Agenda-Setting Function Mass Media Work Current Presidential

¶ … agenda-setting function mass media work current presidential election. Consider essay: a) What issue(s) highlighted media ( candidates ) effect voters year? b) There emphasis independent voters swing states Ohio.

The role of the media in today's society is considered of utmost importance. It shapes opinions, if creates opinions, but most importantly it influences the way in which perceptions are created and decisions taken. This is why the media is viewed in a democratic society to be the fourth power in the state, after the executive, legislative, and judicial ones. This role is most obvious perhaps during election years and periods, regardless of the type of voting action. This is largely due to the fact that the media usually influences the agenda of the elections to take place.

The importance of the presidential elections is without any doubt. These are the times when the media exercises its biggest influence. The Watergate scandal in the 70s only proved a well-known fact, that the media has the power to discover and bring to the public eye almost any aspect of the public or private life. This essential asset of the media transformed it to an agenda setting factor. Studies conducted in the 70s and 80s pointed out precisely this aspect. More precisely, "studies have examined much longer periods of time -- for example, a yearlong, nine-wave panel study during the 1976 U.S. presidential election -- and found similar evidence of strong agenda-setting effects among the public. A look at the entire decade of the 1960s found a substantial correlation (+.78) between the patterns of coverage in news magazines and the trends in public opinion reflected by responses to the Gallup Poll's question about the most important problem facing the country" (McCombs, n.d.). Therefore, there is a clear connection between the subjects the media is covering and the way in which politicians set their own public agenda for the debates in the campaigns.

Another important aspect in terms of the way in which media affects the political agenda setting is related to the amount of information the public receives. More precisely, the communication process and the communication means are at this moment in the history of mankind some of the most diverse yet to be seen. The newspapers, the television, the internet, they all provide sources for information. At the same time though, they are strongly connected through their own resources that are in fact the social walks of life. Thus, regardless of the means of communication, the information is mostly linear and focuses on particular issues such as social, politics, sports, and others. Yet the way in which the media tends to describe and analyses it provides the weakness or strength of a story or a subject. Thus, "when it comes to information which cannot be obtained autonomously, we can certainly argue that our knowledge of things with which we have no direct experience is entirely limited to the information garnered through various media" (The Conservative Brawler, 2009).

The 2008 presidential elections were a clear proof of the role media had in agenda setting. The general perception of the media coverage of the two candidates is proportional to the final results of the elections. In this sense, according to subsequent research, then candidate Obama received considerably more media coverage that his opponent, McCain (The Conservative Brawler, 2009). However, an important aspect where media played a role was that of race. More precisely, Barack Obama did not consider the 2008 elections as being about race; therefore, neither the press. There were little discussions in terms of race or the background of president Obama during the campaign in the media. However, there was increased coverage of the meetings and support actions for the African-American communities where Obama was present. These two elements may suggest that although race was not a part of the agenda in the presidential elections, Obama ensured that there is sufficient coverage for the functions related to African-American communities because this community is important in terms of votes. Thus, in order to have the support of them, he ensured a wide media coverage of the events. Still, in terms of political debates and agenda, there was little mention of the fact that Mr. Obama was an African-American and hence, the issue of race was not an open subject for debate among politicians and Americans at the polls.

In terms of the effect media had throughout the American states, the media rarely focused on independent candidates or votes. However, it is considered that Nader, the independent candidate that affected Al Gore's chances in previous elections, is an important political individual. He requested during the 2008 election stages that greater attention be given to the independent candidates by the media (America.gov, 2008). Yet, this request signaled that independent candidates, without the media support, rarely have a chance in providing a good poll result.

There was an emphasis on independent voters in swing states such as Ohio. However, this emphasis was provided by the issues candidates such as Barr raised concerning the fairness of the elections and the right to be included on the ballots (Driehaus, 2008). After the media transformed it into a subject, then-candidate Obama strengthened his speech on the need to reform the election system through improved possibilities of electoral inclusions. However, even if up until then, there was an issue of introducing the independent candidates on the ballots, afterwards it became a talking point on the political agenda.