TX Module 12 Assignment(1)
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Political Science
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Dec 6, 2023
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Module 12 Assignment
The Mass Media in Texas Politics
Section 12.4 of the textbook discusses current news media trends in Texas, including the decline
of the local newspaper and the use of social media. Read the following articles and answer the
discussion questions.
Texas Observer: No News is Bad News
https://www.texasobserver.org/no-news-is-bad-news/
Texas Observer: ‘Pink Slime’ Journalism Finds a Home in Texas’ New Deserts
https://www.texasobserver.org/pink-slime-journalism-finds-a-home-in-texas-news-deserts/
Campaigns & Elections: ‘How Political Professionals Should Think About Trump Minus Twitter’
https://www.campaignsandelections.com/campaign-insider/how-political-professionals-should-
think-about-twitter-minus-trump
1)
What’s the connection between voter turnout and lack of a local newspaper?
It seems that people don’t pay attention to politics and local elections when a local
newspaper is not available. Rural areas like Real county have a large elder population
that don’t use the internet very often, so the loss of local papers means that they do not
get the information they need to be politically informed, meaning they aren’t as equipped
to vote since they don’t know what is going on.
2)
Why are rural communities more likely to become ‘news deserts’? Why is this
concerning?
Rural communities are more likely to become ‘news deserts’ because a lot of the local
newspapers in these areas are often independently/family owned and the small market
that the newspaper covers is unattractive to outsiders, so declining profits and the
inability to find a buyer makes it more likely that these newspaper companies will close.
Big papers are then often also unable to afford to send people to these rural
communities to cover news there, resulting in a lack of news coverage as a whole. This
is concerning because newspaper closure, and, thus, the loss of government monitoring
in that area is shown to be associated with government employees being more
expensive, taxes being raised and bigger deficits. Criminal acts and abuses of power
also go unreported a lot of the time.
3)
Describe the watchdog role of government and how rural communities are impacted
if this function missing.
Newspapers are supposed to watch over government and report on important issues
within local government. The loss of government monitoring resulting from a newspaper
closure is associated with more expensive government employees, higher taxes and
bigger deficits. That’s not to mention any criminal acts or abuses of power that may go
unreported.
4)
What is concerning if digital media is the only space filling the gaps in local
coverage?
After a newspaper closes, readers consume more national news, which increases
polarized voting. Also, rural areas with a large elder population that don’t use the internet
very often will not be getting any information from digital media due to their decision not
to use the internet, which means that this population does not get any information about
news in their area whatsoever.
5)
What is ‘pink slime’ journalism?
Pink slime journalism refers to news sites that publish hyperpartisan stories lacking in the
transparency that otherwise characterizes reported news and are funded by political operatives
or agenda-driven groups.
6)
Why is Texas particularly vulnerable to this type of agenda-driven media outlets?
The Texas media industry has weathered a loss of 194 papers in the past 15 years. Today,
about 22 Texas counties lack coverage from a local paper, leaving readers hungry for
community news and vulnerable to hyperpartisan stories.
The last article is not specifically about Texas but many (most?) of our state and local politicians
use social media (and particularly Twitter) to communicate.
1)
What role do you think social media plays in politics and government? What role should
it play?
I think that social media should
just be used as a tool to spread information about political
events and about politicians policies in an objective way. However, social media plays the role
for politicians to push certain opinions that they have to the masses, and they sometimes use
their power to spread harmful, false information. I think politicians like Donald Trump shouldn’t
be allowed to spread their opinions and crazy theories about things because of how much
power they have. Social media is also used for good though and plays a big role in organizing
huge political movements like Black Lives Matter.
2)
Do you think it’s valuable or harmful (or both?) for elected officials to use social media
to communicate with the public? (be specific, give examples)
I believe that it is valuable and harmful at the same time. As mentioned in the previous
question, politicians like our former president Donald Trump would use the platforms
that they have to tweet out false information to the masses such as his claims that he
won the 2020 presidential election and that the democrats were trying to “steal the
election,” leading many of his supporters to believe that the election was rigged by the
democrats somehow and that Trump was the true winner of the 2020 election.
However, it can also be valuable to be able to see policy information so easily and
conveniently from these elected officials on social media apps that many of us use
anyways. Those like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez use it to promote civic participation when
she spreads links to events such as the monthly town hall that she tweeted about to her
constituents a little over a week ago.
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