Operation Infektion

The U.S. certainly has its differences based on gender, race, political preferences and other matters. But is the growing level of anger natural, or is it being encouraged by an outside force? According to some researchers, our internal divisions are being intensified by Russian disinformation experts, and have been doing so since the days of the Soviet Union. PBS News Hour reports.

Questions...

•Why would the Soviet Union and later Russia want to create division, distrust and confusion in the United States?

•What are some of the hoaxes created by the Soviet Union and later Russia? How did they create these hoaxes?

•What makes the U.S. among the nations more vulnerable to this sort of manipulation?

Check This!

Despite not having staff writers or an editorial page, Twitter often finds itself at the middle of some whopping free speech arguments. In April, it tried to crack down on false or misleading information about the Coronavirus by fact-checking dubious posts. And recently, it has fact-checked dubious claims in Tweets made by President Trump. Mr. Trump has reacted in characteristic fashion. NPR reports.

Questions...

•What exactly did Twitter do in response to Mr. Trump's Tweet about voting by mail?

•What has Mr. Trump vowed to do in response to Twitter's action?

•What is a larger reason why Twitter has acted now, in May 2020?

Trump and Biden Online

In six months, the presidential election will be over. Until then, expect and unusually harsh campaign. President Trump and presumptive Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden have very different styles: one is brash and polarizing, the other is genial consensus-builder. It turns out their online campaigns are very different as well. NPR reports.

Questions...

•What is the difference in approaches between the Biden and Tump online campaigns?

•How is the role of mainstream news media different in the two campaigns?

•What is the difference in approach in regard to reaching voters across the political spectrum?

Campaigning at Your Mailbox

Election Day is approaching. In local elections or other elections where voting turnout is expected to be low, direct mail has long been the preferred method of advertising. And if you are not a registered voter, you never see these mailings. Examples will be shown on a PowerPoint in class.

Questions...

•How are these mailers an example of targeted communications?

•Why are these ads effective?

•What are the advantages and disadvantages of slate mailers?

•How might an "atoms to bits" transition take place with this type of political advertising?

F for Fake

Near the end of his legendary filmmaking career, Orson Welles made a movie titled "F for Fake." It was about several instances of fraud that were so convincing that it was hard to tell what was real and what wasn't. It was a very confusing movie. Today, deep fake technology may make figuring out what is real harder than even Welles might have imagined. And what impact could that have on our upcoming elections? NPR reports...

Questions...

•Have you ever seen a deep fake video? What was it?

•Describe a Deep Fake that could cause Mr. Trump or Sen. Warren or some other top political figure to lose votes?

•What Deep Fake could make the divisions between men and women, gays and straights, whites and people of color worse?

•What can average people like us do to make sure (or be as sure as possible) that something is true?

"Enemy of the American People"

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was first presented to MC101 students in March 2017.

Perhaps the single most startling statement of President Trump's short time in office is his proclamation that the media is the "enemy of the American people." While it is true that there have been a huge number of negative stories about Mr. Trump in the media, it is also true that the news media has always taken on an adversarial role toward the President. But the question is, is that adversarial role good for America? Two past Presidents--one a Democrat, the other a Republican--talk about the need for a news media that is free to criticize anyone, especially the President.

Questions...

•What set of rules would you create for the White House Press Corps, no matter who is in office?

•What do you wish the American news media did better? What is the American news media good at?

•What are appropriate ways for the President to respond to news stories he feels are untrue or unfair?

•How do you feel about the President's Twitter account?

When Speech Isn't Really Speech

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 classes in May 2016.

Freedom of Speech is a huge idea expressed very briefly in the First Amendment. So it is up to courts to decide what Freedom of Speech means, especially as it relates to technologies The Founders couldn't have imagined. Computer code, for example. NPR reports.

Questions...

•Name some things that aren't really speech, but they are sort of similar to speech?

•When does government force you to say or pass along messages you'd rather not say or pass along.

•What would be the impact if government could force software developers to put in code they don't want to put in?

•Political money has considerable free speech protection. What problems does that cause for the political system?

Free Speech Vs. Threats

The following is a Medianote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 students in October 2016.

The Arizona Republic is the daily newspaper based in Phoenix, Arizona. Generally, The Republic is very conservative on its editorial page, which makes it a good match for the region of the country that it serves. However, the paper gained a bit of national attention recently when it endorsed Hillary Clinton for President. Some locals reacted badly. NPR reports.

Questions...

•Is free speech practical? Why is it worth the trouble?

•Vigorous opinions are protected speech. Threats are not. Where do you draw the line between the two?

•Has extreme speech on the Internet made our political speech more extreme, or is something else going on?

•Has the deluge of information from the Internet, cable TV and other places made us more tolerant of other opinions, or less? Why?

Poll Position

Last week, we looked at presidential polls in several MC101 classes. Your Humble Blogger briefly discussed the Los Angeles Times-USC poll, which unlike nearly every other poll (including the Fox News Poll!) predicted a Trump victory. So how did so many other polling agencies get the result wrong and this poll got it right? NPR reports.

Questions...

•Do election polls have news value? If you were an editor or news producer, would you do stories about the latest election polls? Why or why not?

•Do polls about social issues (like support for the death penalty or regulating firearms or same-sex marriage) have any news value? Why or why not?

•In your estimation, do pre-election polls make an impact on voting in any way?

•The Los Angeles Times endorsed Hillary Clinton on their editorial page, yet their poll predicted a Trump victory? What, if anything, does this say about the newspaper?

Quadrennial Equation

Every Four Years, Your Humble Blogger puts his graduate education in Political Science to work by giving students a few things to watch for on election night. First thing to know about presidential elections: the candidate who wins the nationwide popular vote doesn't necessarily win. Ask President Gore.

Today's presentation will introduce MC101s to the electoral map, and how things may unfold on Tuesday night.

Questions...

How many votes do you need to be elected President?

How Do You Watch Debates?

In 1960, John F. Kennedy beat Richard Nixon on style. In 1976, Gerald Ford insisted that there was no Soviet domination in Eastern Europe. And last week, Hillary Clinton responded to Donald Trump with a shoulder shimmy.

Presidential debates are important, especially in years where the election is close. Until this year, the debates were almost exclusively a broadcast television event. This year it has evolved to encompass the various ways we watch television. NPR reports.

Questions...

•Who has streamed a live event that was also on television?

•What do you look for in a presidential debate?

•What do you think is the fairest way to set up a debate (should the microphones always be on, should the candidates' height be equalized, should there be crowd reaction, etc.?)

•What is the role of the moderator? Should she/he fact check?

•Who should question the candidates: journalists, average voters or someone else?

Click the Vote

The following is presented to MW students only in Spring 2016.

President Obama was elected President in 2008 in part due to a "Rock the Vote" television campaign that persuaded a large number of young people to vote. In 2016, social media-based campaigns may have a significant impact on the political landscape. NPR reports.

Questions...

•When have you found yourself a target for online ads? What sort of things were advertised at you?

•Why is social media-based political advertising better than TV advertising?

•Is social media-based advertising better for mainstream candidates or for extreme candidates?

•Does this type of campaigning and fundraising empower the 1% or does it undercut their influence? Why?

Ready for Trump Tweets?

This is a Medianote Classic. It was originally presented in September 2015. In Spring 2016, it will be presented to TTh classes only.

Political campaigning is a race for name recognition and connection with various groups of voters. And then motivating those groups of voters to turn out at the polls. It should be no surprise that social media has become a large and growing part of political campaigns. NPR reports.

Questions...

•In Chapter 1, we learn that all media messages are constructions. How are these media messages constructions?

•Is social media particularly effective when there are a lot of candidates to choose from? How?

•How is a campaign tweeting live (or nearly live) from a debate an example of disintermediation?

•How might a campaign adjust its tweets for particular groups of voters?

•How might social media be used in a campaign for GCC student body president?

When the Room Starts Spinning

In politics, "spin" is the art of making the best cast possible for your candidate or against your opponent. Campaigns deploy "spin doctors" to talk to journalists after a debate, election or other political event. NPR reports.

Questions...

•What is spin? Is there ever any truth to it?

•Give an example of how spin can turn a second or third place candidate into a quasi-winner?

•Hillary Clinton defeats Bernie Sanders 55%-45% in the South Carolina Primary. How can the Sanders campaign spin that into a victory?

•How does spin work after a debate?

Politics Goes Postal

Los Angeles and other local cities are holding municipal elections this week. Direct mail is the advertising medium of choice in local (and sometimes state) elections. These mass mailings don't go out to everyone, and that's part of the reason why they are effective. You will see examples of these mailings in a PowerPoint put together by Your Humble Blogger.

Questions...

•Imagine you are running for mayor. What issues would you highlight in a political mailer sent out to community college students?

•When can an endorsement be a negative for a political candidate? If you were running for mayor, who would you NOT want to be endorsed by?

•Your campaign for mayor has enough campaign funds to send out three separate mailers: one about your ideas about environmental protection; a second about being tough on crime; and a third one about improving local public schools. What groups in the community would you try to send each of them out to?

Media as Hero Killer

High profile political campaigns are rough. The candidate's drunk driving arrest from 20 years ago could come up. So might the legal status of a former housekeeper. And watch out if the candidate has ever been intimate with anyone other than his or her spouse.

Political Commentator Jeff Greenfield believes that even the much-revered Abraham Lincoln would look less like Honest Abe and more like Lyin' Lincoln in the harsh glare of today's mass media.

Greenfield's commentary is in Yahoo! News.

Questions...

•What sorts of things do we find out about major political campaigns from the media?

•What don't we find out in their coverage?

•Does the media reinforce the political center, or the extremes?

•How is politics changing because of the Internet?

Facebook Primary in 2016?

What motivates people to vote has been studied by political scientists for generations. Campaigns recruit armies of volunteers to make phone calls, drive voters to the polls, and give out information. But what if voter turnout could be increased by merely informing Facebook users when Election Day is, where they can vote, and which of their friends have already voted?

The Atlantic Monthly has this fascinating report of an experiment that may lead to increased voter turnout.

Questions...

•In everyday life, when does peer pressure make a difference in how people behave?

•Name all the ways that Facebook alters our behavior

•If Facebook is cooperating with experiments designed to increase voter turnout, are they being politically neutral? Why or why not?

•In general, does social media make us more involved with real-life events, or less involved? Why?