A Comparison of and Contrasting of role of two politicians in the media eye - Essay Example

Running Head: Media and Politics Paper A Comparison of and Contrasting of role of two politicians in the media eye. Media has largely been viewed as the fourth estate complementing the three conventional government arms which are the legislature, executive and judiciary. The role of media in society is very critical and crucial to the social, political, economic and other societal dimensions. Media disseminates culture as societies derive values from supper structure, those in helm of societies, in Karl Marx's perspectives and parlance. Street John (1997) notes that the unrestricted flow of credible political happenings and developments is essential for the public's discerning of politics, the generation of what is called public opinion as well as the involvement of the public in all aspects of the entirety of the political process. He further notes that the independence of media from political meddling and the essence of media as the way they play their political roles, the manner in which media is subjected to pressures from the commercial systems that fund the media entities as well as the decisiveness of the government in supplying information all have a great deal to do with the maturity of democracy and the propagation of public opinion driven societies. The functionalities of media have made it a vulnerable tool subjected to use and albeit abuse by those in power bent on swaying public opinion and influencing popular opinion on individuals and issues among other things. In these perceptions premise, the paper presents a comparative exploration of the role of two politicians in the media eye. The paper will also take a significant thrust in examining the coverage of two politicians and exploring their images as portrayed in various mainstream media. The thrust of the paper will also entail the ways in which the media and or the politicians attempt to manipulate the images of them as generated by the media. For the objectives of the exercise, two political figures who are the 2008 USA Presidential election candidates Republic John McCain and Democrat Barrack Obama will be used. The 2008 US presidential campaign trail is historic from various dimensions. The campaigned has pitted sitting Senators yet the most remarkable aspects of the campaign are based on the fact that after the election US will have either the first Black American president or a woman as vice president. The election campaign has drawn most media coverage surpassing previous presidential election drives. The paper will make an observation of extracts and nuances form mainstream and global media channels like Cable News Net Work (CNN) and the British Broadcasting Network (BBC) and various online news interfaces to examine the images of the two politicians that have been carved and explore the ways in which media and the political figures have to attempted to manipulate the images created of them. CNN is one of the leading global news channels and has had a significant bearing on the image creation and dissemination of the US presidential candidates. It is worth mentioning from the onset that CNN were the 8th largest sponsors to the sitting President George W. Bush in his 2004 Campaign. Nonetheless it may be presented that mainstream media have tended to playing to a perceived public sentiment that the Bush administration has failed the electorate on various issues and hence the unpopularity of the Republican election ticket regardless of who the actual individuals and their polices are. Many media channels have largely portrayed the democrat candidate Barrack Obama in manner of glossing over his possible nomination as historic development in American politics demonstrating the American society commitment to values of racial reform and egalitarianism. CNN has always hammered the nuances of 'historic' ticket aspect that Obama's candidature is. Besides the presenting of Obama's ticket as historic development, CNN has captured various political and economic analyses from some 'independent' and some partisan analysts who have portrayed Obama's rival John McCain economic and political policy propositions as mere clones of the largely unpopular and failed George Bush polices. David Limbaugh (2008) notes that Obama has dominated the lead mark in the research polls largely because the mainstream media are promoting the democratic campaign which is branded the "The Change We need". The foregoing can be further substantiated by the instances when news channels like CNN have moved swiftly to nullify negative campaigning articulated by rival camp of republicans. CNN recently moved swiftly to debunk unsubstantiated reports that the democratic candidate Obama was educated in a radical Moslem institution kwon as "mandrasa". The global news channel reported that the coverage that democrat was educated in the named school was inaccurate. While this can be perceived as journalistic duty of informing the public accurately and shedding better light on issues as well as validating or nullifying speculation, the move by CNN can be viewed as an engendered plot to protect the image of Obama as a harmless individual fit to for presidency. The move by CNN was in reaction to another seemly engendered stunt by American Insight magazine which reported that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had obtained impeccable information implicating Obama as a suspicious Muslim alleging that the democrat went through a school known for its Moslem fundamentalist teachings. From another perspective Obama Barrack has used the negative campaign ads crafted by the Republican camp to demonstrate John McCain's perceived lack of focus on political and economic ideology and other key issues on the part of the republican election manifesto and campaign drive. Media analyst Groeling findings in his research around media bias substantiate the notion that to a certain extent most media activity has been pro-democrats in the coverage of the 2008 presidential election campaign. Groeling (2008) gathered data from presidential approval polling news entities, the ABC, CBS, NBS and Fox News, His findings imply that with different extents of statistical significance CBS, NBC and ABC showed what Groeling has termed a pro-Democrat bias. The scholar points out that, "CBS was 35 % less probable to report a five-point drop in approval for Bill Clinton than a similar rise in approval and was 33 percent more likely to report a five-point drop than a rise for George W. Bush." From another angle Groeling's research findings suggest that FOX News has a pro-Republican bias. In his research report Edwards, Richard L. et al, (2004) cites Groeling who points out that the news agency's Special Report program was 67 percent less probable to present an increase in endorsements for Clinton than a decline and 36 percent more likely to report the increase rather than the decrease for Bush. These findings circumstantiated the undeniable existence of media bias on the part of their disposition to certain political figures relatable to the images they carve of them out what they choose to publish or not , on political figures. Media specialist Robert Lichter (2008) has also had significant and valuable contributions on the matter of media bias particularly on the images propagated of Obama barrack and John McCain. His analyses are based on television news and feature transcripts. He has presented that 72 percent of the extracts in TV news clips on Obama during the campaign trail have been remarkably negative while another 57 percentage of the news accounts on McCain have also been negative. It is also important to take note of the way in which the two political figures have manipulated the images carved of them in mainstream media. In handling the representations of Obama as "popular" reformer reviving the 1960s spirit of pursuing the American Dream, John McCain used ad campaigns to paint Obama as substance lacking "celebrity". He enlikened Obama to various Hollywood celebrities. McCain used this angle as way of reinforcing that Obama is a novice in politics especially on key matters of national security and economic development. Perceivably the McCain campaign has deteriorated into a drive of negative campaign. Obama has also cashed in on the archiles hill of McCain's lack of focus on pertinent issues like paradigmatic shift in foreign policy with particular regards to the unpopular and costly Iraq war as well as the ailing US economy which has seen a plunge of global stock markets. Obama has hammered the aspect of McCain's ineptitude in opting for negative campaigning instead of addressing key issues. To a significant extent, the media as well the candidates themselves; through crafting campaign ads, have manipulated the estate of media to sway public opinion. Vivian B. Martin et al, (2008) have taken note of the proportions to which news on Obama seem to dominate the front page on various news publications. The scholars cite Groeling observations on that the precincts of news making as well as the professional definitions and editing can not be excluded in attempts to explore the dynamics of the "Disproportionate front-page coverage of Obama". Vivian B. Martin et al, (2008) contend, "What obtains quiet often is this penchant for everyone to start seeing things the same way," Elizabeth Skews (2007) brings a rather media-defense perspective in articulating that, "The interaction of campaign activity, journalistic standards and pressures from competitive editors render it impossible for different structures of issues and individuals (candidates) to find themselves on the front page breaking news evenly". She further asserts that Journalists may harbor political prejudices but that might not necessarily be the basis and reason for the way in which the news are presented. Think tank Liebling A.J (2005) has aptly put it that "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." There are dissonances and concurrences largely on the perception that media is inevitably subject to manipulation by those who own them and those who in some direct or indirect way exert one form of influence or another. Contention surrounds the nature and characteristics of the bias that is identifiable in the function and roles played by media in societies although there is wide consensus that political bias does exist in media. The Business and Financial news agency Money Morning has published various finance and economic articles articulating that McCain policies will not be same as those of his predecessors George W. Bush if he is elected president. The media entity is clearly playing to the Republicans campaigning of painting Senator McCain as a reformer who embraces transformational views on politics and economics purported to distinguish him from the unpopular Bush regime. One August 2008 article By Money Morning suggested that investor interests will be safe under a McCain administration allying fears of the perpetuation of the Bush administration relics. On the other end; through manipulating media and churning its anti-republican ad campaigns the Obama campaign have consistently painted Senator McCain as a clone of George W. Bush with nothing new and substantial to offer serve for the continuation of the failed and much criticized Bush stratagems. David Limbaugh (2008) posits that, "In American political and economic domains reality is that the apparent liberalism of some of the mass media is principally cultural and scantly economic. Essentially as in several other American establishments, the mass media press-forward the economic interests of the few opulent at the expense of the needs, and values, of the majority; and the self-serving, megalomaniac interests of the affluent minority are not those of either liberals or cultural conservatives". Daivd Limbaugh (2008) quotes Noam Chomsky who astutely notes, ". . .to take apart the system of illusions and deception which functions to prevent understanding of contemporary reality [is] not a task that requires extraordinary skill or understanding. It requires the kind of normal skepticism and willingness to apply one's analytical skills that almost all people have and that they can exercise." The foregoing is fitly applicable to the functions played by politics in media and vice versa. Particularly for the focus of this paper, mainstream media in the US society is not immune to expected political influences from its owners and those who through economic, social or political prowess exert some direct or indirect influences upon them. Although objectivity is always the motto for all media entities, it can be well argued that media activity is susceptible to personal and institutional forms of influence and as such much media activity is largely engendered and propagandistic in one way or another. References Edwards, Richard L. et al, (2004) The Moving Image," University of Minnesota Press, p 52 James R, (1998),) The Digital Scribe: A Writer's Guide to Electronic Media, Harcourt Brace, p 63 David Limbaugh, (2008), Bankrupt: The Intellectual and Moral Bankruptcy of Today's Democratic Party, Regnery Publishing, p 77 Elizabeth A. Skewes, (2007), Message Control: How News Is Made on the Presidential Campaign Trail, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Hunter, M.T (2005), 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Book Logic UK, Harlow, UK, United Kingdom, p 63 Liebling A.. J , (2005), Just Enough Liebling: Classic Work by the Legendary New Yorker Writer, North Point Press, p 23 Stempel Guido, (2007), Media and Politics in America; A Reference handbook, ABC-CLIO Inc, p 35 Street John, (1997), Politics and Popular Culture, Polity Press, NYK, p 101 Susan Lenart M Kazmer's, (1998), At The Artists' Nook 402, College Ave Fort Collins, CO, p 46 Robert Lichter (2007), The Media Elite: America's New Powerbrokers, Adler Pub Co; 1st edition, p 43 Vivian B. Martin, (2008), Media Bias: Going beyond Fair and Balanced, Sietar International Intercultural Press, Inc, p 231 Read More