Essay on Mass Media Coverage of Presidential Election

In the United States, television has been influential in presidential elections since the 1960’s. Television has a way of “turning away from policy sphere,” it judges candidates based on their appearances, not their message. Television has shifted the key point of presidential debates: from pursuing issue to pursuing image. Therefore, television is misleading, having a negative impact on presidential elections.

Television has been influential in United States presidential elections since the 1960’s. But just what is this influence, and how has it affected who is elected? Has it made elections fairer and more accessible, or has it moved candidates from pursuing issues to pursuing image? The media only impacts the American Society, especially for the presidential election as it increases the talks in politics and gives the president a higher role to follow. The television race captures more popularity than what a citizen is actually voting for.

Voters are the key to elections, a politician cannot win if no one votes for them. The ways Jeff took in order to gain voters were considered the grassroots campaign where the politician would go door to door, to introduce themselves, discuss the candidates views and goals when voted in, and to persuade potential voters to vote for him. Jeff did the new media form to gain voters, in the book, it discusses how new media is a good avenue to take for a faster response from voters. New media involves, telecommunication, email and use of social media to name a few. Using the new media form, Jeff was able to connect to everyday people and gain their attention quicker because he presently there, his volunteers and him would call the voters, in return gained a following because the other political were using their name as a means to win and the traditional form of media to connect to voters. Traditional media includes the use of the newspaper and the classic political debate. Big name politician in this election almost lost in this election because they did not try to connect more with the people, now you see politicians always with people, either giving a speech, going door to door, using social media more to connect. But whenever using social media or the internet always be mindful of when things go up and what response will come out of posting, so many candidates have media consultants to help keep a positive media

In the 1950's, television, having been introduced to political coverage as a new medium, surpassed the dominance of newspaper and radio media as the primary public source of information regarding politics by 1962. Political processes and events of various measures were all soon televised in recognition of overwhelmingly positive public feedback. By the 1970's, live coverage of major political events were as common as seeing grass on the ground.

b) Two ways in which the candidates have used the media for campaigning are media events and talking heads. Media events are events made by the candidate so that the media can cover it. This benefits the candidate because he or she is able to state their ideologies and views on certain issues, which can help increase the amount of voters and supporters. Talking head is basically a way for the candidate to talk to the public about his views and can try to convince the people to vote for him or her.

The media has the power to affect candidates for government positions. According to the Huffington Post If the media doesn’t have a positive view on the candidate, the media hits the candidate with 5 or 6 times more than other candidates. The media can also just simply ignore the candidate. John Edwards, a candidate affected by the media. A U.S. senator and vice-presidential candidate in the last election, at multiple points, polled better against other Republican and Democratic candidates. He presented policies that the democrats took a liking to, but the media

For much of the 2000 campaign for the Presidency, Vice President Al Gore has been seen the candidate who will win this year’s Presidential Election. The polls show Gore as leading, political analysts have been saying “Gore all the way,” and most of the general public seem to be in agreement that Gore will succeed President Bill Clinton. But recently, the past two Presidential debates have seemed to abolish the idea that Vice President Al Gore will easily be elected President over Texas Governor George W. Bush.

Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, has had a long and distinguished career in both the military and in politics. A United States Naval Pilot and Captain who received the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, and Purple Heart, McCain then moved onto the House of Representatives and Senate (“Biographical Data for John S. McCain”). In April of 1999, McCain announced his candidacy for President, stating his mission to “restore integrity into the office, reform government, and renew the American dream”(“The John McCain Story”). Senator McCain’s platform is “classic GOP conservatism…a strong defense, less government regulation, tax reductions, local oversight of education…”(“The Issue:

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.

On the contrary, a biased media has increased its effects on American citizens from a voting stand point. It is no surprise that the media plays a major and powerful role in the lives of millions of American citizens every day. These same Americans sit before the television and computer screens and partake in ongoing debates as it relates to political values, parties, and various other pieces of data. It was seen in most recent election experiences that the media can be biased towards both liberals and conservatives. Frontline reported that by comparison, only 11 percent of the primary coverage

Most people pay relatively little attention to campaigns in the first place since they pay attention to things they already agree with and interpreting events.

Throughout American history, it is clear to point out the United States have elected presidents to stand as the countries’ leader since the birth of the young nation. In most cases, the election is seen as a race between two parties even though there are others on the ballot. The vast majority usually did not know much about the other candidates until the turn of the century. Then, when media and information became easier to access it turned these elections into social media wars putting candidates at each other’s throats. The best example of this is the current election and their unruly debates, but when these debates came about they were not as cutthroat as they are now. Media throughout the years has forever altered the way in which these debates have gone about and how the presidential candidates are perceived. Media has tarnished the way politics and debates are run today from how they began.

In the article “Hype Versus Substance in Network Television Coverage of Presidential Election Campaigns”, authors Julia R. Fox, James R. Angelini, and Christopher Goble analyze political coverage on broadcast news during the final weeks of presidential elections. In the end they found that in the final weeks of campaigns many voters are still undecided. “Voters making up their minds at the end of the campaign tend to be less partisan and more likely to use-and to be influenced by-media messages in making their decision ” (Fox, J., Angelini, J., & Goble, C). This tends to be enough to cause a last minute “swing” in an election. With this being said the authors also found that these broadcast news stations very rarely address the critical

"Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." This quote by A.J. Liebling illustrates the reality of where the media stands in today's society. Over the past twenty years there has been an increase in power throughout the media with regard to politics. The media's original purpose was to inform the public of the relevant events that occurred around the world. The job of the media is to search out the truth and relay that news to the people. The media has the power to inform the people but often times the stories given to the public are distorted for one reason or another. Using slant and sensationalism, the media has begun to shape our views in society and the process by which

When the White House felt a retraction was not enough because so much harm had already been done, the media got extremely upset with the White House, due to the pressure they were putting on the publication (52-53). Begala agrees with Hewitt that the media has a bias, but argues that it is a liberal bias. He cites the media's obsession with the Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal and how, "Even when Clinton was leaving office, he was hounded and pounded by the press" (199). He argues the news coverage was unfair, brutal and unethical in the way both Bill and Hillary Clinton were treated during the scandal (200). Begala also says Al Gore was treated very poorly by the press during the election, by being misquoted. Gore made major contributions during the early phases of the internet and made a comment on CNN saying he "took the initiative in creating the Internet." Begala argues this was blown out of proportion and more than a thousand articles have been written quoting Gore saying he said he "invented the internet" (202). The people's perception that certain publications are bias can have a negative affect on journalists as a whole. While the public demands that the press question politicians, Robinson says there is public discontent when bad news is reported due to the publics distrust in news and a "kill the messenger syndrome." At times, the public will assume all media is the same and when one publication is guilty of inaccurate or bias