AIP 334 Media and Politics (CP, UP)
In 1922, Walter Lippmann observed that we form our political ideas on the basis of “fictions” – not “lies,” necessarily, but “representations of the environment … in a greater or lesser extent made by man himself.” That is, our experience of the world is mediated by culture, group interest, and—crucially for Lippmann—the press. These days, few would endorse Lippmann’s response to this (he thought journalists and the public should defer to the superior wisdom of political scientists). As our world becomes increasingly media-saturated, however, his focus on the relationship between political life and our images of it seems prescient. This course will examine mass media in the United States in terms of its implications for democratic deliberation, government accountability, social and protest movements, and political identity and solidarity among citizens.