Mass Media, Public Opinion and the Government

Mass media is a very powerful concept, with the ability to sway the opinion of a large part of the population of the United States. With this in mind, it is important to remember that politicians running for office watch changes in public opinion very carefully in order to choose their platforms and plans for action. This helps to maximize the amount of voters who will agree with their policies. These campaigning candidates are also concerned with reigning in the power of major interest groups which lobby for their respective causes. The relationships between all of these things: public opinion, mass media, interest groups and politicians are inextricable.

Mass media controls what news makes the airwaves, be it digitally through the internet or through more traditional channels such as newspapers and network television. The media chooses what stories to cover and to what extremity to stretch them. This drastically shapes the way people think about issues. By controlling what people see and read, the media can decide what issues become crucial and what issues are largely ignored. In this way, mass media can shape public opinion and also the agenda of politicians and their parties. Politicians are always concerned with mass media, as they understand this institution’s power over public opinion and along what lines people will vote.

Public opinion is a fickle thing, changing at the drop of a hat. This erratic concept is influenced by many things, especially mass media. Polls taken concerning issues that get heavy media coverage are subject to changing along the lines of the light in which they are portrayed in the media. The level of scrutiny on an individual issue is important in weighing the influence of the mass media on the opinion of the common people.
Interest groups shape policy by working with politicians towards their own goals. Some of the strongest lobbying groups are amalgams of people rather than representatives of big business. Groups such as the AARP and Black National Caucus represent the interests of large bodies of people. While powerful lobbies still exist that represent big business, it is my opinion that these people-oriented groups carry much more weight with politicians in state and national governments. The tobacco lobbies may throw their clout around often, but if the AARP were to push for policy change, it would be initiated quicker than the interests of the cigarette companies.
These interest groups hold the power to alter public opinion. If these groups hold that one candidate will suit them better than another, and show their support accordingly, that candidate will receive a boost in support from people of like-minded backgrounds of the interest group’s supporters. An elderly person may take the AARP’s support of a candidate as a good enough credential to vote for them. The same can be said of an NRA supporter, who takes the NRA’s choice of candidate (almost always a Republican) as ballot-gospel.
As you can see, all of these things are entwined, with some influence over each other in some form or another. Interest groups pressure the media to cover what they wish, while public opinion also shapes what the media will focus on. Large special interest groups hold a sway over public opinion large enough to concern policymakers into dealing with them. By opening themselves up to being “lobbied”, politicians and lawmakers are allowing the interest groups to change the agenda, just as they allow public opinion to change the same agenda. In the end, all of these things have their own specific type of influence over what politicians consider for their agenda.
The problems with allowing the media to influence public policy agenda is simply that the media, in order to fight for viewers and readers, has a need to sensationalize stories and issues to suit their own personal business interests. Because of exaggeration on the part of the media, issues end up distorted and misguided. With this in mind, it is still important to remember that without the media, the majority of people would never have any idea what was going on in government, even on a local level.
Interest groups are just that, groups interested in a single issue or a single group of issues. This can be dangerous, because politicians can become too concerned with the particulars of the issue being lobbied, and issues just as important slip by under the radar. Powerful lobbying groups are concerned only with their own agenda and seeing it implemented in the agenda and policy of policymakers.
As has been mentioned, public opinion is a fickle part of government. The opinions of the masses change frequently and often without warning. It is hard to rely on public opinion for policy decisions, as their opinion is so easily swayed by the mass media and outside sources. To call it brainwashing would be conspiratorial, but it is something near to that. Many people trust the media and take what they hear as golden truth, not to be questioned. “If it’s on TV, it must be true,” is a simpleton attitude but in reality a very real one.
All of these policy-influencing parts of society are important cogs in the governmental machine. They carry on their own form of a system of “checks and balances” by holding sway over each other at different times. The media is influenced by the interest groups as well as by public opinion. The interest groups are influenced by the opinion of their supporters (i.e. the public). And finally, the public are influenced heavily by the mass media as well as by the interest groups. With all this in mind, it is important to understand that no part of the policy-making machine is infallible and sometimes self-interested parties get over on what is in the general public’s best interest.