is she allowed to do this?

She can do this because the of Shield Laws.

2.) What is it called when media is oriented towards a small group of people?

Narrowcasting

E5

While interest groups and political parties each play a significant role in the United States political system, they differ in their fundamental goals.

(a) Identify the fundamental goal of interest groups in the political process.

(b) Identify the fundamental goal of major political parties in the political process.

(c) Describe two different ways in which interest groups support the fundamental goal of political parties in the political process. Give specific scenarios as examples.

(d) For one of the means of support you described in (c), explain two different ways in which that form of support helps interest groups to achieve their fundamental goal in the political process.

My response:

(a) The fundamental goal of interest groups is to influence public policy in favor of their causes.

(b) The fundamental goal of major political parties is to help elect people into office that have the same ideals as them.

(c) When interest groups want to get their ideas pushed into the government, they create media campaigns to show their support for certain candidates that agree with their causes. NOW could create ads about how great Presidential Candidate Joe Shmoe treats women. Also, interest groups raise money to give to candidates which can ultimately allow a candidate to win. NOW could raise money to give to Joe Shmoe's campaign so that he has some extra money that will help him win.

(d) Raising money to give to candidates helps interest groups if the candidate they are endorsing wins office. The person they helped get elected now has the ability to directly influence laws and policy that can help interest groups.

Monday News 11/18

http://t.co/DYCNwBj3tV
After and Artist Steps Away From His Bag, a Summons and a Legal Battle
This article talked about an artist (Enrico Miguel Thomas) who left his bags, filled with his art supplies, unattended for a few minutes. He was charged with disorderly conduct, and was sentenced to a day of community service and the charge would be dropped in six months, which he refused because he believes he did nothing wrong.
Analysis
I think that they were exaggerating with these accusations, cities seem to be very paranoid since the Boston Marathon Bombing. I agree that he did nothing wrong, but I also understand that the lone bags could look a little suspicious to the officers. When Enrico came back to his supplies, the officers could have realized that there was nothing wrong and left him with a warning.

E4

Define:
Collective good: Something of value that cannot be withheld from a potential group member.
Free-rider problem: When potential members sit back and benefit from the work of other people in the group without doing anything.
Selective benefits: these are benefits that can be restricted to people who pay their yearly dues, such as group insurance.

a) Procrastinators for a Better Tomorrow (PBT)
b) What is its goal? Its goal is to help procrastinators so they may become more productive members of society.
c) What is the potential group of people who will benefit from its goals? Procrastinators.
d) What collective good will your group provide? Federal programs that will help procrastinators stop putting things off to the last minute.
e) What selective benefits will you provide for members? Those who actually join the group will get travel discounts and discounts to the movies.
f) What will your group DO to accomplish its goals? Name at least two actions.

1. Engage in election activities so that they can get people who support our cause get elected.
2. Hire lobbyists that contact congressmen to influence them into proposing legislation for our cause.

E3

1.) I visited The Daily Caller
2.) There is a special tab or section for opinion, so this is where opinions have been posting. An example of opinion was when they called the Canadian Prime Minister 'The most American politician.'
3.) I would say most of the content is real like in the article about how Democrats lied about the Obamacare plan. Obviously they are stretching the truth but it is pretty much fact. They had a source from an American Crossroads video.
4.) I see some other news websites linked in to the articles and a few blogs.
5.) There is definitely a conservative view on this site because almost every article in the politics section makes liberals look bad and conservatives look better. An example would be like the headline "Obamacare lobotomize the marketplace"
6.) A site like this would not fully inform the people on all sides of politics because they don't show much of a liberal view or even a neutral view.

E1

Identify five types of mass media.

1. Television
2. Radio
3. Newspapers
4. Magazines
5. The internet

Describe one way that news from print media has changed over the last 200 years.

      In present day, people have the freedom of the press, the freedom to write whatever they thought fit in a newspaper. This allows for newspapers to unveil the dirty truth from the government. 200 years ago, this was not permitted.

Describe one way that media coverage of presidential campaigns has changed since the mid-20th century.

      Coverage of presidential campaigns has increased since the mid-20th century, political ads were usually the only thing being shown about presidential campaigns along with speeches. It wasn't until 1960 that the first televised debate was filmed for the country to see. Now, pretty much every aspect of the presidential campaigns is covered.

Define yellow journalism. Explain whether and how you think it exists today. Give examples, if you have some!

      Yellow journalism is journalism that is not accurate and may be exaggerated.Describe in detail three ways that the FCC regulates news media. 

     1.  It prevents monopolies from having too much power in the broadcast market. So the numbers of news stations that are owned by a company must be limited.

     2.  It conducts periodical check-ups on news stations of their goals and performance. If the news station does not serve the public interest it is stripped of its license.

     3.  It requires that all political candidates have equal opportunities for air time on a news station. The amount of time being offered to one politician, must be offered to any other politician.

Explain two specific ways that President Franklin Roosevelt used media to help him politically.

      Almost everybody had a radio, so FDR took advantage of that by having fireside chats, he also held over 1000 press conferences during his presidency.
Explain how President Obama and other politicians today use new media (like the internet) to help them politically.

      Politicians like to take advantage of YouTube to advertise because it's free. This way it also reaches out to more people. Also, by putting their platforms online, more people will likely look at it.Media has grown and fragmented in the last few decades -- TV stations narrowcast by aiming at very specific audiences, and you can find blogs for any political view.

• A. Describe one possible positive consequence for our democracy from this trend.
• They can show very stong positions and have a lot of information for one side.
• B. Describe one possible negative consequence for our democracy from this trend.
• They can be biased and not show the whole story to the people.

CLASS: November News

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/11/05/some-states-still-dont-know-where-their-borders-lie/

North Carolina and South Carolina still don't know where one ends and the other begins, causing problems with natural resources along the border.

I find it really funny that after hundreds of years there is still no official border between North Carolina and South Carolina. The sad part is that they aren't the only ones, Texas and Oklahoma also don't have a set boundary in certain areas. This just seems a little silly considering it's 2013.

D8

Three winners:

• Chris Christie- Governor or New Jersey
• Bill de Blasio- Mayor of New York
• Kristin Szakos- Charlottesville City Council

Three Facts:

• The main demographic group that voted for Chris Christie was white males, while the main demographic group that voted for Buono was blacks. People who usually associate themselves as being democratic even voted republican, with 32% democratic support, up from 8% in 2009. One of the main reasons for the popularity of Christie was the way in which he handled Hurricane Sandy.
• In New York City, the main demographic group that lives there is black people. Since de Blasio has a bi-racial family, this probably increased his popularity with them because they see him as somebody who will care more for the less wealthy black people.
• Kristen Szakos, a democrat, won one of the two seats available in the Charlottesville City Council. Her and Bob Fenwick(also a democrat) beat Michael Farrugio and Charles Weber who were both republicans. I think it's very hard to be a republican in a liberal city like Charlottesville which is probably why Farrugio and Weber didn't get majority votes. I personally wanted Michael Farrugio to win a seat because he is both a great person and he has good ideas for Charlottesville. His daughter is best friends with my sister and I truly believe he deserved a spot, he just happens to be a part of the republican party in mainly democratic town.