Social Media Influence On Politics Essay

The news media and social media affect and influence the political world. The political arena can now be easily accessed through every citizen’s smartphone screens and tablet screens. For instance, Barack Obama became the country’s most Instagrammer-in-Chief (Carr). Obama utilized social media to promote his climate agenda while on his trip to Alaska. He would snap pictures of the landscape and share the pictures on his social media accounts which earned him more than thousands of likes. The media and its political connections play a huge scene in this topic of influence. Since the election of 2008, Obama utilized Facebook to connect with the public (Carr). This year’s 2016 Presidential candidates have been using social media to connect with the public. The media interprets and impact discussions made by the public and its candidates, as well as polling and voting. Obama has paved the path since 2008 in using social media to connect with the public, and Obama has been a pacesetting in this year’s presidential candidates. For example, Senator Ted Cruz often appears on Periscope, Marco Rubio snap videos and pictures on Snapchat at stops along his

campaign trail, and the constant twitter war debates between the candidates (Carr). Moreover, Senator Bernie Sanders has been crowned as a king of social media because of the countless amount of memes made in his favor by the public. The aim of this essay is to argue that the news media and social media does influence the political realm.
In the 1960s, television news would be on the air for about half an hour a day and throughout the day there would be long commercial breaks.

Normally, newspapers were the first source of news to utilize and distribute among the people, but due to tragic events in history, it influenced Americans to use their televisions more than common. Television similar to social media is quicker at delivering recent events. In the late 1960s, more than 81% of Americans owned televisions. As a result, this drastically decreased newspaper profits (Sneed). Since the late 1960s, television broadcast channels augmented their air time from half an hour to more than one hour. Television channels like CBS and ABC attracted more viewers after displaying more content for more than half an hour (Sneed). The late 1960s popularized the

media.
The media contribute to the detriment and positivity of the public. People mostly rely on television and the internet for news and information. With the increase in users, the media is the control center of political influences. The media could be the death of politicians’ careers or their beginning. Due to this reality, politicians must establish relationships with the media outlet, so that when politicians do run for elections, they can expect a positive return on elections. For example, the media portrays Donald Trump as a natural-born troll (Carr). Recently, Trump has dominated the Twitter war. He has been utilizing social media not to inform but to provoke his candidates. Trump’s straightforward language and honesty towards society and his opponents help him to be known and this can lead an increase in voters.
The media ideally does not serve as a safeguard for the public. Whatever the user uploads on social media would most likely stay there permanently. People who have social media accounts should keep in mind that the media is found on integrity, professionalism, and ethics. For example, candidates Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush have tried to keep it safe in social media in order not to ruin their reputation as reliable political figures. On the other hand, Donald Trump is indifferent about controversy directed towards him. Clinton’s social media accounts have a feel of warmness while Trump’s have a feel of awkwardness (Carr). Moreover, Clinton promoted an Official Hillary 2016 Playlist on Spotify with upbeat music. One can assume that Clinton’s target audience is the youth since her strategic strategies involve speaking at colleges, interviewing on radio stations directed to youths, and inputting colloquial phrases in her speeches commonly known to young adults.
When on social media, these presidential candidates should ensure fairness and provide no trace of bias. If anything most social media companies have connections with politicians. Since social media companies have connections with politicians, they might possibly work together for their own interest to receive much more profit. For instance, one media firm, Disney Company, which owns ABC and ESPN, provided more money to Republicans than to Democrats. Today in politics, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have raised more cash than any of the other candidates. One of Clinton’s super PAC is USA Action which announced that it will donate $5 million to help her throughout the election. Clinton has always denied there was much of a relationship between her super PAC (RealClearPolitics). According to Sanders, Clinton’s ties to her super PAC and the millions of dollars she receives in campaign donations have bought influence with Clinton (RealClearPolitics). In other words, any Republican who has ties with Wall Street are not to be trusted since their influence is being bought. The media and news are manipulated and are structured in such a way to take advantage of the public.
Senator Sanders is actively expressing the fraud within the media (RealClearPolitics). For example, Clinton and her wealthy partners get wealthier at the expense of the public. The public is slowly manipulated by her. Moreover, most news coverage do not cover the whole story and do not help the public gain any information or profits from the masses. In general, broadcasting and reporting of the media are carefully crafted to serve the interests of the elite and not the public (RealClearPolitics).
In addition, the media can sugar coat political information that average citizens cannot understand. They simplify information that normal, average citizens would not comprehend, so the media can have an idea of how these citizens would be affected by the information conveyed from politicians. Simplifying information can mislead the voting public, which is immoral since it causes the voting public to vote for the wrong candidate or not to participate in elections. For instance, to try to obtain the youth vote is a big aim for any candidate running for office. The youth vote strongly helps the candidate to surpass its competitors. In addition, the youth is the easiest age group to manipulate when it comes to elections because too many of them are not well-informed of politics (Wilson). Politicians do not clearly clarify issues to the public, as well as the media do not interpret the issues to the level of understanding to the citizens. This creates a negative effect to the number of people involved in political issues.
Voting and polling are significant in political campaigns. With polling, politicians are able to determine what the public likes and dislikes or what they want and do not want. The media aids politicians because the media shows politicians how the public would feel or be affected by policies instilled or proposed by these politicians. Most media outlets conduct polls themselves. During elections, proposed policies made by politicians are presented through the media and from there, politicians can determine if their policies would possibly help them win in elections. Polls are the passage of approval made by the public to politicians. Let’s say that Bernie proposed to terminate Obamacare when in office. After he proposed this policy, he sees less support from the public. As a result, Bernie would customize or tailor his policy that would let him possibly win. Polling is taken into consideration because they ultimately determine the way policies are created.
Throughout the essay, it is proven how the news media and television influence the political sphere in America. Through the usage of the media, it helps safeguard the public and its interest through the media outlet. The media transforms political ideologies into how they interpret and display events, as well as influence the voting public (Wilson). Even if it is the same issues or topic to write about, different media companies will have a different approach depending on the political party they support. Ultimately, by being bias the media can influence voters. Unfortunately, the media is now being used by negative factors such as profit, conflict of interest, and power.
Before modern times, candidates were accustomed to travel to fairgrounds and train depots to talk to families in their homes (Carr). It was normal to talk to families or use radios to get messages across the nation. Elections in the 1920s were far more intimate. For instance, Franklin D. Roosevelt developed a radio show where he would speak to the public. It was much more assuring. Then time fast forwards into the 1960s. Televisions were invented and it gave candidates the chance to be in the homes of every American citizen at the same time. Today, in the twenty-first century, citizens utilize their smartphones for news. It is easier to have news and information in the palms of their hands. The presidential campaign is happening throughout every device possible. The way politicians communicate with voters is changing. It is altering their content and tone (Carr). As time passes, the country expects more from their future leaders.
Image is important for any candidate running for office, but today that is not the case as it used to be. Trump is considered a troll and a joke for even running for office. However, his big, outspoken personality has caught the attention of various citizens. Trump knows how to maintain his personality to a level in which he still manages to receive more votes than any other Republican running against him. Candidates today compete for more attention and try to do whatever they can do to steal the spotlight from the other candidates. It is Bernie’s personality that crowned him the hash-tagged “feel the Bern” and it is the caustic Donald that persuades people to unfollow him.