The document discusses the influence of mass media on U.S. elections. It notes that while voters see media as influential, they also distrust media coverage and think it focuses too much on trivial issues rather than substantive policy topics. Additionally, media coverage tends to emphasize the "horse race" aspects of elections rather than exploring candidates' positions. The document also examines questions around media bias, the impact of money and transparency in elections, and the rising influence of social media.
3. • More likeable • Seen as out of
personality touch due to
• Killed OBL, ended wealth
Iraq War • Flip-flopper
• Passed healthcare • Seen as having
reform, but will
court overturn it? more economic
• Hasn’t fixed savvy, according
economy or kept to poll. And
many promises economy will be
#1 issue
7. It would be hard to overestimate the
importance of mass media in the
U.S. electoral process. National
television networks reach 99
percent of all American homes,
making contact across the entire
socioeconomic spectrum. Cable
news stations, radio and television
talk shows, newspapers, news
magazines and Internet sites all
provide voters with information
about the candidates. The content
and emphasis of their coverage are
among the most powerful factors in
determining how voters perceive the
candidates and the issues.
8. USA vs. France:
Comparison of people and daily newspapers
France: 65 million people, 80 daily newspapers
USA: 300 million people, 1400 daily newspapers
9. The first president, George
Washington, was afraid to run
for a 2nd term due to the
negative effects of the press.
_________________________
America’s press has always
impacted its elections
________________________
John Quincy Adams blamed the
press for not supporting him
enough when he lost his
presidential reelection bid in
1829.
10. Voters see media as influential
• A Harvard poll of the previous presidential
election found that 82% agree or strongly agree
that media coverage has too much influence on
who Americans vote for
• And, to a large extent, negative coverage appears
to be responsible for this influence;
• 42% say the media has influenced their vote
against a candidate through negative coverage,
while only 28% say it has influenced their vote for
a candidate through positive coverage.
11. But they don’t trust it…
The Harvard poll also
found that 62% of those
surveyed are distrustful
of campaign media
coverage.
12. Media focuses on wrong issues
• 89% agree or strongly agree that the
news media focuses too much on
trivial issues, according to the
Harvard poll.
13. They might be right…
Recently, the big news of the day centered around
dogs. It came out that Mitt Romney tied his crated
dog to the roof of the family car on a vacation …
14. …and that Barack Obama ate dog when he was a
boy living in Jakarta.
Is either fact relevant to the election?
15. Criticism: “Horse race coverage”
Horse race coverage involves news stories
about how successful candidates are
perceived to be doing, what issues they are
winning or losing, and what their next
tactical move will be.
16. Media ignore real issues
Studies have shown that broadcast media
devote most of their coverage to the
competition between the candidates rather
than providing an explanation of issues and the
candidates' stances on them. Eager to attract
viewers, broadcasters focus on dramatic
moments that highlight candidates' mistakes,
attacks on opponents and suggestions of
scandal or problems.
17. Coverage is not in-depth enough
Even when the media do provide campaign
coverage, the candidates may not get much
direct airtime. In an academic study of major
network coverage of the 2000 elections, it was
found that the news reporters talked for 74
percent of the time; only 12 percent of the time
did viewers hear the actual candidates' voices
and, when they did, the sound bite averaged
only 7.8 seconds.
18. BUT, do people even care about issues?
• Many political scientists believe that voters
decide which candidate to vote for based on a
visceral connection – i.e. whom could they see
themselves having a beer with?
• G. Terry Madonna, a political science
professor and pollster at Franklin & Marshall
College, offers a good explanation.
19. Professor Madonna
argues that…
Three conditions are necessary for issue voting
to occur:
(2)a voter must be aware of the issue and
possess some understanding of it;
(3)then a voter must feel some intensity about
the issue;
(4)finally a voter must perceive a difference
among competing candidates on the issue and
vote on the basis of that perception.
20. Professor Madonna says…
• Issue voting thus understood poses a stiff challenge to
the average voter. In short, they must be informed,
feel strongly, and vote consistently on the basis of
their knowledge and feelings. Whew!
• It has been estimated that on average about one in
five voters meets this three-part test--knowledge,
intensity, and voting follow through. They are the true
"issue voters," meaning they are informed on
particular issues, feel strongly about them, and vote on
the basis of their knowledge and feelings.
• So, some 80 percent of the electorate are not "issue
voters" and by any measure that is an overwhelming
proportion of voters. But this does not mean that issue
voting is unimportant in elections.
21. Professor Madonna says…
• First, the obvious arithmetic: roughly 20 percent
of all voters can be decisive in a close election,
and Pennsylvania statewide elections are
typically close.
• Furthermore, some voters really do care about
issues. Polls done by Madonna clearly illustrate
the saliency of issues like the economy,
education, health care, and property taxes.
• And so we seemingly have a paradox. Voters care
about issues--but most of them (80 percent)
aren't issue voters.
22. Another problem: Media is biased
• 77% agree or strongly agree that the news media is
politically biased, according to the Harvard poll
• 55% say media bias is a bigger problem in politics
than big contributions, according to Rasmussen
Reports.
• Rasmussen also found in the past presidential
election: 67 percent of the respondents think most
media members wanted Obama to win. Just 11
percent thought most in the media were for his
opponent, Senator John McCain.
23. And there's strong evidence
to support this…
• In 2008, the Democratic Party received a total
donation of $1,020,816, given by 1,160
employees of the three major broadcast
television networks (NBC, CBS, ABC), while the
Republican Party received only $142,863 via
193 donations, according to Washington Post.
• Historically, 80 percent of news reporters vote
Democrat.
24. Pro-GOP media bias exists, too
Left: Politically conservative shock
jock Rush Limbaugh has the #1 rated
radio show, with more than 15 million
daily listeners.
Right: Fox News Channel is the
top rated cable news network –
ahead of CNN and MSNBC –
and notorious for having a pro-
Republican slant.
25. BUT … people prefer biased media
Academic studies indicate that most voters tend
to seek out and believe information that
reinforces beliefs that they already hold. They
tune in to broadcasters who present a political
viewpoint similar to their own. Two-thirds of the
electorate -- a figure that coincides with the
number of voters who identify with a particular
party -- says that they have made up their minds
before campaigning even begins.
26. First Amendment’s impact on elections
In America, free speech is a core value and the press
faces relatively few restrictions. The founders wanted a
nation “for the people, by the people and of the people.”
Therefore, they believed it was essential to have an
unfettered free press. The press have come to be
viewed as another branch
of government whose role is to
be a watchdog for citizens. But
critics believe the press abuses
its power sometimes…
27. No such thing as privacy
The press will often dig
into a candidate’s
personal life and past. 54
percent of voters believe
such information (such
as Clinton’s affair) speaks
to the candidates’
characters while 46
percent believe it should
be off-limits as it has no
bearing on their ability to
govern.
28. Obama has come under scrutiny for drug use
during high school, while Romney has been accused
of bullying classmates. Should there be a statue of
limitations on teenage transgressions?
29. Recent Supreme Court ruling
In 2010, the U.S.’s high court overturned
campaign spending rules and held that the First
Amendment prohibited the government from
restricting independent political expenditures by
corporations and unions. Critics fear the ruling
will allow special interest groups to unfairly
influence the election.
30. Money wins elections
It’s clear that money counts in U.S. elections.
Since 2000, the average winner in contests for
open House seats has outspent the average
loser by at least $310,000, according to figures
compiled by the nonpartisan Campaign Finance
Institute. In races for open Senate seats, winners
outspent losers, on average, in every year
except 2002.
31. Money used to buy media
• As a way of communicating more directly with
voters, candidates buy television and radio
advertising time. In the 2008 presidential
election, presidential candidates spent $2.4
billion, with about 60 percent of it going to
advertising.
• Many of these ads are negative. See, e.g.,
http://youtu.be/uFQ0OGaoFjQ
32. But, lots of transparency…
• Open records laws allow voters to monitor
who has donated how much to a certain
politician.
• The media and public interest groups also
keep a watchful eye on the campaign money
trail.
• There are easy-to-use websites to look up
donations.
33. Too much transparency?
Unlike France, the U.S. does not have a
two-day blackout of media and campaigning
leading up to
the election
results …
which can
cause
problems
34. In recent years, a controversy has developed
around the media's use of "exit polling," the
media's practice of asking voters as they depart
a polling place how they voted and then using
this information, often based on very small
percentages, to predict a winner. While the exit
polling results, generally, have proven to be
fairly accurate, states on the West Coast, where
voting places close hours after those on the East
Coast, complain that early predictions influence
those who have not yet cast their ballots.
35. Trust in
media &
Congress is
low…
As a result,
many
Americans
think it’s
pointless to
vote.
36. Voter turnout in
U.S. elections since
1960…
•Presidential
elections attract
more voters
•More voters tend to
favor Democrats
•Americans under 35
don’t vote as much as
older
38. Young people don’t follow the
news, so they’re uniformed…
18- to 34-year-olds are not
reading newspapers as often
older generations did
They are also not watching TV
news as often
Some say they get their news
from non-news TV shows
Is America’s
“most trusted
journalist” even
They will read news online, but
a journalist? don’t want to pay for it
40. U.S. youth are facing excessive student debt
burdens, grim job prospects and will likely be the
first generation to have a lower standard of living
than the previous one.
41. Meanwhile, older Americans are receiving
more entitlements from the government than
they paid taxes for – benefits the younger
generations will likely never receive.
46. Social media
• Social networking sites are playing a bigger
role in campaign coverage.
• Facebook helped get young people
(particularly college students) more engaged
in the 2008 election by sponsoring some
presidential debates and promoting it on their
super popular website.
• Many citizen journalists broke stories on their
blogs that the mainstream media overlooked.
47. Social media
• And then there's YouTube’s impact: There’s an
argument to be made that YouTube delivered
the 2006 U.S. Senate elections to the
Democrats.
• Two GOP incumbents, George Allen and
Conrad Burns, went down to defeat after they
came under the attack of embarrassing
YouTube videos.
48. That said, social media is not
Social media the most important medium in
the election. That’s because
people who vote in the U.S.
tend to be older and they’re
not on social networks. Many
of the key “swing states” –
such as Florida and
Pennsylvania – have older
populations. Having a million
Facebook fans or likes means
little if your followers are not
engaged (i.e. voting and
donating money).
49. Social media
• The social media also presents challenges for
journalists.
• Facing a hyper-competitive news environment in
an era when news travels quickly, many
journalists now feel pressured to prioritize speed
over accuracy.
• When covering election news, especially, it
seems riskier for many media outlets to get left
behind than to get it wrong.
• There have been many instances of
misinformation, info taken out of context, etc.
50. • Do most voters vote based on issues or based on
personality?
• To what extent should candidates’ personal lives
and past be off limits?
• Should the press be allowed to report election
results before the polls close? Does the Internet
make it a moot point?
• How can we ensure accuracy in an age where
information spreads as fast as a tweet?
• What can be done to combat voter apathy
among young people – in the U.S. and Europe?