Media Persuasive Essay

The headlines of written media are not necessarily written to be informative, but rather to seek the attention of the reader. Such headlines are often times misleading and distracting from the valid information within the article. For example, headlines from Newsweek and Time gave off the impression that the 1988 election was more of an athletic competition than it was a true presidential election they were striving to win. Several headlines of these two magazines read; HIGH STAKES IN NEW ORLEANS CAN BUSH GET BACK ON TRACK? THE DEBATE: HARDBALL BUSH COMES ON STRONG. HOW BUSH WON. The headlines of these papers tell little, rather, they only inform the reader of who is winning that very week, or the mistakes made in a certain time frame. Such headlines, as well as the information (or lack of)

This is prevalent in the media, and companies gain more profit publishing campaign hoopla in certain circumstances than they do publishing other aspects of an election (Coverage of Political Campaigns).

Overall, print media has a great effect on shaping the minds of the masses, but in a very different way than that of broadcasted and social media. For one, it is arguably more selective than its other sources, as it can be easily taken out of context and altered by editors to achieve a certain result, or get across a very specific concept. Second, print media, while it can and many times does include important data and information, can also be filled with campaign hoopla, distracting its readers from the true issues and values of the candidates. Rather, campaign hoopla focuses readers on who is ahead during a specific time frame, and other trivial information to voters in the long run of an election. However, such disadvantages can also be turned into positives for the written media as a whole. For instance, the ability of the written media to alter data can be used to the benefit of its