The All American Tour: 2016 Race for Presidency and the Impact of Media

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The media possesses the unique gift of sensationalizing anything and everything. Media coverage is focused on influencing and shaping not only what, but also the way people think about a topic or issue. Look at the above picture; by simply looking at the facial expressions on the candidates captured, what is your take-away? This is just one of countless examples of how the media indirectly or directly influences us.

In politics, who doesn’t have an agenda? Media also uses agendas. “Agenda setting,” is defined as the way the media sets an agenda and how media coverage influences what people think about. (Schneider, et al., 2012) Three aspects of agenda setting are important to consider: public agenda, “issues that the public thinks are important,” policy agenda, “issues that government officials and policy makers think are important”, and media agenda, “issues that the media covers extensively.” (Schneider, et al., 2012) Media has a profound impact on influencing the hearts and minds of people.

How will this impact the presidential race in 2016? With the recent undermining of political pic 3Hilary and her notorious “private email account” – Ted Cruz “blacklisted and loving it” – the republican game changer, political pic 2and Ben Carson – brain surgeon to political pic 4politician, I would argue that this campaign will be tough for anyone to completely escape the media frenzy that has already begun.

 

 

 

 

Based on the availability heuristic the impact media will have on people during the upcoming election, I predict, will be profound. It will be interesting to analyze the correlation between; what the media projects, what issues are brought to the forefront and what people actually recall, when they ultimately decide to cast their vote.  Political priming will also play a huge role in this election. With an array of issues, from health care reform, to counter-terrorism, the economy, job market, immigration and military engagements all having a blaring importance in the hearts of our nation, how will the candidates respond and perform? How will the media impact our viewpoint? The negative effects the media has had on our government have been significant. Statistically, the confidence people have in political institutions and government leadership has plummeted from 75% in 1964 to a mere 25% in 2000. (Schneider, et al., 2012) political pic 5In 2016, what will those statistics show? These numbers are pathetic at best. How will this lack of confidence and trust in our government impact elections?

The emergence of social and digital media has forever changed the political battlefield and the wars are already being waged. As we examine the impact and influence of media, it is predicted that social and digital media will have a significant role in the 2016 election, more so than ever before.   In a recent article discussing the current social media impacts Brian Hughes of the Washington Examiner states, “while a metric might sound trivial, it carries weight in two areas that matter a great deal in winning campaigns: data and engagement. The greater the reach of a candidate on social media, the more information they have at their disposal on potential voters.” (Hughes, 2015)

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Social psychologists could ultimately play a critical role in the upcoming election by advising and consulting strategists on media coverage and campaign framing during the upcoming presidential race. Strategy framing and issue framing will be heavily relied upon during the upcoming race. Media has the ability to influence what issues the public should view as important and has the ability to alter their interpretation of those issues. Media also has the ability to create cynicism, influence judgment, and undermine candidates or promote them.

Works Cited:

Schneider, F., Gruman, J., & Coutts, L. (2012). Chapter 7: Applying Social Psychology to the Media. Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems (2nd ed., pp. 135-163). Los Angeles: Sage.

Hughes, B. (2015, February 6). Social media war begins for GOP 2016 hopefuls | WashingtonExaminer.com. Retrieved March 8, 2015, from http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/social-media-war-begins-for-gop-2016-hopefuls/article/2559880

 

1 comment

  1. Anthony D Ferrono

    I would have to agree that the media plays a huge role in the presidential candidacy. This is because the media tries to sway voters for or against their respective candidates in order to produce or retract votes. In today’s society the media is the forefront for news, information and persuasion due to its availability on TV and smart phones. (Schneider et. al, 2012) referred to this as Agenda Setting, which is the way the media presents information to produce conclusions for voters. This plays a huge role in the presidential race because uneducated voters will buy into what the media says, thus swaying their votes. This is an effective tool because most voters know very little about the candidates running, but rather vote for the candidate that falls into their political view, republican or democrat. This is a flaw in our system because for the voters who know very little about the candidates can be swayed by the media on their voting decision, whether the information given to them is factual or not.
    I would also agree with you that most politicians have a certain agenda, whether they bring it to light or not.

    You stated that a mere 25% of our population believe in the political government to do what they say they would do while running for presidency (Schneider et al, 2012). This is an alarming number because we as a nation should feel safe and confident with our political leaders, but due to falsified claims I have to say that I cant blame citizens for feeling this way. According to (DellaVigna ,Kaplan 2007) “the media plays a key role in shaping these preferences and beliefs. It collects, summarizes, and frames the information that voters use in their voting decisions. As a result, many have expressed concern that political beliefs may be systematically manipulable by the media. Media slant may bias voters, and hence bias the policy decisions”. This proves that the media has a direct effect on the outcome of the political race. Concerns of this type are relevant in the U.S. given that over 70 percent of Americans believe that there is a great deal or a fair amount of media bias in news coverage (Pew, 2004). These examples prove that the media has a direct effect on the outcome of the presidential and political races in our country. This is a disturbing truth that proves that we as voters need to self educate ourselves before the media corrupts and sways our decision.

    DellaVigna, Stefano and Ethan Kaplan. “The Fox News Effect: Media Bias and Voting”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2007
    Schneider, F., Gruman, J., & Coutts, L. (2012). Chapter 7: Applying Social Psychology to the Media. Applied social psychology: Los Angeles: Sage.

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