Samuel Hopkins from UCSD article, “The Reasoning Voter”, reflects upon the use of media in the world of politics. Hopkins introduces the argument of whether the use of media in politics is more helpful towards a campaign or an easier way to give the people what they want to hear without the long speeches and future promises. We try to find a balance between giving the facts and finding a true fit for certain political position while involving the people and giving us an idea of what is to come.…
References: Bazalgette, P. (2010), The influence of television on the general election. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/may/10/television-general-election. [Electronically accessed 24th December, 2010.]…
The amount of air time Donald Trump received on the campaign may have been more than most candidates experience during their campaigns. Donald Trump’s face was consistently on the minds of millions because of the news and most social media platforms. This allowed people to have easy access to information on where Trump stands on many issues and what policies he wants to implement. Interesting to note, a political researcher by the name of James N. Druckman, wrote a paper on the effects of image by the medium television and how people’s mentalities shifts. In the results section of his paper, he…
In 1860, the public were eager to listen to Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas debate for several hours; however, since television is centered around entertainment, most of today’s public focus on the presidential nominees criticizing each other, attending talk shows, and posting pictures on social media. For example, after an hour-long democratic debate, the media and social media erupted about Bernie Sander’s “burn” against Hillary Clinton. Most people do not even know what the debate was about. Also, “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” and “Saturday Night Live” often make fun of the presidential nominees. Americans love these talk shows, catchy news headlines, and blowups in social media, but, simultaneously, television is mitigating the seriousness of the presidential election. Television forces Americans to think lightly of the presidential election, which ultimately affects the way citizens vote. In today’s society, citizens are more likely to vote for a presidential candidate based on their looks or humorousness than in the 1800’s. Altogether, television has blinded Americans about the seriousness of the presidential…
THE influence of technology on the United States presidential elections is an on going debate among candidates and voters. "Has technology, such as the television, made elections more accessible, or has it moved candidates from pursuing issues, to pursuing image?" Television has pressured presidential candidates to succeed in the presentation of their image, instead of pursuing issues important to the well being of America, as a democratic nation.…
There is numerous ways television has impacted an election in a positive way. Based on the article, written by Hilary Parkinson, former president Kennedy “took a leap in the polls after the [televised] debate”(4). While many people say that the candidate’s morals are what get them elected, without watching the television the voters will become clueless about what the candidate’s morals are. The television gives the citizens of the United States a chance to listen to the candidates’ opinions to be able to elect a new leader. Former president Kennedy agrees that “it [is] TV more than anything else that [turns] the tide”(4). Television gives the voters a chance to see the candidate’s body language. Because the citizens witnessed Kennedy’s body language and facial features, Kennedy won the election. Clearly, television may have a positive impact on a candidate’s campaign.…
While I do agree that Americans are ignorant of politics, I disagree that television is the major factor for people's cluelessness to politics and the government. Television is no longer the first thing that people go to to check their news. Nowadays social media is all over the place, on people's phones, on their laptops, etc., and with all these media surrounding the public there is bound to be some biased information concerning certain topics, like politics. Many websites would include biased information in order to get the viewer to agree with their way of thinking, and most people are too lazy to research other sites to confirm if the site is credible or not. These biased websites can either make the ignorant citizens more clueless concerning…
Today in a world so populated by information in the media, candidates in high profile elections are able to place favorable biased information directly from television sets in front of a large percentage of the American demographic (Source D). Distracting messages appear in both advertisements and in one-on-one live debates mixed in with other entertainment in the same experience (Source B). Some of the people who would receive these are not the type to study candidate issue profiles under a microscope. They grab the information offered that appeals to their emotions and sympathies, such information that might have little or nothing to do with how a presidential candidate will decide how to vote. Such people go to their ballots with intent to vote for a candidate that will not act in their best interests. When people are focused on appearance and likeability, which take a front seat in television programming, they are not doing themselves any favor and are skewing the electoral process which is the basis of freedom in our country (Source C). It is absolutely un-American to negligently broadcast these messages over such a format of television.…
There has been much discussion about how mass media presents and can determine the outcome of presidential elections. The media has been accused of focusing on subjects such as the politician's personal life and their characteristics rather than looking at the political issues of the election. The voter's views can also be altered by political advertisements that do not focus on issues. This can cause the voters to believe that certain issues are important when in reality they are trivial concerns. Elections often become popularity contests because of the polling that is done by newspapers and TV news programs prior to the actual voting. Politicians then can have a difficult time guiding voter's opinions on their concerns.…
Mr. Trump’s campaign wouldn’t be possible without television. Not only because of the coverage, worth hundreds of millions of dollars he has enjoyed, but also because of the reality show “The Apprentice,” on which he was host, judge and prize. From there, he began associating his image with the idea that financial problems could be resolved easily, authoritatively, in one hour of television. His campaign is also like that. To him, democracy is a reality show contest.…
this year. The scary statistic that follows in the same survey: 72% of those participants found that social media was only somewhat credible. So why does this matter so much as an issue? Well there are multiple reasons, but to start, in pertaining to the same survey conducted 60% of participants stated that they felt at least some influence on their opinion on issues and topics such as this year’s presidential election from their peers. These candidates focus on winning the affection of millennials. Millennials are the largest population of people in the United States, and winning these votes over could mean the difference in winning the election. As Companies use social media to promote and boast their products the same goes for presidential…
Campaigning has become such an extreme focal point that it's bringing attention away from the people in the process. A huge example I can provide is the standstill that the…
While the media and its bias have had an effect on elections for decades, in the more recent elections its influence has increased exponentially. With the development of new technologies, the media has expanded and its presence has become very major. The media nowadays plays a key role in our everyday lives. It has become so important to us that it has started to affect us, the human race, negatively, especially during the most recent election, the election of 2016.…
Since the 1990’s, president candidates have used the media in order to gain an advantage in their campaigns. Two such examples are their use of leaking information to the press, or seeking contributions through political action committees (PACS) and Super PACS. Leaking information to the press is known normally as a trial balloon. If a candidate’s management feels the need to break a story out and test the waters of the public’s reaction in order to change a policy under consideration, they would have a campaign worker intentionally give a reporter an “off the record” interview or quote on how the candidate feels. These trial balloons would almost always be leaked later in the workweek so that the press can come up with an agenda on how they would want to play out the story on the upcoming week.…
of a political campaign, to hit hardest at those who are in power or running…