Media and Politics

The media is everywhere and can come in many forms. No matter what form of media is most influential to you; it does have an impact on how you make decisions and what your beliefs are. In the 2012 election, the use of social media and the internet was larger than ever before in previous elections. Information is easily available to you in seconds depending on which medium you prefer to use. There are multiple advantages of the media in political and civic affairs, but can also cause some problems when choosing who to vote for.


The media is largely responsible for the spread of information and the enhancement of civic affairs. The benefit of the media is that it makes information easily accessible and enables you to have a diverse amount of sources in which you can get information from. There are so many different forms of technology and sources from which people get their information from in the present age. Everyone has their preference on where they decide to get information and in some situations, the more sources you use, the more educated and different perspectives you will get out of it. Social media sites allow individuals to be open and voice their opinions about politics and other civic affairs.

Blogging websites allows you to also voice your opinion and participate in politics. Websites like YouTube enable people to watch coverage such as debates and other newsworthy videos very easily after they have happened if they were to miss them when they originally aired. People can also use multiple sources at one time to get multiple perspectives on debates or other political programs. When polling ISU students, multiple students said they used more than one source such as watching a debate on TV while also looking at the Twitter feed on the debates. Social media also played a large role in encouraging people to vote and to also show pride when they did vote. People could check in at polling stations on Facebook and post pictures on Instagram of their “I voted” sticker.

Although the media can be very helpful and beneficial in enhancing political and civic affairs, there are some disadvantages. Some people take their freedom of speech to the extreme and post very controversial posts on the internet and new sources. It is very important to keep in mind which sources are credible and reliable. Many people believe everything they hear about a candidate or politics instead of looking into the credibility of the information reported. Sources try to be the first to report information and do not take the time to make sure information is credible before printing it. The media may also create a bias that may sway different people on how they choose to vote or if they will even vote at all. A perfect example of this is the state of Illinois. The media always focuses on that Democrats always take the state of Illinois, therefore people think that their vote is a waste of time and do not vote. The entertainment factor of the news is very popular and can take away from the hard news pertaining to the election. Many television shows and late night talk shows like to make fun of and spoof different political candidates which may negatively influence someone’s opinion on who someone decides to vote for. According to Robert Entman, “Journalism falls short of the free press ideal; too much of the public remains ignorant and disconnected from politics; and elites compulsively and often successfully manage the news to foil accountability”.

I think it is very crucial for the media takes steps that encourages and better connects citizens to politics and the workings of the government. I think it is important to make information easily accessible and easily understandable. Credibility is also huge when it comes to connecting people to information. If the media publishes untrue information, then it discourages people and makes them question the information and the source from which that information came from. People want short, simple explanations because not everyone has the time to do a lot of research. The media can have such a large influence on how people make decisions so I believe that the media has the job of being fair and balanced in its reporting. I think that ISU did a great job of encouraging and connecting students to the election by having the watch parties for each debate and also the night of the election. It gave students an opportunity to come together and learn from each other. The media needs to present information about politics and other topics that are not as glamorous in a way that sucks readers in and should also work to take a human interest twist on the topic.

Overall, the media’s role in shaping a person’s opinion and informing them on important issues such as civic affairs and politics can be very influential. The media is responsible for publishing true and credible information as soon as something happens, but it does not always work out that way. People need to realize what sources are credible and which sources are not. Our job as an American citizen is to be informed on political matters and actively participate in politics. In a poll of ISU students, a lot of people did not think they were going to vote in the election this year because of different reasons. It is in the media’s best interest to take the reasons of why people did not vote in this election and come up with different tactics for the next election to capture these voter’s opinions. The use of social media in this election was bigger than ever before and I think that the use of social media and the different forms of it will continue to grow.

Journalists and the media need to work to educate American citizens on important issues on what is going on in the world in order for people to make informed, educated decisions in all aspects of politics and civic affairs.