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##  Political Communication via the Media. ERIC Digest D151.                     

In the 1992 presidential primaries, the public perceived the                    campaign as a largely negative one, with candidates trading                     criticisms and allegations. As the campaign unfolded, would-be                  voters gave low marks to the news media. In a national survey by the            Center for the People and the Press, 65% of the respondents                     described the 1992 election coverage as "good" or "excellent," but a            third of those surveyed called the reporting "fair"                             or "poor" (Kolbert, 1992). Frequently, critics charge that news                 reporting focuses on the superficial, personal characteristics of               candidates and ignores the issues underlying elections. 
Observers             of the political process also target advertising, which they say                distorts positions and trivializes important issues. At the same                time, it is suggested that the predominance of polling by news                  outlets turns elections into popularity contests and causes                     candidates to follow rather than lead voter opinion on contemporary             issues. This Digest looks at these and related questions about the              relationship between the political process and political                        communication through the media. THE POWER OF                                 ADVERTISINGAdvertising, by its nature, takes positions.                     Commercials suggest that the advertiser's product is better than a              competitor's or is important to the viewer's well being. Such a                 claim may or may not be true, and the question is not always so easy            for the reader, viewer, or listener to evaluate. In the opinion of              one political writer, however, the "brainwashing" powers of national            political advertising have long been exaggerated by some advertising            men who, after all, make their money on commission from a percentage            of the purchase of television time (Bennet, 2000). And he goes on to            say that in the view of many media consultants, traditional                     television advertising is becoming even less effective in this era              of channel surfing, mute buttons, and the Internet. "What still                 matters most in a national race, candidates and operatives will tell            you, is what they rather patronizingly call 'earned' or 'free'                  media-the press" (Bennet, 2000). This nugget of political wisdom                might be worth mulling over if it were not for the fact that George             W. Bush won the Republican nominations in the recent "Super Tuesday"            2000 primary in New York, even though every single newspaper in New             York City, from conservative to liberal, endorsed John McCain as the            best candidate. 
The ramifications of advertising in politics can              sometimes be positive. Advertisements can help the public become                aware of political candidates and issues and educate would-be voters            about what is at stake in campaigns. In fact, commercials can be                more instructive in that regard than debates-debates are seen to be             more effective in improving candidate name recognition and knowledge            of party affiliation (Just, 1990). 
As is true of other types of               human relationships, first impressions can be very important as                 voters form their opinions about political candidates. Research on              election decisions suggests that candidates' use of the media can               have a strong impact upon those who make up their minds about                   candidates during the campaign. Such voters are more likely to be               swayed by political appeals than are people who have decided whom to            choose before a campaign starts. While partisan voters use the media            because they are interested in politics, undecided voters refer to              media sources for information about parties, candidates, and                    issues (Blood, 1991). CYBERSPACE POLITICAL COMMUNICATIONIn                1996 the Internet evolved into a key information source for voters              interested in experiencing an unfiltered view of the political                  process through the lenses of the political parties, news                       organizations, educational foundations, media outlets, and a host of            specialized interest groups (e.g. Common Cause, Sierra Club,                    National Right to Life). This access came in the form of World Wide             Web sites, Usenet groups, and political agents and agencies through             a rapidly expanding system of electronic-mail access points (Glenn,             1996). 
Currently, in the 2000 election year, voters can contribute            to their favorite candidate or candidates' campaigns on the                     Internet, and in some cases, they can even vote on the                          Internet-Alaska and Arizona both experimented with allowing their               citizens to vote over the Internet in their 2000 primaries. It is               probably only a matter of time before everyone will be able to vote             over the Internet. INDIVIDUAL VOTER CHARACTERISTICS AND THE                   MEDIAMen and women react differently to the media analysis that             generally follows political debates. A study conducted at the                   University of Florida during the 1988 vice-presidential debates                 showed that females took less extreme views of candidates after                 viewing post-debate analysis. By contrast, such analysis had little             effect on the extremity of views expressed by politically involved              males (Engstrom, 1989). 
During the 1988 presidential campaign,                the "gender gap," a perception that men and women perceived the                 leading candidates differently, was much discussed. George Bush's               campaign planners were able to battle the gap through the way in                which the candidate was portrayed in advertising. One advertising               approach was to represent Bush as a law-and-order "Equalizer," who              shared women's concerns about street crime. Another technique was to            underscore Bush's belief in traditional family values. Additionally,            the campaign used ads that stressed the candidate's ability to laugh            at himself, as a way of showing his human side (Nelson, 1989). The              last two presidential campaigns saw the candidates vying for the                votes of the elusive "soccer moms"-those young suburban women,                  characterized as thoughtful, careful, and hard to convince. In the              2000 campaign, the candidates are vying for women's votes, looking              for the issues that will resonate with women. 
Like gender, race               plays a role in how people view social issues and even how people               respond to questions about such issues. Various studies have                    indicated that a member of one race will answer questions from an               interviewer of another race in such a way as to avoid alienating the            interviewer. It can be argued that even when an interviewer and                 interviewee are of the same race, survey results should be                      scrutinized carefully when the interviewer's questions concern a                candidate of a different race. What remains to be explored is                   whether race should be treated as an uncontrolled variable in                   political surveys involving at least one white and one black                    candidate (Loge, 1989). The columnist Frank Rich (2000) has                     cautioned that "race is still the last subject in America likely to             generate straight talk...." PUBLIC AWARENESS AND MEDIA                        COVERAGEWhatever its positive or negative effects, exposure to              the news media does influence public awareness of elections (Walker,            1990). On the local level, for example, newspaper stories and                   advertisements can raise public awareness of municipal and school               board elections, to the extent that voter turnout increases as a                result (Luttberg, 1988). 
The real question in a presidential                  election year, for example, 2000, is whether there will be too much             media coverage of the national candidates, Al Gore and George W.                Bush. After all, they were chosen in March 2000 for an election to              be held in November 2000. The reporter Richard L. Berke quotes these            perhaps apprehensive words from Haley Barbour, a senior Bush                    adviser: "I don't believe the voters want to be inundated with                  political campaigning every day for the next 35 weeks, however, with            24-hour news television and the Internet and the vastly improved                news outlets, I feel the press won't let it rest. Every news                    organization is going to demand a Bush story and a Gore story every             day" (Berke, 2000). The danger, according to Berke, is that the                 voters will tire of the candidates. If the candidates are constantly            on television over a long period of time, they may wear out their               welcome with the voters by the time the election takes place, and               the fear is that many citizens may not even bother to turn out to               vote. REFERENCESBennet, J. (2000). The fear of loathing on the            campaign trail. New York Times Magazine, 52-55, February 27,                    2000. 
Berke, R. L. (2000). Gore and Bush set for a fiery race that            starts now. New York Times, March 9, 2000, A1, A22. 
Blood, R.                 W. (1991). Time of voting decision: Knowledge and uncertainty. Paper            presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Communication              Association. [ED 332 246] 
Engstrom, E., et al. (1989). Evidence               for differential effects on males and females in the Wake of                    post-debate analyses. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the              Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. [ED             322 485] 
Glenn, R. J. III. (1996). Campaign 96: A perspective on              cyberspace political Communication. Paper presented at the Annual               Conference of the Kentucky Communication Association. [ED 406                   713] 
Just, M., et al. (1990). Thirty seconds or thirty minutes:               What viewers learn from spot advertisements and candidate debates.              Journal of Communication, 40(3), 120-133. [EJ 414 667] 
Kolbert,               E. (1992). As political campaigns turn negative, the Press is given             a negative rating. New York Times, May 1. 
Loge, P. (1989).                    Candidates of race and political poll results. Paper presented at               the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Communication Association. [ED 305            697] 
Luttberg, N. R. (1988). Role of newspaper coverage and                   political ads in local elections. Journalism Quarterly, 65(4),                  881-88, 897. [EJ 408 441] 
Nelson, V. (1989). The gender gap and               women's issues in the 1988 Presidential Campaign. Paper presented at            the Annual Meeting of the Speech Communication Association. [ED 314             797] 
Rich, F. (2000). Journal: J. Crew vs. Banana Republic. New               York Times, March 11, 2000, A29. 
Walker, J. R. (1990). Developing             a new political reality: Political information and the 1988 Southern            Regional Primary. Southern Communication Journal, 55(4),                        421-435. [EJ 412 072] 
Digest #151 is EDO-CS-00-02 and was                     published in April 2000 by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading,                   English and Communication, 2805 E 10th Street, Bloomington, IN                  47408-2698, Telephone (812) 855-5847 or (800) 759-4723. ERIC Digests            are in the public domain and may be freely reproduced. Additional               copies may be ordered by contacting the ERIC Document Reproduction              Service at (800) 443-3742. 
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This project has been funded at            least in part with Federal funds from the U.S. Department of                    Education under contract number ED-99-CO-0028. The content of this              publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of               the U.S. Department of Education nor does mention of trade names,               commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S.             Government.                                                                  **Title:** Political Communication via the Media. ERIC Digest D151.                     **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication, Indiana              University, 2805 E. 10th Street, Suite 140, Bloomington, IN                     47408-2698. Tel: 800-443-3742 (Toll Free). For full text:                       http://www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/bks/pubhome.html.                           **Descriptors:**  Advertising,  Elections, Higher Education, Internet, Mass Media                Effects,  Mass Media Role, Mass Media Use,  News Reporting,                      Political Campaigns, Voting                                                 **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests, Media Coverage                                                 
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