Media Presentation of the Women’s Suffrage Movement of 20th Century

Essay Instructions:

Given our conversations about Media and Political Knowledge (Chapter 4), Contemporary Political Socialization (Chapter 5), Agenda-Setting (Chapter 6), and Framing (Chapter 7), you are well-equipped to discuss not only how American citizens acquire information about political matters (both consciously and unconsciously), but also how particular stories or aspects of information are made salient in the mind of the public.

For this assignment, you'll choose one of the three following activities:

1) Choose a historic political issue from the 20th Century and briefly describe it. (Examples might include: The Women's Suffrage Movement, The Civil Rights Movement, abortion, Second Amendment rights, The New Deal, etc...) You'll briefly describe the issue and the political actors involved - lobbying/interest groups, political figures, governmental agents, public personalities - folks or groups who played a major part in or offered an opinion on the topic. For this activity, you'll inspect the role of the media in disseminating information about the issue to the public over a period of time. You won't necessarily be able to demonstrate agenda-setting (unless you have access to old historic newspapers/documents to show what was prioritized), so instead, I'd like you to look for headlines or historic articles written as the issue was evolving - and analyze how the media followed the societal change (if anything changed) through language. Did the media "shape" the story with their words? Did they try to "prime" audiences who already had opinions in any way? Were interest groups or individuals trying to "frame" the issue in the media, and were they successful (and in what ways)? Did a policy agenda emerge in response to media or public demand?

2) As the book notes, many lament "political games" that are played, but in fact "these are endemic to democracy" (p. 154). You'll choose a contemporary political story/event - something within the past year. Like the first activity, you'll give a quick summary, and highlight the actors (e.g. politicians, interest groups, lobbyists, the general public, concerned citizens, etc...) who played a major part in or offered an opinion on the event or story. But in this assignment, you'll dig deep on WHY the political actors are involved - by choice or necessity? - and HOW they responded to the event/situation. Did they release a statement? Utilize the press? Use a Twitter account? Craft a campaign? How did the reactions from each actor vary - and who is/was their intended audience? Were they effective? How do you know? What do we know about how their intended audiences receive their news? What motivations and constraints did each actor possess or face in this scenario?

3) I will assign you a politician, at random. Using the Penn State research tools available to you (e.g. the library, journal articles, news reports, etc…), I’d like you to examine some statements made by the politician related to an issue of importance at that point in time. You’ll want to give a description of the issue itself, and discuss how the politician (or candidate) attempted to frame the issue – what did they believe the public’s agenda was, and what language (e.g. metaphors, comparisons, linguistic tricks, the words themselves) was used to drive home the necessity of the action/belief in the mind of the politician, to the general public. How did the media frame the issue? Was it different? What level of importance was the issue given, by the media (agenda-setting), and how did the public respond? Analyze the angle from all sides – media agenda, public agenda, political agenda – and use resources from the text and class discussion to make your case.

Ground rules for all options:

1) You'll use evidence from the lectures and texts as appropriate.

2) You'll properly cite (APA style) any lifted quotes from political communication texts and give citations/context to quotes, headlines, tweets, etc...from media sources.

3) Paper should be typed, roughly 3-4 pages, double-spaced, 1 inch margins in 12-point font. I will not accept handwritten submissions.

4) Papers will be graded on adherence to these guidelines as well as on the strength of your argument and use of evidence from both media content and course materials. I will be looking for thoughtful and creative application of the media content you find/story you decide to cover to the lessons we've already learned in class.

Essay Sample Content Preview:

Media Presentation of the Women’s Suffrage Movement of 20th Century Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Media Presentation of the Women’s Suffrage Movement of 20th Century Mediaplays a significant role in disseminating information while at the same time having a biased impact on its audience. This makes it prone to exploitation by various interest groups or people that want to communicate to the audience regarding several issues. The Women’s Suffrage Movement of the early 20th century used mainstream media to push for constitutional changes when appealing for support in votes from men and policymakers. Both mainstream media and suffrage propagandists framed the issues surrounding the status of women to win the support of women and men who did not see the reason for allowing women to vote in the United States. This paper analyzes how the framing theory was used during the push for constitutional changes for women votes. Framing theory is used when mainstream media attaches significant importance to some aspects of the social issue (Lowi, Ginseberg, Weir, & Tolbert, 2017). Framing has a significant impact on how the audience will view and respond to the pressing issue. It may ignite a sense of appeal and call for immediate action to address the issue, and through mobilizing the masses against the government. The suffrage movement sought to have women in Congress with the hope that the social ills affecting women could diminish once women and not men in Congress represented women. The constitution did not consider women as persons, creating a historical struggle for women to prove their status as people in the country. It was until the early 20th century that women were allowed to vote after a historical series of struggle to ratify the constitution. In the primary document titled “Men! Give women votes to protect the children,” women are appealing for men to support them in the call for ratification of the constitution with the excuse of children. The poster was published in the newspaper and supplied as a flyer in 1917 before the ratification of the constitution in 1919 to allow women to vote. The message in the flyer is appealing to men who believe that women’s position is in the house. Conservative men had believed that women did not have a right for public life. Women’s position was restricted to the kitchen. In the poster, the suffragists are using children as an excuse to appeal to men’s votes. Media has framed the message to show that women do not want to rise against men in political life, but that their intent for political life is to protect children. According to Lowi, Ginseberg, Weir, & Tolbert (2017), government officials make decisions from public preferences. As a result, framing is likely to create a positive response from the...

Updated on January 26, 2024

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