Determining the impact of the news media on a candidate’s political success or campaign can be difficult. The left-wing candidates always accuse the media of being controlled by the right wing, while the right wing candidates like to say that the left wing is mostly in control of the government. Traditional thinking, on the other hand, puts governmental control in the hands of the left wing (Dilliplane et al 239). Political campaigns are often shaped by those who are ready or willing to interact with the political candidate, and presidential debates and campaigning is quite important for success on the presidential level.
Cary seems to think that one of the main reasons that news is contributing more significantly to partisan politics in recent years is because people have many more options when the Internet is available to them. These individuals can find groups of like-minded people, who are not afraid to form a community and bond over the adherence to certain ideas. One of the important thing about televised news is that content providers have to try to hook people more readily with this kind of content; once an individual user has begun to use the Internet, the individual is already more set in their beliefs and is more willing to adhere to them through a small challenge (Cary). For news media, choice is an important part of programming; this interesting relationship between the news media and the customer is part of what builds the foundation of the research question. Perhaps political candidates are driven by the news media and the needs of the client, but they are also formed by the whims and agendas of the news media as a whole (Cary). In 2008, the media chose to portray Barack Obama as a beacon of hope due to his young age and his message; President Obama took this image and ran with it, and his campaign created the iconic “hope” poster that became so ubiquitous. Without the participation of the news media, it is likely his campaign would have gone another direction.
I think that the goal of the news media is to create a spectacle and to encourage longevity for the company. To reach these goals, different news media organizations have begun to deal with politics differently in the United States. Some of these organizations are very hands-on with their attempts to govern candidate behavior. However, I also believe that news media organizations will only choose candidates to support when the candidate makes sense intellectually; it keeps the candidate from straying too far from the ideological path that will eventually end up supporting the media. If the media were to stop supporting a candidate, then that candidate’s ratings would be likely to fall; indeed, media is often accused of bias when elections are occurring. However, allowing the media to control the campaign of a politician is actually a dangerous thing: when the media controls the issues, sometimes the needs and interests of the average citizen are lost.
In the United States, media is a business. Whether or not this is a positive statement remains to be seen; the media business is incredibly powerful, and has ties to every community. Although the Internet has changed the role of the media business insofar as role is concerned, there is no feasible argument that media has somehow become less powerful or less controlling the current political environment. In 2008, Barack Obama was really able to mobilize the younger vote using social media; it seems as though Bernie Sanders has been able to do something quite similar with the young Democratic vote.
Works Cited
Cary, Mary. "5 Ways New Media Are Changing Politics". US News & World Report. N. p., 2010. Web. 8 Feb. 2016.
Dilliplane, Susanna, Seth K. Goldman, and Diana C. Mutz. "Televised exposure to politics: New measures for a fragmented media environment." American Journal of Political Science 57.1 (2013): 236-248.
