Introduction
Following mass media has been the primary way of acquiring new information for generations. Newspapers were around and served as an influential and, more importantly, reliable source of information for generations of people across the world. In the last century, radio and TV gained popularity among the vast majority of developed countries and their citizens as additional and sometimes even prevailing public media sources. It was a groundbreaking means of spreading the message. People described how they felt as if the person speaking was personally in their house when they were listening to or watching the programs. Finally, nowadays, most people worldwide access all kinds of information they could wish for through the World Wide Web which gained the most incredible heights of popularity thanks to its high accessibility and the benefits it provides to its users. Now it is impossible to imagine a civilized person avoiding the use of the Internet. However, it is crucial to point out that despite all of the positive aspects modern media offers its followers, it also brings certain problems to human society that may be left unnoticed yet make a big difference in the lives of people and governments. This essay will show how nowadays’ mass media affects lives via being able to affect the political elections and minds of the society of any country.
Basics of Media
In order to understand the topic, one must know how mass media works. It is essentially a way for someone to project their thoughts and opinions. Depending on the reputation of the news source that projects them, the audience it will be able to reach will treat the knowledge they gained. Reputation among such institutions comes from the objectivity with which it treats the events. However, it is impossible to avoid one aspect that makes such a thing impossible. All parts of the media are managed and therefore affected by people. The human factor makes news impossible to be utterly objective regarding all sides it involves. Therefore, whether consciously or subconsciously, all news people may receive from whatever source or media is prejudiced to a certain extent. Nevertheless, the dominant majority of the audience of the trusted sources will accept the thoughts presented by the people working there as truth. When it comes to political issues, similarly to the sphere of advertisements, the ideas from an article become embedded into the audience’s minds as similar things repeatedly appear in the stream of media that they consume (Valkenburg & Piotrowski 147). Sometimes, as with the concept of advertising a product, the primary idea is to describe the product and make it clear why the potential buyer needs it. Sometimes, however, the idea is to make the audience remember the product and quickly recognize it among the rest. This trick is performed in order to familiarize a person with the advertised object.
Role of Media
Considering the previously mentioned information, it is not hard to picture this possibility being abused by the media producers. According to some politicians, the mass media’s primary function, based on the principles of democracy and openness, is to provide the electorate in a timely manner with transparency of the happening events (Uzbekistan National News Agency). This way, news sources play a massive role in the process of election by informing the citizens. However, as all power can be abused, the opportunity to be the sole informer of the population can be turned into a massive promotion of misinformation with a specific idea hidden behind the actions.
Campaign Budgets
As political campaigns aimed at the elections include a colossal amount of money to maintain the position under the spotlight, some of the finances are spent on media sources of all kinds. The most innocent political campaign advertisements are online ads, as, most of the time, they are seen as independent. Even if they are placed on trusted institutions’ websites, ads are seen as unrelated to the site by the visitors. However, when advertisements with similar content and presentation are shown on national TV, the viewers may feel that this kind of source is trustworthy as well as the ads it presents. During the 2016 presidential elections in the US, all race participants accumulated over $2.5 billion for TV advertisements alone (Brasch). The reason for such expenses is that such advertising builds trust toward the person it focuses on. For instance, the news programs presented by popular channels or radio stations with a wide range of audiences across the entire country can manipulate people into preferring one candidate over another. The human factor, which results in the establishment of some institutions leaning towards one particular candidate, can also have a similar effect.
Opposite Side of Media Promotion
However, taking the 2016 presidential elections as an example shows that the theory of mass media critically affects the process of electoral race and its results while also proving the goal of such promotions. Even though one of the candidates ended up spending fewer funds on mass media promotions than another, their advertisement campaign proved to be more effective, despite all the odds. By the odds, in this context, should be taken the policies endorsed by that candidate and the general public’s opinion about them and their representative. The public’s negative view of this runner was taken even further by the fact that the significantly more considerable part of the mass media supported the opposite side. Yet, the candidate managed to increase their audience in such unwelcoming nature and eventually made the electorate consider their candidacy above the opposing one. This outcome took place because their media coverage, even though they spent less than the rival, became broader and more prominent with every mention of his actions. As a result, it technically gave the candidate more prime coverage than their rival, regardless of the difference in budget and the intent of the media sources that were completely different (Brasch). It goes to show that the nature of mass media and the ads it presents might have a somewhat different effect than presenting the matter in a good light. As was already mentioned before as a theory, the primary purpose is to familiarize the audience with the subject, making it recognizable among the rest.
The Development of Technologies
Such goals became even more achievable with the development of modern era technologies, especially the Internet. The 21st century offers excellent opportunities for political institutions to manage their affairs, especially when it comes to populist methods of running a political campaign (Schroeder 60). Nowadays, people access the web through various devices that surround them most of the day. The presence of social media in people’s lives is immeasurable, and so is its effect on their opinions and thoughts. Some devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops, are carried around by their owners and are ready to give them all of the media streams available. Technologies became an essential part of people’s lives. They work, talk and spend their free time using modern devices. With so much more space, advertising became more accessible than ever before. It also offers many new ways of promoting someone or something. In the same way TV debates have revolutionized American politics by providing a new way to reach out to your audience and possibly gain a new electorate (Zakarin). Moreover, they made it evident to the campaign managers that the latest battleground has its own unique set of rules that have not been apparent before. By dealing with the complications of the new era of political debates, the candidates gained an unprecedented upper hand against their opponents.
Conclusion
To underline everything shown in this research essay, the modern sphere of social and mass media has been increasing its importance to the politicians as platforms for their candidacy over the last two centuries. Today, it has reached such heights of influence on all parts of human lives that it is no surprise how political parties can use it for their purposes. Contemporary political elections have become so intricate and elaborate that they can contradict what people could have thought about the concepts of media, advertisement, and politics as a whole. Political races now offer great possibilities for their staff members regarding the promotion of their campaigns as this is one of the most crucial factors that affect the electoral victory. The ability to shape people’s thoughts and opinions through social and mass media has become a politicians’ weapon that they can sometimes hide behind seemingly unnoticeable actions.
Works Cited
Brasch, Walter. Politics and the Mass Media. The Daily News, 2017. ProQuest. Web.
Schroeder, Ralph. Social Theory after the Internet: Media, Technology, and Globalization. UCL Press, London, 2018.
Valkenburg, Patti M., and Jessica Taylor Piotrowski. Plugged In: How Media Attract and Affect Youth. Yale University Press, 2017.
Zakarin, Jordan. How the Kennedy-Nixon Debate Changed American Politics. Biography.com, 2020.
Uzbekistan National News Agency. Mass Media’s Role in Electoral Processes. 2016. ProQuest.