Celeste Crispin

The Primacy of Media Throughout history, its apparent that the media has won a great percentage of the peoples attention for local and national news, but the internet is now the most useful source for information and updates on whats going on in the world. In the United States, the media has become a very strong influence in the opinion of us as Americans. Its used for many significant roles, such as political socialization and portrayal of moral values in American society. Advertisement is also a huge participant of media programming, without the revenue of the advertisers, media owners would not be able to produce their programs, and that would be a huge effect on society. Government regulation is also a major factor and ownership has to be established at all times. Political process in the United States has been influenced greatly by television and of course the internet, though television has been criticized lately. Television is constrained by many things and limitation on time is by far the most definite, thus stories are only reported for a short period of time. In fact, viewers are only confined to what appears on their television screens and not the entire image of the story. Theyre basically obligated to exploit stories and give them more of a story line title, but thats part of the job of being part of television production. Thats society for us. Now during elections, its a whole different story for the media; television for example obtains an overall 10 percent of its revenue from political advertisement during that particular election year. But, by historical events, one of the most effective political ads ever broadcast on television was the Daisy Girl used to persuade the citizens of America to vote for former President Lyndon Johnson. This ad became to be one of the first introductions into negative advertisement, which as we know has increased and will increase throughout elections. In presidential elections, television holds the power and potential to change a campaigns impulse. Candidates know one thing, and that is that the media play and hold a crucial role in what the public thinks.

Celeste Crispin

The internet and the importance it has for our everyday life and contribution for soliciting campaigns is one of the biggest influences in society today. In 2008, the internet became one of the most important components of the election cycle. In fact, by mid-October, Obama had raised millions from many donors, all due to a huge percentage of internet support. But the internet isnt always positive, like in television ads, the internet has its cons. For instance YouTube, an internet site that exploits just about anyone and anything, thus making it difficult for candidates to manage their image, and to keep it legit. But of course, because we live in the U.S, a free press, not everything has to go through the government, except the electronic media, only because at the time, this advancement in technology wasnt even thought of when amending the First Amendment. Controlling ownership of the media is probably one of the hardest things to do nowadays, but action is always needed. In 1996, congress passed legislation that had a pretty hard impact on the communication industry; this act sparked up competition between companies, and launched a new race. Throughout these last few decades, the feud of mainstream has had a very bias image. Reporters do in fact give of favors in specific issues. Most especially towards stories that involve conflict and drama, always pointing out whos failing or falling behind in an election, which puts forth the whole negativity during an election. Overall, the political influence of media is the most evident during a political campaign. The world today mainly consists of social media, and online blogging. Advertisement also pays a huge part in utilizing a candidates campaign. But one should accept that the government does have every right to subject against electronic media, still, the mainstream media is what really keeps the audience in attention. Therefore, its apparent that the primacy of media is very effective in this generation of highly intelligent people.