| 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 role | The media's function as an open channel through which political leaders can communicate with the public. (See also partisan function; signaling function; watchdog function.)
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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. (See also partisan press.)
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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. (See also objective journalism.)
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| press (news media) | Those print and broadcast organizations that are in the news-reporting business.
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| signaler role | The accepted responsibility of the media to alert the public to important developments as soon as possible after they happen or are discovered. (See also common-carrier function; partisan function; watchdog function.)
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| watchdog role | 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. (See also common-carrier function; partisan function; signaler function.)
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