Brief Introductory Summary
It has long been said that the media has the potential to make a candidate known as well as make a well known candidate become unpopular by giving either more media coverage or media blackout. It is interesting to see just how the media can play with people’s psychology and influence their decisions to a great length. In this issue paper, the learner investigates the contribution that the media has on political campaigns. The major issue under concern in this paper is the extent of media coverage that is accorded to particular candidates. Under this topic, there will be focus on issues like the contributions that technology in media broadcast has on political campaign candidates. For example, do YouTube and High Definition Televisions play a role in boosting or destroying a political campaign candidate? This will then be followed by coverage of potential media biasness that has been recorded in the past and the level of consistency in the same. The effect of these biases on political candidates especially those vying for the post of presidency and other top seats will be discussed. The learner will introduce some personal rationale of these issues and their contribution to making or breaking a political campaign candidate.
It is inevitable that the world today is living at a time when technology is evolving at such a fast rate, such that the media as well as the politicians have to think of ways to integrate their political and personal ambitions on the same platform and rhyme to their own good. To the media houses and giants, politics gives them the best opportunities get hype from potential advertisement customers where they earn more income from. Bernt argues that the media is more like a vehicle in...
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...n terms of coverage in the airtime than on others. In this issue paper, it is clear that the female candidates are less publicized by the media houses unlike their male challengers especially for the presidential elections. It is also clear that the media houses are turning to technology to try and magnify the negatives physical aspects of a candidate that they do not support in favor of the one they support with the utilization of High Definition TV. When it’s all been said and done, the media houses remain the greatest benefactors in all the election campaigns.
Works Cited
Bernt, Joseph P. "Women for President: Media Bias in Eight Campaigns." Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 85.2 (2008): 473,473-475. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 9 Oct. 2011.
Crupi, Anthony. "Scars and Stripes." Mediaweek 18.35 (2008): 12,12-13. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 9 Oct. 2011.
In this article Mary Kate Cary opens up with the supreme court decision to not restrict the use of corporate funds in political advertising so that she can make her point that big money ads are not the most effective way for candidates to reach American constituents. She argues that social media is a new way for politicians to connect with citizens. Her five claim are that Americans can now, choose the media they wish to consume, share the media they choose the share, like posts they agree with and dislike posts they do not agree with, connect with others on social media, and donate to candidate campaigns online. With these claims she comes to the conclusion that politicians want to go around mainstream media so that they can connect directly with the voters.
Dating back to over 100 years ago, when yellow journalism depicted its news as a sensationalist, crude exaggeration of what was true (that actually helped lead to a war) it can be stated that the media has had a constant theme of using different tactics and biases to influence their readers/viewers. Horse race journalism is no different. It depicts an election as a horse race, where the focus is not on the candidate’s policy but rather on how the candidates oppose each other. Media uses this framework to show that “the race—not the winner—is the story. The candidate’s image, personality, staff relations, and strategy are the main foci of reporting. Furthermore, with the horse-race metaphor, journalists can generate interest among viewers” (Broh,
Media finds its central role in the democratic debate in providing information, analysis, and a diversity of perspectives to the public. In recent years, with what is known as a media revolution, the amount of telecommunication outlets has increased dramatically. Often called “a product of healthy market competition,” the media revolution has theoretically expanded the public’s access to a multitude of facts, opinions, and general information (Miroff, et al. 2015). However, with a
“Amusing Ourselves to Death” by Neil Postman is a piece that focuses on the effects that technology has on public discourse and politics. He believes that the development of the television has habituated us to constantly needing to be entertained, which changes the way we take in information. It is no longer the substance that we value but rather the entertainment value. An important point that Postman evaluates in chapter 9 is that politics has become similar to show business. With politicians paying more attention to their image than political issues the integrity of modern politics can only be questioned. To update Postman’s arguments, although the television has allowed political figures to present the image their audience wants to see the internet has allowed for all aspects of one’s life to be accessible, which changes the way we view their credibility.
Have you ever turned on the TV to watch the news during election year? News programs constantly bombard the public with campaign coverage that negatively affects the way people vote. The most noticeable effect the TV news media causes is a decrease in voter attendance at the ballot boxes. News coverage of political campaigns reduces voter turnout because of the negative campaign tactics used by candidates and their parties; exit polls that predict the outcome of an election; and the public's perception that the media can be bought to influence people to vote for a certain issue or candidate.
The aim of this paper is to look at the relationship between the mass media, specifically television, and presidential elections. This paper will focus on the function of television in presidential elections through three main areas: exit polls, presidential debates, and spots. The focus is on television for three reasons. First, television reaches more voters than any other medium. Second, television attracts the greatest part of presidential campaign budgets. Third, television provides the candidates a good opportunity to contact the people directly. A second main theme of this paper is the role of television in presidential elections in terms of representative democracy in the United States.
Media coverage faced by these female candidates aggravates gender bias in American politics. Sexism in media diminishes women’s campaigns by positioning a female candidates
Glavinic, Tonei. “Exclusion, Misrepresentation and Discrimination: Still Prevalent for Women in American Media and Politics.” Student Pulse. 2010. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.
Individuals may believe this new exposure of political debates and facts about the candidates would help the public make an educated decision of their president. However, all of that television has done is turn the presidential debates into a popularity contest. Elections were based on image, charm and how the networks wish to have the candidates perceived. Televisions’ contribution to political debates only emphasized personality, visual image and emotion rather than ideas, issues and reason.
Lachover, Einat, and Sigal Barak Brandes. "A Beautiful Campaign?." Feminist Media Studies 9.3 (2009): 301-316. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
Stromback, J. (2008) Four Phases of Mediatization: An Analysis of the Mediatization of Politics, The International Journal of Press/Politics, 13: 228-246.
Television can be viewed as the medium between the public and candidate. It is the source that allows the public to know what is going on with the candidate and vice versa. As Frank Stanton, president of the Columbia Broadcasting System put it, “The sky is the limit.” Before television, candidates would travel the country, meeting voters and gaining supporters. But they were not always able to meet everyone, which hindered their process of achieving support for their campaign. With the invention of television, direct contact between the candidates and the public has been restored.
In the US, mass media plays a significant role in politics. One of the key roles mass media plays in politics includes the airing of the platforms of various politicians. The media influences the view of people on politics and politicians. As the opinion of individuals is affected, the results of the votes are consequently changed (Holden, 2016).
This essay will show, unfortunately, that our democracy is not as healthy as it potentially could be because of television and print’s inadequate coverage of politics and the public’s resultant frustration and lack of knowledge. The reason this occurs is not because the media is trying to restrict our role in the government, but because it has other agendas to consider, such as producing maximum profits. Also, the media can take its obligatory role, often referred to as the “fourth estate,” to an extreme. John McManus, a former newspaper reporter and current professor at Santa Clara University researching the social responsibility of news media, specifically uses this term in his book Market-Driven Journalism: Let the Citizen Beware? to explain the media’s ideal role as the fourth branch of the government. The media is meant to participate in our system of checks and balances and check the government to ensure that it does not withhold too much power from the people. However, this can pose a problem if the media tries too hard to keep a check on the government and ends up transcending its role as the fourth estate and becoming cynical of the government. These market-driven characteristics and overzealous tendencies are conveyed in the media’s choice and presentation of language.
The current role of mass media in politics has definitely played a significant role in how view and react to certain events and issues of the nation. Newspapers, magazines, television and radio are some of the ways information is passed onto many of the citizens. The World Wide Web is also an information superhighway, but not all of the sources on the Internet are credible. Therefore, I will only focus on the main three types of media: written, viewed, and audible, and how they affect whether or not democracy is being upheld in the land of the free. The media includes several different outlets through which people can receive information on politics, such as radio, television, advertising and mailings. When campaigning, politicians spend large quantities of money on media to reach voters, concentrating on voters who are undecided. Politicians may use television commercials, advertisements or mailings to point out potentially negative qualities in their opponents while extolling their own virtues. The media can also influence politics by deciding what news the public needs to hear. Often, there are more potential news stories available to the media than time or space to devote to them, so the media chooses the stories that are the most important and the most sensational for the public to hear. This choice can often be shaped,