...Role of Public Opinion in Politics Maribel Kultti March 20, 2015 Role of Public Opinion in Politics Introduction The topic that I have chosen for research for this paper is- “Role of Public Opinion in Politics.” Since in any civil society, politics works for the welfare of the people, it is important that the views of these very people are taken into consideration when making any policy decisions. The reason why I chose this topic is that in the recent time, traditional as well as social media has brought on a lot of public activism. Hence, it is important to revisit the role of the public in the political debates, discussions, and the overall decision making process. Background to the topic Ever since the world moved ahead of the monarchy and the dictatorship system, the importance of the public opinion came naturally to those who were the primary stakeholders in the politics:- the administrators and the other politicians. In the history of mankind, public opinion has forced to change or alter many political decisions. Hence, the role of public opinion in politics is not a totally new concept. However, in the modern age of information technology, people are empowered to share their opinion and get noticed like never before. Hence, it will be interesting to understand how people are using this power and how the political fraternity is reacting to the situation (Lippmann, 2007). Some recent incidents of interactions between people and politics ...
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...Page 104 Priority publics/stakeholders are those most important to an organization in terms of their potential to an organization in terms of their potential impact on the organization. Page 105 Psychographics are increasingly important for describing diverse publics. One system for analysis of U.S. consumers is VALS tm (values, attitudes and lifestyles), which puts consumers into eight categories. Because people are more interconnected globally, reactions to issues and events are communicated responses. Interactive media have contributed to multiple message sources and thus a fragmentation of publics. As a global source of information, the internet draws users because it is participatory, offers anonymity and affords the development of “communities”. Employers are always an important public because they often have direct contact with a number of other publics. With their insiders’ experience and information, they are perceived as knowledgeable and credible. Keeping employees informed and loyal is crucial for maintaining this PR “front line”. Women in the workplace and women customers can create serious problems with an institution’s reputation if they are victims of harassment or discrimination and make that case publicly. Sensitivity to a minority culture is as important as being aware of and using the language of that minority effectively. Handling issues demands an integrated approach to communication in which an issue, the public and the situation in which...
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...To what extent was British public opinion the reason that Britain adopted the policy of appeasement? After a defeat in WW1 Germany was left seriously impacted (want this to be changed?ritain adopted the policy of appeasement? reason thAT torians have argued that milirary am by-election showed the true anti-war). This gave Chancellor Adolf Hitler the perfect opportunity to expand Germany’s territories and get rid of the restrictions placed on Germany after the war. Therefore, Britain’s policy of appeasement aimed to please Germany in order to prevent further conflict, and after the horrific events of WW1 most of the British public supported this. With the horrors still fresh in the public’s mind it can be argued that British public opinion was the main reason as to why Britain adopted the policy of appeasement. However, there are other significant factors that contributed to the adoption of appeasement including economic difficulties, military weaknesses, threat of communism, lack of reliable allies, attitudes towards the Treaty of Versailles and concern for her empire. One reason for the introduction of appeasement is public opinion. After the Rhineland crisis in a debate in the House of Commons in March 1936, Sir Winston Churchill warned that the atmosphere in Europe had changed recently to the extent that war was being regarded as a serious responsibility. He also described the German occupation of the Rhineland as a menace to Holland, Belgium and France. With the horrors...
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...1. There are four important factors that cause international migration flows: economic pressures; social networks and connections between migrant sending and receiving countries; immigration policies; and cultural perceptions people in developing countries have about immigration and immigrant receiving countries. Indicate which of these you believe is the most important and second most important factors and explain why. There are four important factors that cause international migration flow. The most important factor is the economic pressures and second most important is the cultural perceptions people in developing countries have about immigration and immigrant receiving countries. Both these factors are relatively related and linked together. The most important factor that influences migration flows is the economic pressures. People who pursue better wages and a higher standard of living economically motivate most labor migrations. This is generated by the push- pull theory that explains how migrants are pushed to leave the areas of origin because of demographic growth, low standards of living, and lack of economic opportunities (Castles and Miller 22). Migrants are then pulled to move to receiving countries because they are attracted to the demand they have for labor, availability of land, economic opportunities, and political freedoms (Castles and Miller 22). The push-pull factor is one of the main explanations as to why the economic pressures are the biggest factors that...
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...What makes the public sphere distinct from the private sphere? The public sphere concept was developed since the times of the Aristotle. He sees the public sphere as the social and political space in which citizens come together to discus the issues of public concerns to form civic opinions. However, this concept changed in time and nowadays is seen as the space “where free and equal citizens come together to share information, to debate, to discuss, or to deliberate on common concerns”.[1] Public sphere is made distinct from the private sphere through the existence of public opinion and the fact that is has developed the public use of reason. Through its constitutive elements such as the constitutional civil liberties the access at public information the existence of a free, plural, and independent media system not under the state control make the private sphere indeed peculiar. Also the existence of civil societies which organize and promote the citizen agenda makes the public sphere dissimilar. In order to make a clear distinction between what makes the public sphere distinct from the private sphere I will have a close look at how the principle developed from the feudal system until the democratic system nowadays. A close analysis at the philosophers’ theories and the principles which intervenes with public sphere is helpful. Also its characteristics will be outlined in order to draw a line between the public and the private sphere. One characteristic and a product...
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...an Argument: Public Statements of Opinion The first amendment protects the right of people to have and share opinions. People speak their minds (unfortunately not always WITH their minds) knowing that the freedom of expressing their beliefs is there. The information gets published and it becomes available to the public through television, radio, internet, etc. and it ranges from sports outcomes to new gossip about the presidential election campaigns. The unfortunate part of all this is figuring out which opinions are worth taking in as reliable and valuable as this bulk of information comes from people from all over the world with different environments and issues that filter their views. Not everyone shares the same views and not all of the important information floating around will ever seem valuable, but people need to get their priorities straight and acknowledge what is really going on. The media is filled with random opinions of random people from random places and random backgrounds. So which ones do you trust? The people with the highest education can be reliable with technical facts, but what about personal views? Do you trust the opinion of a renowned physicist when he makes a comment about a “true” religion? Is a mathematician the best person to comment about how abortion is wrong and that it should be illegal? You have the right to creating your own views and choosing to not believe any other opinions. Everyone is allowed an opinion and the fact...
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...Media informs the public about everything that’s happening around them. There are issues of different natures for example of political nature about which the common masses have no knowledge. For such issues, they have to rely on the media for access of information. The way media will impart this information is very important as media can manipulate the thought and opinions of the masses. Happer and Philo (2013) support this idea on the basis of their empirical studies that found that media limits the understanding of the audience and also removes the alternative solutions to political problems from the public. Media’s concentration on few topics decides how individuals in that society shape their opinions and actions in accordance as in a study conducted by Radoli (2011) found out that media owners frequently influence the editorial content which not only ends up in inciting the people in Kenya to violence but also disregard of the human rights. Thus newspapers do affect the public opinion and shape their behaviors. As newspapers are an important source of information so it’s important to note how they use agenda setting and framing in their content to influence the readers. Cissel (2012) supports this notion as her study concluded that media both mainstream and alternative uses agenda setting and frames...
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...individual citizens. He believed that the knowledge needed to make educated decisions was not easily accessible to the public, and even if it was, the general public was neither interested nor involved in the political process to give a strong opinion. Lippmann portrayed a government that was out of sight, reach, and therefore mind. Since the government may seem hidden or concealed, many fail to see the steps or processes that are involved in policy making. In turn, not being able to fully observe the governmental system would discourage citizens from believing that they are able to have any significant impact as an individual. The idea of not being able to witness or influence an issue in politics will consequently lead to the entire issue being tossed out as something pertinent to an individual, and he or she will not process the idea any further. Even if a person was interested in policy and sought out political truths, Lippmann believed that most citizens were incompetent and that it would be more logical to leave the important decisions not up to an average citizen, but instead an elected official or expert. John Dewey was a Philosopher, Psychologist, and subsequently a teacher. He believed that the lack of success or progress of the public opinion was not due to the incompetence of the citizens, but instead the lack of resources that were provided to the public. John Dewey, being the positive and hopeful person that he was, believed in the possibly of reform, through better...
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...Chapter one: The History of The Public Opinion Introduction The public opinion is a set of attitudes and views of individuals concerned with particular controversial issues, including politics and government action. Its impact is not only limited to politics and elections, but also concerned with many other spheres, such as culture, literature, the arts, public relations and so on. The American public opinion has been a subject of inquiry since the rise of democratic states, in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries because governments started to be well known, and democracies were expected to present and be responsible for their people. Before dealing with the American public opinion, one should know the nature of the notion and its...
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...Agenda Setting Theory • Scope and functions • Walter Lippman – Public Opinion (excerpt from Media Control – Noam Chomsky) • Concept of Manufacturing Consent – Noam Chomsky o Excerpts form the book - Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky • Case studies o WMD i.e. Weapons of Mass Destruction being used repeatedly by media • Situation in India o Media focusing on Scams repeatedly and not giving due importance to the other relevant news. • Conclusion Introduction The power of the news media to set a nation’s agenda, to focus public attention on a few key public issues, is an immense and well-documented influence. Not only do people acquire factual information about public affairs from the news media, readers and viewers also learn how much importance to attach to a topic on the basis of the emphasis placed on it in the news. Newspapers provide a host of cues about the salience of the topics in the daily news – lead story on page one, other front page display, large headlines, etc. Television news also offers numerous cues about salience – the opening story on the newscast, length of time devoted to the story, etc. These cues repeated day after day effectively communicate the importance of each topic. In other words, the news media can set the agenda for the public’s attention to that small group of issues around which public opinion forms. Origin and History Agenda setting describes a very powerful...
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...Public art is a topic that is widely debated and somewhat controversial. Since individual opinions on art in general can be very nuanced and subjective, it is a common problem that some part of a population has an issue with a particular piece of public art. So what happens when the disagreement is directly between the public who is observing the piece and those who put it in place? It’s never really clear-cut who is right or wrong. One might say that it should be up to the observer, but maybe the observer doesn’t put full effort into understanding the art or simply can’t understand it. Should public art reflect public opinion or should it serve to shape the public’s perception of art? These are complex questions on a topic that is very...
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...Public Opinion and Reputation Management Kevin Jackson University of Phoenix MKT/578 November 11, 2012 Sandra Payne Public Opinion and Reputation Management Every company, organization, or governmental entity must be able to communicate to its publics in a clear and consistent honest manner. This includes press releases to the public. According to Seitel (2011) (p. 47), communication has four goals, which are; to inform, to persuade, to motive, and to build understanding. Whatever, the ethical and legal nature of the problem a company, organization, or governmental agency is facing, what is communicated to the public can determine how public opinion is influence. Public opinion is defined as a representation of a consensus. This consensus derives from many individuals opinion, beginning with people’s attitudes toward the issue in question (Seitel, 2012). Depending on what the ethical and legal nature of the problem a company, such as Paula Deen Enterprise is facing can influence public opinion positive or negative. It is the public relations professional job to sway public opinion in a favorable light and properly manage the client’s reputation. Paula Deen Enterprise Ethical Issue Paula Deen’s ethical issues started after a lawsuit from a former employee surfaced in the media. The lawsuit alleged that the Paula Deen used racist language referring to Afro-American’s as “niggers,” and her brother engaged in sexual harassment at one of her...
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...Media is an important part of our daily lives. One aspect of our lives that media has a major impact on is politics, especially the presidency. The media affects the president from his campaign all the way through his term. The media is vital to helping the president shape his image communicates with the public, and set the agenda. The media is an essential tool in becoming a successful President. When a President interacts with the media he will soon benefit from this interaction. The effects the media has on the President begin when the President is campaigning. The President has a staff that helps the President form an image that is appealing to the voting public. The staff works with the media to communicate the image of the Presidential hopeful to the public. The staff attempts to “ (1) control news coverage by controlling media access, setting the media’s agenda, creating pseudo events; (2) blur the distinction between news and commercials in order to increase the credibility of the commercial’s message; (3) exploit the linguistic categories reflecting criteria for newsworthiness and conventions of news presentations through which journalists view campaigns; (4) insulate the candidate from attack; and (5) enlist the help of journalists in responding to attacks” (Jamieson 229) If the staff uses the media wisely then it can help ensure that the Presidential candidate will have a good image with the public. It is difficult for candidates to travel to every city in the country...
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... primarily to manipulate the mass audience for their own advantage. Mass media has a great influence on the public opinion as they can fluctuate what individuals should think, know and feel about politicians. The media supplies the general audience with information that voters can base their decisions on. From this, the media is able to manipulate the general public on extreme issues that interfere with the general publics’ rights, such as important issues regarding health or even political interferences. Although one may believe what they learn from the media may be a from an objective point of view, but in truth all information from the media has many external factors that can influence stories for a purpose. This paper will argue how the mass media has a direct influence on the general audience’s perspective and the opinions of the opinions of our political candidates. One area to notice is how certain issues in the media are given more attention in comparison where others are not. What is determined to be on the agenda of the media is a continuous competition from different issues to obtain attention. James W. Dearing and Everett M. Rogers state that issues are “rising or falling on the agenda, or competing with one another for attention” (Dearing & Everett, 1996, p. 1). What is decided to be given attention are generally from media personnel, members of the public or policymakers, which represents ones who hold power (individuals or organizations)...
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...Capital Improvement Program, and the review and adoption of proposed policies, agreements, contracts, and other City business items.” The city council meetings take place every first and third Monday of each month at 6 pm. Within this council there are five members that are elected by the city who serve four-year terms. My city council members are: Mayor Sue Long, Mayor Pro Tem Tami Trent, Council Member Doug Strehl, Council Member Linda Gardner, and Council Member Tiara Brown. The matters of business handled during this session were: Declaring the existence of a Nuisance and to require the Abatement of Weeds on private property; Authorization to receive AVOID/Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) Grant; Approval of a Proposed Public Alley Right of Way Vacation; Authorization to Award Construction Contract for the Wastewater Treatment Plant Flood Protection Project; Approve the “Paid Sick Leave for Unrepresented, Non-Benefited Part Time Employees” Administrative Policy, thereby complying with California's AB 1522, called the "Healthy Workplace, Healthy Family Act of 2014"; Approval of July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Concerning Working Conditions, Wages and Benefits with the Fortuna Employee Association (FEA); Designation of the City’s Voting Delegates for the Annual League of California Cities Meeting. This city council meeting highlighted and integrated three concepts we have covered in this class: categorical grants,...
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