Virginia Essay, Research Paper

Media Effectss on Regulating The mass media has played a major function in American political relations since the formation of our state. So much so that it has been called by many, & # 8220 ; the 4th subdivision of government. & # 8221 ; Originally, media power was merely vested in the documents, but today wireless and telecasting are the more outstanding signifiers of intelligence. Since the disposal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, presidents have used the media to distribute their positions to their components. FDR brought us the fireside confabs in one of which he requested the American people to set their money back into the Bankss and acquire our economic system traveling once more. The media informed the state of Richard Nixon & # 8217 ; s less so honest agencies of regulating and the media brought the Vietnam war to our life suites every eventide. There are even those who believe that the media chooses our presidents by make up one’s minding whether to aerate the good or bad things they dig up on the presidential campaigners. There are two major ways the mass media effects the populace. These are agenda scene and priming. Agenda scene is the manner the media dictates the saliency of modern-day issues. An experiment performed by Iyengar et Al in 1980 showed that media does consequence how of import an issue is to the populace. In this experiment, Iyengar showed three different groups intelligence cuttings weighted on the side of specific issues, so showed a 4th control group undoctored intelligence. He tested these topics before and after the screenings and found that in all but one issue, the topics had moved in the hypothesized way. This last issue was rising prices and he concluded that people merely could non believe this issue was more of import so they already did. Agenda puting consequence is of import to the authorities, particularly the president, because it leads to priming. Priming is the usage of salient issues by the populace to measure a public figure. When is comes to voting on a president, priming is 2nd merely to partisanship in importance. If you recall the 1992 election in which Bill Clinton ran against an incumbent George Bush, priming played a major function. Bush had been a popular president particularly when it came to his function in the Iranian Gulf War. His evaluations were high throughout his presidential term. When Clinton threw his chapeau into the ring, he began his run by successfully switching the sphere back to domestic personal businesss. One of his run mottos was, & # 8220 ; It & # 8217 ; s the Economy Stupid. & # 8221 ; This made Americans get down measuring Bush on his domestic stance. The economic system had non been where most Americans wanted it and as a consequence Clinton was elected president. With the media playing such a pinnacle function in political relations, it is no admiration that Presidents allocate so much of their clip and resources in that way. All pres

idents set up an office of press secretary. This person is a direct liaison between the media and the president. As such, the press secretary needs to be looked at as an honorable person with direct access to the president. In addition, presidents do what they can to have the press cover humanity stories, i.e. baby kissing. Just after the Monica Lewinsky scandal, in order to appear in a more favorable light, Clinton took a romantic weekend with his wife and made sure not to keep this a secret. While the President does what he can to lead the media in a more favorable direction, he is less successful at taking the helm as the press is. Nine times out of ten, when a story hits the headlines, it results in a presidential response to a media decision and not the other way around. Clinton has always been an advocate of stricter gun control laws, but not until the Columbine High School incident in Colorado was he even slightly effective at directing public opinion on the matter. However, when an issue is of substantial importance to the president, he does have a tool in which to attempt to build salience. He can “go public.” This is when the president appears on prime time television to educate the people on a subject. However, there are many factors involved for this to be a successful endeavor. First and foremost, the president must be a prestigious one. If he is not a popular president, the public will not listen to him and the networks may even refuse to air him. Second, he must communicate well his argument. Third, and most difficult, the people must be effected and take action. Should the public opinion on the issue be shifted, then the president was successful and can continue with his project. An example of an unsuccessful attempt at going public can be seen when President Clinton proceeded to bomb Afghanistan the day after the Monica Lewinsky scandal was proven true. The public was informed on the bombing, but nobody really cared. The media’s greatest effect on the Office of the Presidency is indirect, but nonetheless a powerful one. The media has a direct effect on public approval in addition to being the facilitators of public approval polls. Public approval in turn is the most decisive factor separating powerful presidents from weak ones. The amount of influence a president has over his five constituents (party, bureaucracy, congress, foreign leaders and the American people) has a direct relationship with his level of public approval. This is not to say that presidents have zero influence on how successful they are, but perception is everything when it comes to playing the game of politics. Most American do not actively seek out as much information as they can about presidents; they only see what is presented to them through the media.