Government Terms

1. “closed-ended/open ended” questions вЂ" Closed-ended - Yes/no question; open ended вЂ" question that can’t be answered with yes/no. Used in surveys.

2. 501c3 - Various charitable, non-profit, religious, scientific and educational organization groups that can’t engage in political activity, but can engage in some voter registration. (501c refers to the IRS tax code).

3. 527 вЂ" A type of American tax-exempt organization. Created primarily to influence the nomination, election, appointment or defeat of candidates for public office. Concerning tax-exempt organization, allows political activity with unlimited soft money, tries to influence elections through voter mobilization efforts or “issue ads,” requires reporting contributions and expenditures to the IRS unless they already file identical information at the state or local level.

4. Agenda setting вЂ" influencing what people consider important.

5. Agents of socialization вЂ" Family (affects children’s views about religion, politics, etc). School (affects students’ views by conveying lessons about American identity and patriotism). Pop culture (movies, music). College education. Generational effect (Major events that affect the country). Jobs. News media. Marital status. Retirement.

6. American and attention span (soundbites) вЂ" Amount of time a person can concentrate on a single activity. As time passed by, the average attention span decreased. (1968-43.1 sec; 1972-25.2 sec; 1976-18.2 sec; 1980-12.2 sec; 1984-9.9 sec.

7. Aspects of social movements вЂ" Abolition, populist, women’s suffrage, labor, peace, civil rights, anti-Vietnam, environmental, gay/lesbian, religious.

8. Beat вЂ" The assigned location where a reporter regularly gathers news stories

9. Bundling - Common practice for grassroots; practice through which multiple individual contributions from a single industry or interest group are delivered to a candidate over a relatively short period of time.

10. Candidate centered campaigning - as party identification becomes weaker, candidates are forced to invest more time and money in building/maintaining their base of political support themselves instead of relying on party identification to gain them votes.

11. Catalytic events (social movements) вЂ" Same as #86?

12. Checkbook membership вЂ" After becoming a member of a group, the act of doing little more than paying the membership fees.

13. Civil disobedience вЂ" Intentionally breaking a law and accepting the consequences as a way to publicize the unjustness of the law

14. Collective public opinion вЂ" The political attitudes of the public as a whole, expressed as averages, percentages, or other summaries of many individuals’ opinions

15. Communications act of 1934 вЂ" Replaced the Federal Radio Commission with the Federal Communications Commission; got the government to license radio/TV stations and require them to observe certain rules as a condition for obtaining licenses.

16. Core beliefs вЂ" Individual’s views about the fundamental nature of human beings, society, and economy; taken together, they comprise the political culture

17. Corporate ownership of media вЂ" Some news media are owned by businesses. Some critics say that the corporate control of the media negatively creates a strong business presence in American politics, less diversity of news and opinion, and bias towards events that are related to their own company.

18. Disturbance theory вЂ" A theory that locates the origins of interest groups in changes in the economic, social, or political environment that threaten the well-being of some segment of the population

19. Earmarking вЂ" Practice of appropriating money for specific projects of members of Congress

20. Efficacy - Citizens' faith and trust in government that an individual can affect political affairs. Commonly measured by surveys. Increases with age and educational level. Correlated with participation in social and political life.

21. Equal time provision вЂ" The former requirement that television stations give or sell the same amount of time to all competing candidates

22. Factions вЂ" Madison’s term for groups or parties that try to advance their own interests at the expense of the public good

23. Fairness doctrine вЂ" The former requirement that TV stations present contrasting p.o.v

24. Federalist 10 - By James Madison, says how to guard against factions, special interest groups, by extending the sphere and making sure nobody gets too much power

25. First amendment - Gives us freedom of religion, speech, press, and assembly.

26. Foreign coverage вЂ" Most foreign news are ignored. Foreign news tends to be episodic due to high costs. Limited to few countries. Viewers are left with little more understanding of the country than they began with, finding it hard to form judgments about U.S. foreign policy.

27. Framing вЂ" Providing a context for interpretation

28. Free rider вЂ" One who gains a benefit without contributing; explains why it is so difficult to form social movements and noneconomic interests groups

29. Freedom of the press - The right to publish or print without interference from the government вЂ" one of the major concerns of the Anti-Federalists. Used to educate public about new political system.

30. Government and news (relationship) вЂ" The government prevents the publication of material only under the most pressing circumstances of danger to national security, because of the 1st amendment. However, during wartimes, government has control over news media by controlling what the reporters see and print. The government has more control over the electronic media than the print media. Internet has been free from governmental regulation.

31. Grassroots activity вЂ" The constituents, voters, or rank-and-file of a party. efforts by groups and associations to influence elected officials indirectly, by arousing their constituents.

32. hard money вЂ" Regulated campaign contributions to candidate and party committees, as well as to political