| A | B |
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| Broadcast television | television stations that make their programming available over the airwaves without charge, most local cable companies include broadcast television channels as part of their basic package of services |
| Cable television | television programming not originally transmitted over the air, as with broadcat television, but rather carried via coaxial or fiber optic cable into the homes of people who pay a monthly fee |
| Equal-time provision | a federal law that stipulates that if a radio or television states gives or sells air time to a candidate for political office, it must provide all candidates for public office with access to the airwaves under the same conditions |
| Fairness doctrine | a regulation the FCC adopted in 1949 and repealed in 1987. It required broadcasters to provide "reasonable opportunities for the expression of opposing views on controversial issues of public importance" |
| Federal Communications Commission (FCC) | an independent federal agency that regulates interstate and international communication by radio, television, telephone, telegraph, cable, and satellite |
| Freedom of Information Act | an act of Congress passed in 1966 that created a system through which anyone can petition the government to declassify secret documents |
| Horse-race journalism | news coverage of elections that focuses on which candidate is leading in the polls rather than on the substantive issues in the campaign |
| Leaks | confidential govenrment information surreptitiously given to journalists |
| Muckraking | an early form of investigative journalism popular at the beginning of the twentieth century |
| Objective press | A form of journalism that took hold in the 1920's and which continues to predominate today. It emphasizes that journalists should strive to keep their opinions out of their coverage of the news |
| Pack journalism | the tendency of journalists to cover stories because other journalists are covering them and to ignore stories that other journalists aren't covering |
| Photo opportunities | events that political candidates and government officials stage to allow newspaper photographers and television news crews to take flattering photos |
| Political agenda | the list of issues that people think are important and that government officials are actively debating |
| Pool reporting | a system of Defense Dep't instituted in the 1980's for reporting from a combat zone during wartime. With pool reporting, military officials escort small groups of reporters when they interview American troops. |
| Selective perception | a phenomenon in which people perceive the same even differently because they have different beliefs and personal experiences |
| Sound bite | a short excerpt from a person's speech or conversation that appears on radio or television news |
| Spin control | the practice of trying to persuade journalists to cover new stories in ways that put policies one likes in the most favorable light |
| Talk radio | political talk shows on radio. Since the early 1990's, talk radio has emerged as an important force in American politics |
| Yellow Journalism | a form of journalism, popular at the end of the nineteenth century, that emphasizes sensational and sometimes lurid news coverage |
| Candidate-centered campaigns | campaigns in which candidates set up campaign organizations, raise money, and campaign independently of other candidates in their party |
| Caucus/convention system | a nomination method in which registered party members attend a party caucus, or meeting, to choose a nominee. In large districts, local caucuses send delegates to represent them at a convention |
| Centrist parties | parties close to the political center |
| Critical elections | elections that disrupt party coalitions and create new ones in a party realignment |
| Direct primary | an election in which voters and not party leaders directly choose a party's nominee for political office |
| Duverger's Law | the generalization that if a naion has a single-member, plurality electoral system, it will develop a two-party system |
| Median voter hypothesis | the theory the best possbile position for a politician who cares only about winning elections is the center--that is, in the position of the median voter |
| New Deal coalition | the Democratic Party coalition that formed in 1932. It got its name from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal policies |
| Party dalignment | a trend in which voter loyalties to the two major parties weaken |
| Party machine | a party organization built on the use of selective, material incentives for participation |
| Party platform | an official statement of beliefs, values, and policy positions issued bya national party convention |
| Patronage job | a job given as a reward for loyal party service |
| Political cleavages | societal divisions that parties organize around |
| Political party | a coalition of people seeking to control the government by contesting elections and winning office |
| Proportional represenation system | a system in which legislators are elected at large and each party wins legislative seats in proportion to the number of votes it receives |
| Single-member, plurality electoral system | a system in which each district elects a single member as its representative; the winner in each district is the candidate who receives a plurality of the vote |
| Two-party system | a political system in which two major parties dominate |
| Advocacy advertising | newspaper, television, and radio advertisements that promote an interest group's political views |
| AMICUS CURIAE brief | literally, friend of the court. a brief filed with the court by a person or group who is not directly involved in the legal action but who has views on the matter |
| Astroturf lobbying | efforts, usually led by interest groups with deep financial pockets, to create synthetic grass-roots movements by aggressively encouraging voters to contact their elected officials about specific issues |
| Citizen groups | interest groups, also known as public interest groups, dedicated to promoting a vision of good public policy rather than the economic interests of their members |
| Collective goods dilemma | a dilemma created when people can obtain the benefits of interest group activity withough paying any of the costs associated with it. In this situation, the interest group may not form because everyone has an incentive to let someone else pay the costs of group formation |
| Direct lobbying | trying to influenece public policy trhough direct contact with government officials |
| Expressive (purposive) benefits | the feelings of satisfaction people derive from working for an interest group cause that they believe is just and right |
| Free riders | people or groups who benefit form the efforts of others withough bearing any of the costs |
| Grass-roots lobbying | trying to influence public policy indirectly by mobilizing an interst group's membership and the broader public to contact elected officials |
| Interest group | an organized group of people who share some goals and try to influence public policy |
| Lobbying | trying to influence governmental decisions, especially the voting decisions legislators make on proposed legislation |
| Lobbyists | people who make their living trying ot influence public policy |
| Material benefits | the acutal goods and services that come from belonging to an interest group |
| Political Action Committees (PAC) | Organizations that solicit contributions from members of interest groups and channel those contributions to election campaigns |
| Selective benefits | any benefit given to a member of a group but denied to nonmembers |
| Solidary benefits | the emotional and psychological enjoyment that comes from belonging to an interest group whose members share common interests and goals |
