News Media

A broad term that includes newspaper, magazines, radio, television, internet sources, blogs, and social-media postings that cover important events.

Social Media

Forms of electronic communication that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.

Agenda Setting

The media’s ability to highlight certain issues and bring them to the attention of the public.

Mass Media

Sources of Information designed to reach a wide audience, including newspapers, radio, television, and internet outlets.

Wire Service

An organization that gathers and reports on news and then sells the stories to other outlets.

Investigate Journalism

An approach to newsgathering in which reporters dig into stories, often looking for instances of wrongdoing.

Muckrakers

Investigative journalists who exposed corruption and social injustices in the Progressive Era to prompt government and corporate reforms.

Broadcast Media

Outlets for news and other content including radio and television that bring stories directly to people’s homes.

New Media

Technologies like the internet and social media that have transformed how citizens get political information

Federal Communications Commission

An independent federal agency established by the Communications Act of 1934, regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable.

Media Consolidation

The concentration of Ownership of the media into fewer corporations

Telecommunication Act of 1996

A legislation aimed to boost competition by removing old rules that kept phone, cable, and radio companies from entering each other's markets.

Horse-Race Journalism

Coverage of political campaigns that focuses more on the drama of the campaigns than on policy issues.