| agenda setting | The power of the media through news coverage to focus the public's attention and concern on particular events, problems, issues, personalities, and so on.
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| common-carrier function | The media's function as an open channel through which political leaders can communicate with the public.
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| framing | The process of selecting certain aspects of reality and making them the most salient part of the communication, thereby conveying a particular interpretation of a situation.
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| news | The news media's version of reality, usually with an emphasis on timely, dramatic, and compelling events and developments.
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| objective journalism | A model of news reporting that is based on the communication of "facts" rather than opinions and that is "fair" in that it presents all sides of partisan debate.
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| partisan function (of the press) | Efforts by media actors to influence public response to a particular party, leader, issue, or viewpoint.
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| partisan press | Newspapers and other communication media that openly support a political party and whose news in significant part follows the party line.
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| press (news media) | Those print and broadcast organizations that are in the news-reporting business.
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| signaling (signaler) function | The accepted responsibility of the media to alert the public to important developments as soon as possible after they happen or are discovered.
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| watchdog function | The accepted responsibility of the media to protect the public from deceitful, careless, incompetent, and corrupt officials by standing ready to expose any official who violates accepted legal, ethical, or performance standards.
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