Media's Influence On The Political World

Media is not a novel presence, but its influences are ever evolving and increasing exponentially. Whether through print or television each type of media is vitally important for a politician. Politicians must focus on the message that is to be conveyed and be aware of the influence each media type has. Print ads, radio shows, television interviews, magazine articles and debates all have a degree of effectiveness on a voting demographic. Mastering the media effects on the people that are to be influenced is the key to successful communication of ideas and a successful political career.

Accentuating the comical nature of the media, society strongly adheres to the opinions of influential leaders imposed by the susceptible nature of public conformity and the obscure outlying opinions of the media figures.

It is the source that allows the public to know what is going on with the candidate and vice versa. Television allows candidates to address a large portion of their electorate without having to visit each individual district, which could be considered a very expensive and time consuming task for a presidential candidate. Although, there are different mediums of media that has influenced American politics, as it relates to the 1960’s election, the most persuasive effect were the televised debates. During the time period of 1960, not everyone owned television sets, but those who did had much more engagement with Kennedy and Nixon’s debates. They were able to feel the presence of the candidates as well as critique based off presentation and appearance. Families who did not have television sets still tuned in to the radio, but were eager to own television sets. Like-minded to class lectures and readings, media is one of many heuristics voters use when selecting the best fit candidate in

Political scientist, journalists, and politicians alike often discuss the role of the news media’s place in affecting campaigns, and voter perceptions. Claims of media bias in political news coverage have risen over the past two decades. Scholarly research has explored concerns that broadcast and print media shape voting decisions in democratic processes.

There are three widely accepted options for influence and power to surge from in the election process, as stated above. First and foremost, the media is widely perceived as the top dog in the election process; society as a whole holds the assumption that media sets the agenda and controls the political process. This idea is embellished by the cynics of the world and there have been a number of studies with findings disputing these perceptions. Dalton’s paper tracked over 6000 newspapers articles, during the 1992 presidential election, from a stratified sample of counties across the nation and their research points to a much weaker position being held by the media as a whole, in respect to its influence over elections within the United States (466). The research focused of the viewpoint and time given to either candidate during the election season. Overall the findings showed little to no bias, outside of the editorial section, with in the overall information of each candidate. The argument is summed up in the article stating, “Certainly, some newspapers and journalists have distinct views, but such individual biases appear small and tend to cancel out when aggregated. Moreover, a newspaper’s presidential endorsement had little impact on its news coverage of the issue themes of the campaign” (Dalton, 476). The media seems to play a part in

The Media, The Campaign, and the Message article examines how the 1996 Presidential campaign manipulated certain messages to the voting public through news outlets. It was discovered that these media organizations are more receptive to airing campaign messages for candidates that are more ahead of the game. The conclusions were that the media has a preference for portraying the candidate that is favored by the public, rather than the receptive

ut also to society as a whole to avoid corruption, bad examples, and to ideally prevent bias.

“Twenty-first-century election campaigns are structure to garner the most favorable media exposure reaching the largest number of prospective supporters, with the greatest degree of candidate control over the message”. (Dunaway & Graber 2009. Pg. 315) Media in regards to political advertising is much more narrower. Some candidates are primarily interested in voters who preference the outcome of the race instead of the process of the election. A great example is President Obama in 2008, had little interest in any media markets in California because he expected to win by a comfortable

Media plays a big role in presidential elections. One of the biggest incidences occurred in the election of 1960 with President Kennedy and Richard Nixon. President Kennedy won the heart of TV audiences with his youth, good looks, charm. VP Richard Nixon on the other hand was said to look uncomfortable and not confident. ews reporting, however, has become less objective; whole networks are dedicated to more conservative or more liberal parties. Newspapers and magazines support a particular candidate, and their reporting often favor that particular candidate. The pictures used, the questions asked, and the stories chosen for reporting all play a role in affecting the way

Not only is the interest of the owners of large companies pushed out to the public, but also the interest of the companies who pay these media companies in advertising to citizens to sell their goods. Advertising is an important influence in what the public sees in media and has a direct influence on the public’s interest in the product (Rinallo, Basuray; 2009). Companies such as Nike and Coca-Cola can pay networks such as ABC and FOX large sums of money to advertise their companies through their programing. As Herman and Chomsky explain, networks such as ABC and FOX are selling their audience to these companies (1988). Media outlets such as FOX News depends on funding to make a profit and since there is no system in place where the funds

In campaigning, media coverage plays a large role for candidates. They use the media to make their name heard and image seen. "Nearly everything a candidate does is geared toward the media, especially television" (Stuckey, 1999, p. 99) Candidates make appearances on talk shows,

In campaigning, media coverage plays a large role for candidates. They use the media to make their name heard and image seen. “Nearly everything a candidate does is geared toward the media, especially television” (Stuckey, 1999, p. 99) Candidates make appearances on talk shows,

In sharp contrast to past elections when candidates campaigned in-person, the 2016 election has been significantly mediated through mass media. With such a large influence on voters, the media not only determines which issues and events are salient in voters’ minds, but also how voters evaluate candidates. Moreover, media coverage, depending on its content, can influence whether voters think about candidates in terms of campaign issues or candidate attributes.

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

Political economy media theory identifies a socially critical approach that focuses primarily on the relationship between the economic structure and political force in media industries and the ideological content of the media outputs. China has a very special situation of the political interference which are much serious than other kinds of countries. In western capitalist countries, the media is defined as a separate news outlet with legally press freedom approval by the government and formal institution that are independent from the state. Thus one of the most obvious characters of the western media is press libertarian. (Reference)However, in China, under the control by the Chinese Communist Party, the media organs are the first and