Using specific examples, demonstrate the changing nature of the relationship between the press, the public, and the modern presidency
What will be an ideal response?
The ideal answer should:
a. Discuss how the guarantees of the First Amendment have given rise to a free and independent press that not only monitors and critiques government but also helps citizens sort through the clutter of the news, something that is particularly important given the low levels of political knowledge among the populace, as indicated by the works of Phillip Converse and Walter Lippman.
b. Show how the task of covering the president is more complicated than most people think in part because of the informational advantages held by the executive branch, how that has fostered the rise of aggressive posturing by journalists such as Dan Rather and Sam Donaldson in the 1980s and 1990s and David Gregory during the Bush administration, and how this was all precipitated in part by the Watergate scandal during the Nixon administration.
c. Illustrate how in the context of this adversarial environment, presidents work diligently to manage the press, including working hard to exploit the press for possible gain, as illustrated by the Bush announcement of the 2002 farm bill on farm-only radio stations and Obama's efforts to manage press coverage of an unpopular policy initiative by speaking only to autoworkers directly.
d.Describe how the growing staff, including the Office of Communications and the Office of Media Affairs, required for media management has created opportunities and drawbacks for modern presidents, who both use leaks and try to control leaks by their staff to manage the flow of information into the public sphere.
e. Demonstrate the challenges presented to modern presidents by the changing nature of the media, focusing on how the proliferation of media has led to a decline in gatekeepers, making it much more difficult to ensure that a targeted audience will listen to his or her message,and on how the decline of viewers of television and the rise of polarized media have significantly limited the ability of the president to change the minds of viewers.
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