Throughout his campaign he continued to say that he was in remission and healthy, but the issue never died. So as soon as the media decided that his having cancer was the main point of Tsongas' campaign, his election chance was pretty much ruined. Those two examples show the extreme amount of power the press has over the public's opinions and candidates' futures. If that happens, then he could consider the election lost. The candidates must be successful in playing the game over which the media rules.
Politicians frequently become puppets trying to earn the media's favor.
He feels that he gets help from the media. . . . She is usually conservative in her views toward issues, but that isn't shared by the media. When doing a story about her, or quoting her, she isn't usually called first. He was running against one of America's heroes from the space program, John Glenn. Metzenbaum won that nomination by purchasing enough television time to make his name known throughout the state.