FREE ESSAY ON NEWS COVERAGE OF POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS AND IT'S NEGATIVE AFFECTS

NEWS COVERAGE OF POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS AND IT'S NEGATIVE AFFECTS

News Coverage of Political Campaigns
And it's Negative Affects
Have you ever turned on the TV to watch the news during election year? News programs
constantly bombard the public with campaign coverage that negatively affects the way
people vote. The most noticeable effect the TV news media causes is a decrease in voter
attendance at the ballot boxes. News coverage of political campaigns reduces voter
turnout because of the negative campaign tactics used by candidates and their parties;
exit polls that predict the outcome of an election; and the public's perception that the
media can be bought to influence people to vote for a certain issue or candidate.
Voter turnout has significantly dropped from 75 %-85% in during the 19th century to fewer
than 55% in modern day elections as written by Pierce Lewis of American Demographics
(Page 20). The result of low voter turnout reveals a broad dissatisfaction and
unconcerning attitude towards politics from America's citizens. The main cause for this
public attitude in current voting is the news media. What better place is there to
display all the events of pre-election activities?
The first and most effective discouragement to voting is exit polls that predict the
outcome of an election or in modern terms electronic forecasting. Exit polling on or
before Election Day has become the predominant method used by mass media in American
politics for predicting outcomes of elections according to George Bishop and Bonnie
Fisher of Public Opinion Quarterly (Page 568). In most recent elections exit polling has
grown into an even more complex mass survey medium with institutions such as Voter
Research and Surveys (VRS) of New York who provide polling results for massive television
networks like ABC, CBS, and CNN. In addition to TV networks, many television affiliates,
newspapers, and newsmagazines also use this polled data to inform the public. Since exit
polls predict the winners of elections, vast numbers of citizens don't even bother to
vote because they already know who's going to win and that their vote wouldn't make a
difference (Pages 568-589).
Another reason that causes low voter turnout is news media coverage that broadcast
negative campaign tactics politicians and their parties use to attack to opposing
candidate or party. According to Laurence I. Barrett of Time magazine, presidential
candidates are sliding on their word of not using negative campaign tactics; in fact,
negative advertising is becoming trendier among those running for election (Page 28).
Negative campaigning in the news media is perceived by most as boxing ring where
candidates can put on gloves and knock each others ideas or beliefs down. The most
affecting aspect of negative campaign to the public is that candidates and parties only
point out the opposing side's flaws to uplift themselves and avoiding the issue at hand
which often occurs in debates. Since negative campaigning causes a great deal of arguing
between candidate and/or parties, a great percentage of the public tends to separate
themselves from the political process (voting) because of the excessive attacks
candidates inflict on one another. The public expects a degree of professionalism from
running candidates that shouldn't include negative tactics that only discourage the
public's outlook on voting participation. 
Lastly, public perception of a bias and favorable media also contributes to a reduction
in the voting population. As early as the 1960's, public perception of a bias media was
first noticed;  however, current data suggest the American public views the media as
increasingly less trustworthy... as stated by Donna Rouner, a journalist for Newspaper
Research Journal (Page 41). Partisanship of news factions also discourages people from
participating in the political process because news groups may be supportive of one party
and their beliefs giving only one side of an issue. More of the American population may
be better influenced to vote if news groups would take a neutral position supporting only
the facts and produce a non-bias broadcast. In addition to partisanship, the idea of
media being bought by candidates or parties to influence the public can also diminish
voter turnout. For example, a wealthy candidate can purchase large amounts of airtime
trying to earn more of the public's votes or simply a news affiliate that favors a
candidate or party would donate more airtime to that candidate or party. The public's
view of news media coverage is one that is best described as bias which results in low
participation from the would be voting public (Pages 41-50).
In closing, news media coverage of political events does in fact reduce voter turnout
because the media acts as a playing field for candidates and their parties to childishly
attack one another. The fact that predictions from exit polls broadcasted by the media
discourage voting because the public already knows who is going to win so the general
public feels that their participation doesn't make a difference or isn't necessary. All
of the corruptness of news media coverage ultimately leads to a poor public perception of
media and government resulting in an even less voter turnout.
If only news media were totally factual and neutral in their coverage of election events
the voting population may begin to rise again promoting a true non-bias exercise of
democracy
Bibliography
Works Cited Page
Barrett, Laurence I. Getting down and dirty (presidential 
Campaign). Time March 1992: 28-30
Bishop, George F. Secret ballots and self-reports in an exit poll
experiment. Public Opinion Quarterly 59.4 (Winter 1995):
568-569.
Lewis, Peirce. Politics: who cares? (voter turnout for 1992 
Presidential elections) (cover story). American
Demographics 16.10 (Oct. 1994): 20-27
Rouner, Donna. How perceptions of news bias in news sources 
Relate to beliefs about media bias. Newspaper Research
Journal 20.2 (Spring 1999): 41-50