Essential Questions
- Identify and explain the role of the media in the political system. The medias role is to influence politics and also influence the minds of the audience by getting them to change their political views. The media wants to interest the public and also target the views of others or events that are happening in the world so that everyone is more focused on what the media is spreading out there.
- Examine the impact of the media on public opinion, voter perceptions, campaign strategies, electoral outcomes, agenda development, and the images of officials and candidates. The media can strongly influence public opinion by manipulating the audience by showing them other political views which can have an affect on everyones political stance. The media can also help in campaign strategies by broadcasting the candidates campaign ideas. The media is something that can drastically help or hurt candidates in their elections because many people will believe what the media shows.
- Identify and describe the symbiotic and frequently conflicting relationship among candidates, elected officials, and the media. The conflicting relationship between candidates, elected officials, and the media is that the candidates and the media have the biggest conflict between each other because the media can help spread the ideas of the candidates or show the bad side to them. Elected officials can have an effect on the candidates because they could go against them or help them in election. The media is in the neutral zone because it targets the candidates and the elected officials.
- Identify and describe the goals and incentives of the media as an industry and how those goals influence the nature of news coverage. The media is just looking for new news to give out to the audience because the want to interest the public and also manipulate their minds. The media can show irrelevant news to public for no reason at all, this is because the media wants to attract views to influence the nature of news coverage.
- Examine and analyze the consequences of the increasing concentration of major media outlets in fewer hands, as well as the growing role of the Internet. With the increasing concentration of major media outlets in fewer hands it actually gives the news a chance to be looked at by one point of view instead of many views and opinions by the media. With a growing role of the internet it allows everyone to have their own stories on the news and there will be many different views about the current and past news.
- Identify and describe the political roles played by a variety of lobbying and interest groups . Lobbying and interest groups try and support their candidates by talking to citizens to try and increase the chances for their candidate to win as it all depends on the voter turnout.
- Explain why some interests are represented by organized groups while others are not, and the consequences of this difference in representation . Identify and describe interest groups, what do they do, how they do it, and how this affects both the political process and public policy. Some interest groups are represented by organized groups because some interest groups may have a strong affect on the public and may have helped their candidate a lot. This is why some interest groups are represented by organized groups while others are not. Interest groups are groups of people that seek to change or influence public policy. They influence the government my direct lobbying in which it may affect public policy.
- Discuss why certain segments of the population able to exert pressure on political institutions and actors in order to obtain favorable policies? People get together and exploit their political views so that they could get themselves herd by political institutions. As the people begin to have a strong affect then the political institutions change or give the people the policies they have been fighting for.
- Identify and describe the mechanisms that allow citizens to organize and communicate their interests and concerns. The way in which citizens can organize and communicate their interests and concerns is by the media, political parties, and direct lobbying. Through these mechanisms the citizens can get their political views across to the government and hopefully have a strong enough affect to influence them to change political policy.
- Examine the significance of the historical evolution of the U .S . party system, the functions and structures of political parties, and the effects they have on the political process. As the first political parties were the Federalists and the Democratic Republicans they have had the strongest influence on America till today. They are still the two main dominant parties and make it almost impossible for a third party to win in any election. The function of political parties is that they are responsible for nominating candidates, educate voters, and help raise money for their candidates so they could win election.
- Examine the of issues of party reform and of campaign strategies and financing in the electronic age provides students with important perspectives. The electronic age has definitely changed how parities are ran and has made communication faster and easier for the general public. There are many new strategies that candidates, the president, and others use to get their views out or help them win an election a lot easier and faster. They use blogs, email, twitter, Facebook, and can also created their own app to help them.
- Trace and discuss the development and the role of PACs in elections and the ideological and demographic differences between the two major parties, as well as third parties. Political action committees pool resources and money from individuals and then they donate it to the candidates that they want to help win election. PAC's make it easier for the candidate to win their election because they have the right funding to make sure they could do all they can to win the election because they have to spend a lot of money on posters, paper, and any other things that costs them money during their campaign. The two major parties are the Democrats and the Republicans and these two parties are very different because the Democrats support government spending on welfare and the assistance of the poor, and the Republicans are different because they oppose government spending on welfare and prefer in on other programs that would benefit themselves. The third party is most likely never going to win an election because most of America is either Democrat or Republican and very few are part of a third party. Some major third parties are green party and the libertarians.