The Involvement of Mass Media in Political Campaigns
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There has been much discussion about how mass media presents and can determine the outcome of presidential elections. The media has been accused of focusing on subjects such as the politicians personal life and their characteristics rather than looking at the political issues of the election. The voters views can also be altered by political advertisements that do not focus on issues. This can cause the voters to believe that certain issues are important when in reality they are trivial concerns. Elections often become popularity contests because of the polling that is done by newspapers and TV news programs prior to the actual voting. Politicians then can have a difficult time guiding voters opinions on their concerns.
Commercial advertisements used in political elections are used to get voters to take the position of a certain politician. The commercials want to apply that one candidate is better than another and it is vital for the viewer to vote or not vote for that candidate. However, sometimes these commercials make false claims and this can make it complicated for voters to choose the
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right candidate. For voters, making a wrong decision during an election can sometimes have serious consequences. However, not all advertising has an adverse effect on elections. Some advertisements can become very useful to the voters by telling them about the candidates and informing them about what is at stake during the election (Just, 1990).
To many people first impressions and the image of people are very important. The media creates the image of many candidates. The impression a candidate gives can assist voters on forming an opinion about that politician. A study was done on the 1976 Presidential election between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. The results of the study showed that voters original impression of Jimmy Carter helped them decide whom they would be voting for. Howerever, the voters response to issues played a bigger part for Ford (Oshagan, 1988).
In Australian elections studies show that if a candidate takes advantage of using the media than it can have a powerful effect on voters who decide who they will be voting for during the election race. These voters can be influenced more easily voters who know who they will be voting for before the campaign even begins. Partisan voters use the media because they are interested
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in politics unlike undecided voters who use the media for information about the candidates and their issues (Blood, 1991).
Studies have shown that men and women do not react the same way to the examination of information by the media after presidential debates. In 1988 the University of Florida did research on the Vice Presidential debates. The researched showed that after watching media analysis of the debate women took less extreme views of candidates than men did (Engstrom, 1989).
In the 1988 election between George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis the term “Gender Gap” was a large issue because men and women has different reactions toward the candidates. Bushs campaign used the media and advertisements to break this “gender gap.” The first approach share the same views on street crime as most women. Another advertisement displayed Bushs family values and the third showed a human side to Bush by him poking fun at himself. These uses of mass media helped Bush reach out to both genders (Nelson, 1989).
A classical example of a televised aged political campaign was the 1960 presidential election between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. The Presidential debate between these two candidates showed the contrast between their television personalities. Most people believe that John F. Kennedys persona was responsible for
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his victory in the election. However, some will argue that a candidates persona does have certain amount of persuasion toward voters but the amount of influence did not determine the election (Vancil and Pendell, 1987). An experiment done by college students concluded that the victor in the 1988 debate was not just decided by the candidates persona but also by their most rational arguments, their appeals and trustworthiness (Keyton, 1989).
Television plays a huge role in elections, especially with younger voters. Television seems to have an effect on the political attitudes of future voters. Children age 10-17 and their parents were part of a study to show which children were influenced by their parents, which were influenced by television during the 1988 election. The younger children were more influenced by their parents than the older ones who were more persuaded by television coverage (Sears and Weber, 1988).