How Media Coverage of Congress Limits Policymaking
Advocates and legislators often want to generate …
An episode of the The Science of Politics podcast, hosted by Niskanen Center, titled "How Media Coverage of Congress Limits Policymaking" was published on March 10, 2021 and runs 47 minutes.
March 10, 2021 ·47m · The Science of Politics
Summary
Advocates and legislators often want to generate media attention for their preferred legislation, but that does not help pass bills in Congress. Mary Layton Atkinson finds that media coverage focuses on legislation with partisan conflict and emphasizes process over policy substance. That tells voters that Congress is dysfunctional and full of extremists, reducing support for policy change. John Lovett finds that media coverage leads to more intervention by backbencher legislators, creating a spiral of increasing salience that makes it harder for leadership to pass bills. Congressional media coverage turns off the public with stories of conflict-ridden sausage making that disrupt internal consensus-building.