Author: David Hoffman

Respond to both parts A & B.

Part A: The purpose of presidential debate is to give the public the best opportunity to make a judgement about how well the competence and character of each candidate is suited to the office of President of the United States, and about whether the administrations the candidates would create would be likely to pursue goals of which they approve. Have new debate rules (e.g. the move to 6 15 minute segments) and formats (Town Hall style, the sit down chat) improved the likelihood that presidential debates will fulfill this purpose? If so how? If not why? Reference “The Promise of Presidential Debate” in your response.  You might also want to look at the website of the Commission on Presidential Debate.

Part B: Brubaker and Hanson’s study suggests that the effect of post-debate commentator analysis powerfully influence audience perceptions of presidential debate. Houston et al show that live tweeting during a debate intensifies the involvement of those who do it. Discuss how these and other media representations of the debate serve or work against the purpose of presidential debate.

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Write a short paragraph that states the name you like to be called by, talks about your professional background and aspirations, your education (including the number of terms you have been at Baruch), and any other fun facts about yourself that you want to share.

In Chapter One, John Gastil asserts that the ideal democratic process of characterized by Inclusion, Participation Opportunities and Enlightened Understanding.  Give examples from your own experience of decision-making processes that have or have not lived up to these ideals.

Taking into consideration material from the lecture, the readings (including “Americans Don’t Live in Information Cocoons”), and your own experience, offer an informed opinion about whether the internet is promoting polarization and what if anything should be done to encourage a better deliberative environment on the internet.

Draw upon the lecture and readings to describe how some prominent event or issue have been framed in the media.  Specifically, what frames have been used in which media outlets?  What do the frames draw attention to and what do they divert attention from?  What reframings have occurred?

In his chapter, “News from Somewhere,” Carpini distinguishes between at set of frames used by “traditional journalists” and a set of frames used by “public journalists.”  According to him, traditional journalists take a view of the public rooted in the outlook of Walter Lippmann, and frame themselves as an elite presenting objective and strategic information to the public without taking positions on issues.   Public journalists, in contrast, frame themselves as being members of the community to which they are speaking, and present news as part of a conversation in which they do take positions on issues and attempt to solve problems.  Carpini see public journalism as being rooted in the outlook of John Dewey.

Suggest what you think are good examples of traditional and public journalism, and also some example of journalism that is not easily classified as either.  Drawing on these examples, describe what do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of public and traditional journalism.  You might also comment on whether the categories still useful in the contemporary media landscape.

 

The FCC is supposed to review its media ownership rules every four years. Thus 2014 saw the beginning of another review process, a process which it not expected to be completed until 2016.  During nearly every review, the commission is pressured to relax media ownership rules, allowing for cross ownership and consolidation.  Recently, deregulation advocates have argued the FCC behaves as if the internet does not exist and that diversity of ownership  of broadcast media outlets a) is no longer as important as it was before the internet because the public can now access many sources of information and news without relying on traditional media sources, and b) media outlets must be further consolidates to compete with the internet.  These and other arguments about new rules for media ownership are summarized in this LA Times article that describes a recent House hearing on the subject.  Read this article, and this summary of current media ownership rules, and then state and support your opinion about whether or not it makes sense for the FCC to relax media ownership rules.

Do one of the following: 1) Describe a deliberative or decision-making process you have witnessed in an organization. Discuss this process making uses of some of the models and concepts that you read about in Graber and/or Spee and Jarzabkowski (eg. phases of decision-making, decision-making errors, strategic planning). Either make a recommendation for improving the process or explain why the status quo worked well.  2) Read this article about the history of decentralization and re-centralization of the NYC school system.  Comment on how these restructurings have affected decision-making within the system and whether this has been for the best or not.

Do one of the following: 1) Describe a public meeting or hearing in which you have been involved.  How successful do you consider it to have been as a forum for decision-makers to get meaningful guidance from the public?  Describe the factors that either led to its success or contributed to its ineffectiveness.   2) Study this Summary and this chart that explain James Fishkin’s Deliberative Polling process.  Comment on the strengths and weaknesses of this process as an alternative to traditional public meetings and hearings.