| A | B |
|---|
| adversarial press | The tendency of the national media to be suspicious of officials and eager to reveal unflattering stories about them. |
| background story | A public official’s statement to a reporter that is given on condition that the official not be named. |
| blog | A series, or log, of discussion items on a page of the World Wide Web. |
| equal time rule | An FCC regulation that if a broadcaster sells time to one candidate, it must sell equal time to other candidates. |
| feature stories | Media stories about events that, though public, are not regularly covered by reporters. |
| insider stories | Media stories about events that are not usually made public. |
| loaded language | Words that imply a value judgment, used to persuade a reader without having made a serious argument. |
| routine stories | Media stories about events that are regularly covered by reporters. |
| selective attention | Paying attention only to those news stories with which one already agrees. |
| sound bite | A radio or video clip of someone speaking. |
| trial balloon | Information leaked to the media to test public reaction to a possible policy. |
| print media | newspapers and magazines |
| electronic media | TV and Radio |
| gatekeeper | The press helps to shape which issues are important. Infact they can sometimes create an issue. |
| scorekeeper | The press informs us about people's careers and reputations. Who is moving ahead, who is falling behind. |
| watchdog | The media investigates people's reputations and looks to find scandals. |
| high-tech politics | The use of technology to shape the political agenda and the behavior of both citizens and policymakers. |
| mass media | forms of media intended to be shared with large numbers of people. These include televison, radio, newspapers, magazines and the internet. |
| media event | An event staged toattract the media's attention. |
| press conference | a meeting in which reporters ask questions to a public figure. |
| investigative journalism | The use of in-depth reporting and research to unearth a news story. |
| narrowcasting | programming on electronic media for a particular audience. This has happened because of the many channels for news on TV, radio, and the internet. |
| chains | large companies which own multiple media outlets. |
| beat | a reporter's day in and day out assignment. For example, most major media outlets have a reporter assigned to Congress and another assigned to the White House. |
| talking heads | a camera shot of a person speaking directly into a camera. |
| policy agenda | The issues which attract the serious attention of those involved in politics. |
| policy entrepreneurs | Those people who attempt to create and influence issues. |
