US Presidential Election - Case Study Example

Television exposure of one kind or another concludes that among the candi s who will be able to grasp the attention and votes of the most potential voters, where as who will be elected by the major political parties, and, to a considerable extent, who will be elected President of the United States. Television coverage of the U.S. presidential election involves two key fundamentals -- news reporting and paid advertising. Through these elements, television had the tremendous impact on the presidential election of US. Political advisors often make a distinction between “free” (news) and “paid” (advertising) media, but this dichotomy does not be up to snuff to describe the ongoing propagation of media outlines and set-ups. The television effect was based upon the campaigns for both news and revenue. The candidates of the presidential elections depend upon the media to get the largest feasible number of voters. Television is a leading power in US because most of Americans get information about issues and events by viewing television. Television covers Campaign events on the nightly news and the candidates appear not only on news and interview programs but also morning talk shows. Extensive time is dedicated on the air to debates and party meetings. These were all the broadcasts at the national level. Political analyst Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute is of the view that television impact can be studied in such a way that, “The media "tend to accentuate the negative," to hit hardest at those Who are in power or running ahead, and to emphasize scandal" Candidates stab to defy this, and try to use the television to their benefits. Few events, some historic, some merely inquisitive, narrate the story of presidential television and also sheds light on the complex relationship between the U.S. presidential elections and the American television industry. Over the years, that relationship has grown multifaceted and turbulent. But now this relationship has been noteworthy because the success of the presidential election and the television now depend upon one another. TELEVISION INFLUENCE ON US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2004 The election of George W. Bush as president of the United States in November 2004 was considered as the masterful expression of the media domination. On the other hand The Republican Party did a great job of working on there themes and aims through all available and common media channels especially television. As the most simplistic of all media, TV can cultivates the realities in a very fabricate way and diffuse the messages among the people vary easily. Because most people in America get their news from TV the Republican Party injected their messages to one that was simple and cable-ready: As it was the message which was cultivated through television that worked very quickly. "Terrorists could attack the United States at any moment. George W. Bush will keep you safe. George W. Bush is a good Christian." 435 hours of regular transmitting evening news coverage from 5:00 pm to 11:30 pm broadcasted on local ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox stations in 11 media markets from the period from October 4 through October 10, 2004 They found that, on average, included 6.4 minutes of sports and weather and 2.4 minutes of election coverage. The coverage of the presidential election news and messages comprise of : The average time of a campaign news story was 81 seconds. Nearly 2/3 of all campaign news coverage had no candidate SoundBits. But When candidates spoke, their SoundBits were of under 12 seconds. Only five 5% of all campaign news were about local elections. 45% of all campaign stories were about horserace, while only 29 % paying attention on campaign issues. There are the different other messages from Bush during the campaign that were broadcasted on television again and again. “War Is Peace: "Because we fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, America is safer."” “Ignorance Is Strength: "John Kerry and the Liberals in Congress plan for medical coverage is too complicated." “Freedom Is Slavery: "We need a constitutional amendment to protect the sanctity of marriage." “Two Minutes Hate: "John Kerry is a flip-flopper. Flip flop flip flop flip flop." SURVEYS CONDUCT BY DIFFERENT ORGANIZATIONS TO GET IDEA THAT HOW TELEVISION COVER THE US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS 2004 The Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) conducted a study at George Mason University, demonstrated that during the presidential months in January 2004, "Only 17 % of the stories covering the democratic race have investigated the candidates’ voting records, proposals or stances on issues as opposed to 71 percent of the stories focusing on poll numbers and behind-the-scenes tactics." A survey which was conducted by Committee of Concerned Journalists (CCJ) quoted that “During campaign 2004, only 3% of the surveyed journalists give A grade coverage, while another 27% give broadcasted news B grade. 42% made the news C and 27% D or F. “ Project for Excellence in Journalism conducted a survey and concluded that journalists "give particularly low grades to television, be it local, cable or network, and much higher grades to newspapers and online coverage." 88% agreed that the media covered "trivial issues" and 89% said coverage was "too reactive." TELEVISION USED FOR PROPAGANDA AND FABRICATION: Besides using TV for diffusing the messages and ideas, the Republican Party used effective propaganda to get the highest vote. As the whole, the Republican message were used as fear as a strategy. Repeating again and again in a very effective manner, Republican politicians mentioned the incident of September 11th terrorist attacks, worldwide terrorist networks and Saddam Hussain. They hammered down this terrorism as reasons to vote for re-election of the Bush government. They depicted Bush as commanding leader with solid passion who was not scared to use the armed forces to fight terrorists. Republicans also advertised the message of "moral values" as a campaign issue. In 11 states, referendums were on the votes focusing on the issue of gay marriage. The voters devastatingly passed these decrees. They also project the fear of gay marriages and liberty of Hollywood to get the votes for Bush. The Democratic Party, on the contrary, couldn’t perform well to simplify the issues of voters. Paid Advertisements on TV by Us political Parties One invariable between both the Democratic and Republican Parties was that they were paying lots of money on campaign through advertising. Much of the money was spent in the US presidential election 2004 than ever before in U.S. history. The Center for Responsive Politics, non-profit research group that aims to track money in politics and its influence on elections and public policy, is of view that politicians engaged in the presidential elections spent $3.9 billion on advertising. According to the Center, $1.2 billion was spent on the presidential elections. SOME ADS Republican TV attack ads were unbelievably effective and took differently: some ads through which TV cultivates the reality are the following. This ad makes the claim that Bush will privatize and cut Social Security if reelected. One of the few Kerry ads that attack not only Bush, but his party as well, this ad points out how special interests benefited under the Bush administration. One of the many ads runs by the Kerry campaign denouncing Bushs campaign tactics. Another ad about the Bush campaign had an obtuse message The theme that Vice President Cheneys ties to Halliburton showed special interest bias was repeated often by the Kerry campaign. Televised reality can be studied in the following maps and can also judge the differences among the social and cultivated reality that was constructed by television. Real map TV map TELEVISION INFLUENCE ON US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 1992 In 1992,three debates among President George H. W. Bush, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton and independent candidate Ross Perot were held There was a survey in which it was shown that more than 1600 elections stories were covered in early 1992 on television networking evening news programs. The Center for Media and Public Affairs, a research organization in Washington, quoted that television paid the most attention on the policy positions of the candidates out of all the aspects of the campaign and were highlighted in more than one third of all the news. This was approximately twice than in the 1988 presidential campaign. In contrast, the Center for Media and Public Affairs assumed, the single most heavily broadcasted event during 1988 was the so-called "horse race," the reputation and projection of the candidates. But this ranked fourth in 1992. Two other aspects of the campaign – Approaches and strategies Such debates as scandals and blunder – Television paid them the highest level of attention in 1992 as they did in 1988.. There was a vivid mount of daytime television talk shows as a political setting in 1992, because candidates were willing to accept challenges from program moderators to be interviewed. Independent candidate Ross Perot started the fact in February 1992 during an the Larry King call-in show on CNN, he talked about the situation under which he would consider running for the presidency. There was also a chronological television debate which is identified in the by name of October 25, 1992 -- Richmond, Virginia Debate There were different new styles emerged to produce the second presidential debate of 1992. In the capital of the Old South, Bush, Clinton and Perot debated with one another in front of two hundred "average Americans" who interrogated them for ninety minutes. The format of debate became the headline but not its content .the television had been cut out of the dealings and few seemed to be expressed grief their momentary. The 1992 campaign prolonged this subject, with the candidates repairing to the comfy studio and welcoming questions of talk-show, hosted by Larry King. Afterward, they made the rounds of the morning talk-over-coffee shows. Attached with fax machines, E-mail, cable specials, direct-mail videos, and the like, these "substitute media set-up" completed a round whereby the president became a allegorical industrialist and the nations press an addendum. REFERENCES 1:Moore, John L.: “Elections A to Z”, Second Edition; CQ Press, Washington 2003 2: Patterson, Thomas E.: “Views of Winners & Losers” in GRABER, DORIS A.: “Media Power in Politics”; Congressional Quarterly Inc., Washington 1990, p.178 3:Television News and Presidential Campaigns: The Legitimization of Televised Political Advertising." Social Science Quarterly (Austin, Texas),June 1993. 4: Lowry, Dennis T. "Effects of TV Instant Analysis and Querulous Criticism: Following the Bush-Dukakis Debate." Journalism Quarterly (Urbana, Illinois), Winter 1990. 5:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_debates" 6: www.google.com 7: www.yahoosearch.com Read More