Role of Media in Political Campaigns
This paper discusses the role of the media in political campaigns.
The purpose of campaigns To understand the role of election campaigns towards the end result it is necessary to understand that two ideas exist. It is believed that the voters decide for their candidate before the campaigning starts, while the others believe that it through active campaigning that voters reach their decision. The purpose of political campaigns is to do one of three things to affect the voter: motivate, reinforce and convert. It is also important to understand that a political campaign is not a single event but rather a series of events that shape the voter’s perception of the candidates. The shaping of this perception is a direct result of how the media portrays the candidate and the campaign. Motivate represents those set of individuals who did not intend to vote but have decided to because of a candidate’s campaign. Thus, they have been stimulated to vote for or against a candidate. The reinforced groups are those voters who had already been supporting the candidate and the campaign has reinforced their choice. Lastly the converted voters are those who had been previously supporting another candidate but have been impressed by the opponent’s campaign that they have decided to change their vote. It is here that we will discuss how the media has changed in the last 30 years and how it has influenced the three groups listed above that make up the American voting public. We will review the three main media sources and their affects on voters: television, the internet and print. I feel that the media is the most significant factor in a political campaign. Despite the growth of the internet for campaign news, television remains the public's main source for such information. However, television is not as dominant as at once was: 60% say they get most of their news about the presidential election from television (local, cable and network outlets combined), down from
The purpose of campaigns To understand the role of election campaigns towards the end result it is necessary to understand that two ideas exist. It is believed that the voters decide for their candidate before the campaigning starts, while the others believe that it through active campaigning that voters reach their decision. The purpose of political campaigns is to do one of three things to affect the voter: motivate, reinforce and convert. It is also important to understand that a political campaign is not a single event but rather a series of events that shape the voter’s perception of the candidates. The shaping of this perception is a direct result of how the media portrays the candidate and the campaign. Motivate represents those set of individuals who did not intend to vote but have decided to because of a candidate’s campaign. Thus, they have been stimulated to vote for or against a candidate. The reinforced groups are those voters who had already been supporting the candidate and the campaign has reinforced their choice. Lastly the converted voters are those who had been previously supporting another candidate but have been impressed by the opponent’s campaign that they have decided to change their vote. It is here that we will discuss how the media has changed in the last 30 years and how it has influenced the three groups listed above that make up the American voting public. We will review the three main media sources and their affects on voters: television, the internet and print. I feel that the media is the most significant factor in a political campaign. Despite the growth of the internet for campaign news, television remains the public's main source for such information. However, television is not as dominant as at once was: 60% say they get most of their news about the presidential election from television (local, cable and network outlets combined), down from