Preview

Role of Media in Politics

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
5070 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Role of Media in Politics
The Influence of the Media in Politics, Campaigns and Elections - Yaho...

http://voices.yahoo.com/the-influence-media-politics-campaigns-and-6...

Voices Entertainment History Auto Business Creative Writing Politics Health Home Improvement Lifestyle News Sports Tech Travel

Sign in

Sign up

Mail

All Categories

Opinion and Editorial

The Influence of the Media in Politics, Campaigns and Elections
Laura Lane, Yahoo! Contributor Network Nov 14, 2007 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here." Media Bias Mass Media News Media Political Campaigns Political Views Flag Post a comment

Related Results Buy Social Media Success
Get your place in social media with more fans and followers!
SociallyRed.com

DIY Link Building In 2013
Free Link Building Yourself.Modern seo Method. Don't pay SEO Companies.
SEOTipsBlog.com

MORE:

Free Worldwide Job Site
Search Millions Of Jobs From Company Sites, Job Boards And the Web www.primoh.com Sponsored Results

The Influence and Relationship of the Media in Politics, Campaigns and Elections - In an age of timeliness and demand for information, the media plays a crucial role in informing the public about politics, campaigns and elections. But while the public demands information from the media, there is also an underlying cynicism in the American culture against the media and politicians for negative campaign coverage and a perceived media bias. What is often missed is the influence the government has on the media, and equally, the influence the media has on the government. Additionally, the media helps influence what issues voters should care about in elections and what criteria they should use to evaluate candidates. There is a cyclical relationship between the media, the influence in communicating to voters what issues are important and less of an influence in convincing them what to think about those issues. The media works more effectively by placing a spotlight on certain issues they feel

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Social Media Bias

    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages

    For instance, many media outlets are seeking economic gain instead of seeking the truth. Daniel Sutter illustrates this point in his research, showing how the media is focused on generating revenue (402). Consequently, the media is encouraging bias in order to attract and maintain a loyal following and source of revenue. In fact, through the use of the internet, alternative news sources are able to produce news that is usually “not fact-checked or is simply false” (The President and the Press 21). In order to stay competitive many mainstream sources are then forced to publish more biased articles. This increase in the publication of biased articles among mainstream sources is now allowing the media to clarify the facts and then formulate the facts into opinions. All in all, this is greatly affecting politics by forcing citizens to rely on the media to form their opinions (Perse 82). For example, Gregory Martin and Ali Yurukoglu reveal how the increase of bias in the media creates a polarization in the political parties (37). As noted by Martin and Yurukoglu, “the increase in polarization depends critically on the existence of both a persuasive effect and a taste for like-minded news” (4). They also observed that by watching certain news sources like “FNC increases the probability of voting Republican in presidential elections” (Martin and Yurukoglu 37). Beyond that there are several examples of the media affecting political decisions. In particular the birther issue of Obama’s 2008 election showed how a blatant lie spread by the press caused many voters to reconsider their decision (Lewandowsky 118). In brief, the media is seeking greater success and therefore misinforming many…

    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The effect that the media has on voters can be extremely diverse. From entirely formulating an opinion to strengthening an existing one, the media has the ability to do both but not to every type of individual. In order to understand how various citizens are influenced by media messages, Philip Converse et al. (1966) separated voters into three distinct groups: those with the highest levels of political awareness and understanding, those with the lowest levels and those of moderate understanding. In alignment with this, Graber (1984) theorised that a voter’s predispositions are the vital determinant when examining how effectively the media’s messages can sway opinions. It is therefore voters’ prior knowledge and understanding of political happenings that formulates the foundation for their decisions and thus their naivety of such happenings that allows them to be swayed by media messages.…

    • 1365 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    As the burgeoning cyberspace world is overruling the declining newsprint circulation, previously unheard opinions are able to participate in public debate that was once dominated by the media elites. As more voices are being heard, charges of media bias have never been more profound then they are today. Americans form opinions based on what they hear and see and to a lesser extent, read. Therefore, journalists shouldn't make slanted coverage about central issues like the war in Iraq, or the presidential campaign. Doing so could help citizens cast informed votes and make knowledgeable decisions on matters of public policy and doing so is vital to American democracy that news and other media be fair and unbiased.…

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Media Bias In Politics

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Not only is the media biased in sports, but the bias seems to be more recognizable in politics. A rule of thumb, never debate religion and politics. Both topics will most likely end with some form of physical or verbal altercation. After working for the same company for the last decade, our breakrooms always show the Fox News channel. They seem to be bias with anything related to politics. No matter if the situation is good or bad, they always are in favor of Republican Party. The Democratic Party could find a way end world hunger and Fox News will be one of the first news channels to make mockery the Democratic Party for winning the battle of world hunger.…

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    * Media has been criticized for covering campaigns as it were a horserace and therefor neglects candidates’ positions on substantive policy issues in favor of stories about campaign strategies, tactics, and personalities. Includes poll stories that makes the primary focus on who is winning and who is losing…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In previous elections throughout the years the media has found so many ways to impact each election. With the many advances of technology continues to have there will only be more opportunities for the media to influence the people. Especially with so many people having easy access to television whether it be from their mobile phones to the television in the living room. With the recent election, our 45th president it is crucial for the people to know where the influence comes from. The media is the main influence during elections. Television specifically has impacted presidential elections negatively.…

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    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.…

    • 1298 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Presidential Candidates

    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The media plays an important role in the campaign because the media announces where the candidates are going to be, the media talks about candidate’s history. The media can make or break them because the media will dig up any little flaw in their past before running in the election; candidates are stepping on eggshells during the campaign because the media will expose them in a positive but even more in a negative way. But all in all they need the media for national exposure.…

    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The impact of Video- a picture or a video can only capture so much about a certain story…

    • 1909 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Usually, people enjoy watching TV to learn what are happening and being issued. Also, it helps people to know trending information. Especially, near the Election Day, mass media shows many contents including about elections. Candidates intensively begin election campaigns through diverse mass media. Some candidates directly introduce themselves in the open-air to the citizens and some candidates inform their political plans through interviews in TV programs, news. Because each candidate boast and stress only their own plans, people are likely to tend to be sided. Moreover, each broadcasting company is connected to one candidate in real press field, so each broadcaster…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The mass media communication industry is a multi-billion business. On average, American people watch about 1,550 hours of television, listen about 1,200 hours of radio and spend about 180 hours reading newspapers each year. In 1990s, as the innovation of computer and the Internet started to spread around the world, Internet usage has grown rapidly to play an important role on citizens’ public life. In 2012, the US citizens have spent almost as many hours online as they watch television. Given our media-saturated lives, it is likely to generate most of our attitudes a result of media consumption. Early empirical studies of mass media influence called “agenda setting”, done by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw in the 1960s, claimed that “media are able to shape the contents of what the public thinks about specific political figures and events, as well as the importance they assign to specific types of politics and positions.” As a consequence of the awareness of media influence, during 2012 presidential campaign, President Obama and Mitt Romney spent about $2 billion on TV advertising, making it the most expensive election in the US history. Also, the amount of Internet advertising spent on presidential election has increased from $22 million to $159 million from 2008-2012, thereby ensuring most of the online users to see political ad popping up on every website we visit. With so much money spent on political campaign, we have to consider a question that how powerful are the media in actually shaping and changing our attitudes? To further examine the effect of media on public opinion of presidential election, two categories are considered regarding the influence of media: traditional mass media like TV, film, and political advertisement and Internet social media.…

    • 1253 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Media Bias In Elections

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages

    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.…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mass Media Bias

    • 2152 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Some claim that the press has a liberal bias. Others conclude that the press shows a conservative bias. Still others do not see any notable partisan bias. In a classic study conducted in the 1980’s, researchers found that media producers, editors, and reporters (the “media elite”) exhibited a notably liberal and “left leaning” bias in their news coverage. Since then, the contention that the media has a liberal bias has been repeated time and again. In contrast, some journalists argue that the media has, on the whole, a conservative bias. They claim that unwarranted perception of a liberal bias has intimidated the media into presenting the more conservative opinions. They find that conservative bias is the strongest in the media’s coverage in economic issues. They also observe that the almost complete dominance of talk radio by conservatives has given the political right an outlet that the political left cannot counter. Others see the media as biased toward the “status quo,” meaning that the media are biased toward supporting corporate America and its aims. This group believes that the press tends to downplay the complaints made by people who are seen as being on the fingers of the political spectrum, especially on the left. Still others contend that the media are biased against “losers.” For example, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, concludes that if there is a bias in the press, it is not a partisan bias but a bias against losers. A candidate who falls behind in a race is immediately labeled a “loser,” making it even more difficult for that candidate to regain favor in the voters’ eyes. Calvin F. Exoo has offered yet another theory. In his study f politics in the media, he concluded that journalists are constrained by both the…

    • 2152 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Media is simply a way to communicate information from person to person. The media has a major responsibity in that it shapes many people's beliefs and opinions. The media is responsible for what you see on television or in movies. It's also responsible for what you hear in music.…

    • 1546 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    (1) Bias by commission which is, “a pattern of passing along assumptions or error that tend to support a left-wing or liberal view.” (2) Bias by omission which is “ignoring facts that tend to disprove liberal or left-wing claims, or that support conservative beliefs.” (3) Bias by story selection which is “a pattern of highlighting new stories that coincide with the agenda of the Left while ignoring stores that coincide with the agenda of the Right.” (4) Bias by placement which is “a patter of placing news stories so as to downplay information supportive of conservative news.” (5) Bias by the selection of sources which is “Including more sources in a story who support one view over another. This bias can also be seen when a reporter uses such phrases as "experts believe," "observers say," or "most people think.”” (6) Bias by spin which is “emphasizing aspects of a policy favorable to liberals without noting aspects favorable to conservatives; putting out the liberal interpretation of what an event means while giving little or no time or space to explaining the conservative interpretation.” (7) Bias by labeling which is “attaching a label to conservatives but not to liberals.” (8) Bias by policy recommendation or condemnation which is “when a reporter goes beyond reporting and endorses the liberal view of which policies should be enacted, or affirms the liberal criticism of current or past policies.” I…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays