Media Wins Another Election

Michael Hedges November 7, 2012 - Follow on Twitter

Elections are great democratic exercises. The people speak. Campaigns, though, are for candidates to speak and speak and speak. Media’s role in it all has never been more apparent

In the just concluded United States presidential campaign an estimated US$2.6 billion was spent persuading Americans to vote for or against Barack Obama or Mitt Romney. Arguably half that amount was devoted to media advertising, quite welcome to media agencies, broadcasters and publishers this year. Adding expenditures by all other state and local campaigns the total media boost was likely another US$1 billion.

While many media trends no longer transit automatically from the United States to other parts of the world, election campaigning continues a major export. Campaign advertising on television and radio, however, remains distinctly American. In the last few weeks it was not uncommon for American TV viewers to have favorite shows interrupted by 12, 15 or more campaign ads in a prime-time hour, campaign managers able to produce new ads within hours to address every opportunity. Most media regulators would never allow it. American political campaigns are endless, considered unconscionable elsewhere.

Media coverage of election campaigns certainly follows the American model with pundits, pollsters and TV debates, all of which adds to more coverage. Since the legendary TV debate fifty years ago between John Kennedy, a less well-known junior senator, and Richard Nixon, vice-president under a popular retiring president, campaigns have used these live events to position their candidates. Nixon lost that one but came back eight years later with enough media savvy to win the presidency handily and the TV debate became a fixture of American campaigns. More recently televised political debates have come to campaigns in other countries, the UK, France and even Georgia. But this seasons highly rehearsed TV debates in the US offered far less news value. Campaign managers have learned well the importance of controlling media exposure.

Punditry has never been more popular. Broadcasters and publishers with a need or obligation to provide news coverage hire commentators, often with particular ideological bent and, in recent years, well-developed entertainment value. They add to the flavor of political campaigns even if providing more one-liners and less information.

Public opinion polls have long been part of the political campaign media coverage. As with football rankings – and betting odds - people are attracted to winners, losers and percentages attached to each. This year’s media star in the US is statistician Nate Silver, who developed predictive logic models that, figuratively at least, called the election for President Obama weeks ago.  He’d done the same in 2008, publishing it all in his FiveThirtyEight blog. The New York Times acquired it in 2010. Nate began predicting baseball results.

Less was heard this US election cycle about the impact of social media. In 2008 it was all the rage, perhaps because then Facebook and Twitter were considered new and clever. The twitteratti are still widely quoted in election coverage though in that great and endless stream of mini-thoughts discriminating between information and, well, Donald Trump is difficult.

Election coverage is, of course, important. Political websites have added measurably to the mix, advantage going to the quick and opinionated. The trend in election coverage most debatable is the rise of “silo vision,” with news content produced as a gatekeeper limiting points of view or, even, reality. And “getting it wrong” has no consequence; it’s the spin that matters. But a cornucopia of information and opinion is better than the alternative.

See also in ftm Knowledge

Television News - Bright Lights, Big Coverage

The global reach of television news has never been greater. The digital age has expanded that reach to satellite channels and the Web but it has also forced television news to mature. This ftm Knowledge file shows the gains and the pains. 99 pages PDF (October 2013)

Order here

The Campaign Is On - Elections and Media

Elections campaigns are big media events. Candidates and issues are presented, analyzed and criticized in broadcast and print. Media is now more of a participant in elections than ever. This ftm Knowledge file reports on news coverage, advertising, endorsements and their effect on democracy at work. 63 pages. PDF (December 2012)

Order Here