‘Mass media’ as defined by Merriam means, “the main means of mass communication (broadcasting, publishing, and the Internet) regards collectively.” Media plays a major role in the world we live in because it can be and is associated with many of our daily tasks. It is used in classrooms for educational purposes and living rooms for entertainment purposes. It has become a primary source of information for people all around the world. Mass media controls how the public creates and shapes opinions.
Influence on Politics
Over the past couple of decades, politics has evolved and is drastically different then it was in the past. There are many reasons to what caused this change but one that continues to affect politics is the media. Mass media – print and electronic – has played a major role in society as it is a primary source of information for the public. This role comes with the power to influence public opinion.
Biases in News Channels
Cable news has been and is still for many, a primary source of information about issues around the country and world. When television news shows were first introduced, they struggled to compete with radio and newspapers because they did not have on-the-scene live reporting. It wasn’t until the Kennedy-Nixon election when people started to prefer news channels over print and radio. In the 1970s, cable news began to work towards reaching new audiences and getting viewers to come back and watch them every day/night. Channels added teams (anchors for different segments), logos, and music, and chit chat among the team members. They wanted to connect with viewers and build a relationship. Another way they connected with their viewers was by reporting political stories with biases. Viewers with similar ideologies tend to watch channels with match their biases furthering polarization in the public’s opinion on politics. According to research done by Gregory J. Martin and Ali Yurukoglu:
There are “increasing effects of FNC on the Republican vote share in presidential elections over time, from 0.46 points in 2000 to 6.34 points in 2008. Furthermore, we estimate that cable news can increase polarization and explain about two-thirds of the increase among the public in the US, and that this increase depends on both a persuasive effect of cable news and the existence of tastes for like-minded news.”
Viewers who are not committed on a certain party tend to be more susceptible to influence on who to vote for. When channels like Fox are reporting on an election, they might bash the democratic candidates and viewers will be influenced and also bash the democratic candidates. It creates this tunnel vision for viewers unaware of the bias.
Using Media as an Upper Hand
Politicians who know how to use the media as a tool have the upper hand to influence the public. They use media to develop a brand/image they send to connect with the country. On example of this is President Franklin Roosevelt’s ‘Fireside Chats’, conversations over the radio with listeners to sooth the pain and stress that can during the economic depression and war. Another major example is the Kennedy-Nixon Presidential Debate. It was the first time a presidential debate was broadcasted on television. People who were listening to the debate on the radio thought Nixon had such a good argument that he was a sure win. But those who tuned in to CBS to watch the debate on television were able to watch the candidate’s social cues – it appeared that Nixon was avoiding gazes which didn’t sit well with the public because he was already known as ’Trick Dick’. Meanwhile, Kennedy stared directly as the cameras giving off this sense of confidence. Kennedy wore makeup that day so he would look good on camera, but Nixon said no. He knew how to brand himself well — as a confident and handsome candidate. Viewers could vision him in office and well, they eventually did. The Kennedy-Nixon Debate demonstrates the effect of media and how if used properly how it can influence public opinion.
Social Media – The Rise or Fall of Politics
Social Media as some pros and cons associated with the role it plays in politics. In recent years we, as a society, have seen more politicians using social media has another platform to promote their campaigns and communicate to the masses. Take Hillary Clinton as an example.
.@HillaryClinton fixed your logo for you. pic.twitter.com/141nXHQe4Z
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) August 11, 2015
During the 2016 election, she used Twitter to advertise her stance on student debt: “$1.2 trillion, the amount 40 million Americans owe in student debt.” Jeb Bush, another presidential candidate, replied to her tweet with a similar graphic but altered information: “100%, The increase in student debt under this Democratic White House.” After that, they both went back and forth arguing and trolling on each other’s account. This can be seen as how social media made the political climate a mockery. I am not even going to go into the mess of tweets from President Trump’s account. But that is just an example of the cons. Some pros of social media’s role in politics are that it allowed people to see more diverse views which led to an increase in the number of people who voted. “Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg said that Facebook helped more than 2 million people register to vote.”
Over the past decades, politics in America has changed for what can be seen as the better or worse. I found that the media’s control over shaping public opinion has grown and is now being used as a tool in politics. There are so many more cases of the media’s influence that I did not get into. The percentage of the public that is uninformed or not committed to a certain view must remain aware of media’s influence before choosing certain sides.
Source:
http://www.ushistory.org/gov/5d.asp
https://web.stanford.edu/~ayurukog/cable_news.pdf
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/a-look-at-tv-news-history-over-the-past-50-years-2315217
https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/kennedy-nixon-debates
https://www.npr.org/2016/11/08/500686320/did-social-media-ruin-election-2016
It does pain me to say that politics and media have become a bit of a catastrophe where even elected officials are making memes to try to discredit their constituents. I do believe that media is important in today’s age and that politics should reflect that. However, the fact that is has become so spread apart in its rhetoric it is hard to know what is what anymore. Maybe if our elected officials could put down their Twitter for a second (I think you know who I’m referring to) maybe respect could return to politics.
It is scary to think that people are choosing who will represent us based on what someone tweets or posts on social media. The fact that now social media is able to show ads and images of things that the viewer would be interested in can cause society to be even more oblivious to the opposing sides and be able to fully understand the situation. I think this topic is really relevant to a day and age where the choice of our president was affected by what was portrayed in media. It is hard to pick apart gossip and it is easy to believe in something that may not be the full truth. I am interested to see what different examples you will be presenting us with.
Arwa Hararwala
Even the first case of televised politics was what I would categorize as a tool. I’m sure you remember learning about the famous Nixon-JFK debate in history classes. The fact that people claim one won over the other via simply watching and listening is crazy. That incident was foreshadowing to what we have now as political media. I think now it’s clearly up to viewer preferences. There are two obvious sides, and everyone else. The media has become way too engulfed in politics. There are other major global events occurring, yet they don’t get air time. That’s sad, and it needs to change. Thanks for the insightful read!
This is definitely a topic that can go in a lot of different directions. I really liked how you include the ideological map, it really gives more context to where media outlets stand as well as how dangerous political “echo chambers” can be. The political cartoon you provided is really effective because the winner in elections often comes down to who can manipulate the media the best as seen in the last few elections. It’s becoming a bigger and bigger problem with people misusing twitter or not taking it seriously enough. It’ll be interesting to see how this civic issue evolves as our society does.