It was a historic night for The Tonight show. It was the first time a sitting president appeared on the show, and the president to do so was America's first African American president, Barack Obama.
President Obama had earlier appeared on an ESPN show and discussed his picks for the upcoming NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, and now was talking about a variety of things to host Jay Leno.
Obama's first appearance was part of a larger campaign to persuade the American public about his proposed economic plan to help America recover from a recession, and he showed his characteristic wit and charm during the interview.
Pavlik, J. V., & McIntosh, S. (2013). Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, 3rd Ed (3rd ed.). : .
As President Obama's talk show appearance illustrates, there have been dramatic changes in recent years regarding media and politics.
Journalism has long considered itself the main conduit through which politicians inform the public, thereby playing a key role in democratic processes. Journalism is the mechanism through which the public obtains unbiased, impartial information about candidates for office, sitting elected officials, and the agencies they represent and operate. Entertainment has played an increasingly important role in helping political candidates create a more down to earth image, with appearances on late night talk shows and even comedy shows like Saturday Night Live now becoming the norm. "Fake News" shows such as The daily show, or The Colbert Report are often a main source of political news for young people.
Pavlik, J. V., & McIntosh, S. (2013). Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, 3rd Ed (3rd ed.). : .
Pavlik, J. V., & McIntosh, S. (2013). Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, 3rd Ed (3rd ed.). : .
Furthermore, the Internet and other types of online communication have not only become important information sources for the public but played key roles in helping candidates organize and raise funds. Candidates have had their political careers ruined thanks in part to the ease of distribution of video and documents. A case in point was Virginia senator George Allen, who on a campaign stop during the 2006 election publicly called an opponent's campaign worker of Indian descent "macaca," a racial slur for African immigrants used in Europe. The video of Allen saying this at the rally was widely spread on the Internet, leaving an indelible impression of Allen's character that no amount of press release apologies could successfully whitewash or counter.
Pavlik, J. V., & McIntosh, S. (2013). Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, 3rd Ed (3rd ed.). : .
Pavlik, J. V., & McIntosh, S. (2013). Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, 3rd Ed (3rd ed.). : .
POLITICAL ISSUES WITH MEDIA
Radio and Television are often used to reach persons in remote agricultural regions and developing countries to provide information on health issues, agricultural techniques, and government policies. Broadcast stations are often among the first places taken in coup, as those in power or those wishing to gain power. Realize the importance of controlling the means of distributing information. Print media are often used to foster the business development of a region, although their effectiveness is limited in countries with low literacy rates or where many different languages are spoken. Pavlik, J. V., & McIntosh, S. (2013). Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, 3rd Ed (3rd ed.). : .
Foreign governments tend to control the content of their mass communication organizations, especially television and radio, far more than is seen in The United States. In some cases, broadcasting stations are entirely government owned or government run, while in other cases licensing restrictions for television sets or media devices such as satellite dishes limit the ability of the public to have complete access to the media. Pavlik, J. V., & McIntosh, S. (2013). Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, 3rd Ed (3rd ed.). : .
THE ROLE OF MEDIA IN POLITICAL ELECTIONS.
Since the earliest days of the Republic, the media have been intimately involved in our political process. The colonial newspapers were a "partisan" press, typically aligned with a particular political party or trying to persuade the public of a certain viewpoint. Since the first use of radio in political campaigning, in 1924, the electronic media have played an increasingly important part in political elections. In both 1936 and 1940, while the majority of newspapers throughout the United States openly endorsed Republican candidates for office, radio had become the more heavily used medium by Democrats. Pavlik, J. V., & McIntosh, S. (2013). Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, 3rd Ed (3rd ed.). : .
President Roosevelt was masterful in his use of radio to reach the masses, providing his regular "Fireside Chats" during both the 1930's and 1940's. Pavlik, J. V., & McIntosh, S. (2013). Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, 3rd Ed (3rd ed.). : .
THE IMPACT OF NEGATIVE ADVERTISING
Some people say that political advertising is no different than other product advertising, except that in a political campaign there is a one day sale. It is this mentality that drives the industry. As a result, many candidates gravitate toward negative advertising. Although some of the paid political spots on television are intended to simply provide information about the candidate and his or her position on the issues, the ads that have captured the most criticism and research have been the negative ads.
Pavlik, J. V., & McIntosh, S. (2013). Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, 3rd Ed (3rd ed.). : .
POLITICAL DEBATES
One of the most important areas of political communication is the debate. Ever since the great debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas during the U.S. Senate race of 1858, debates have been a proving ground for candidates to test their mettle against an opponent and for the voting public to better understand both the character and the content of each candidate.
Arguably the most important debate between U.S. presidential candidates in the 20th century occurred in 1960, when for the first time presidential candidates debated live on broadcast television and radio. The debate pitted John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon against each other. Research conducted at the time showed that among those who watched the debate on television, Kennedy, who was handsome and well groomed, was rated clearly superior. Nixon, whose dark stubble and "shifty" eyes gave him a more sinister look.
Pavlik, J. V., & McIntosh, S. (2013). Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, 3rd Ed (3rd ed.). : .
Meanwhile, on radio, with listeners only able to hear the candidates voices, the clear winner was deemed to be Nixon because it seemed he had the more convincing arguments. Kennedy ultimately won the presidential contest in an extremely close election, and it is not clear weather the debate was the deciding factor. But it has been the touchstone for televised campaigning ever since. Today it is a given that one's television persona is an essential quality in winning an election. Pavlik, J. V., & McIntosh, S. (2013). Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, 3rd Ed (3rd ed.). : .
THE ROLE OF YOUTUBE
YouTube played a major role in helping Obama, according to Arianna Huffington, founder of the influential blog the Huffington Post. By being able to post videos that the public could watch when it wanted to, without commercials, candidates could speak at greater length than in the sound-bite culture that dominates the mainstream news. YouTube also allowed people to watch repeatedly and to forward videos to friends. YouTube purposely positioned itself to play a potentially important role in the elections by launching the YouTube You Choose 08 campaign, which gave presidential candidates their own YouTube channels. YouTube also encouraged people to videotape their questions to candidates during a series of debates, called the CNN/YouTube debates, and worked with video the vote, and organization that has people videotape difficulties with voting. Pavlik, J. V., & McIntosh, S. (2013). Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, 3rd Ed (3rd ed.). : .
The success of these efforts likely surprised even YouTube itself, and some commentators have called 2008 the YouTube election. The implications for future campaigns are only starting to be analyzed by scholars and political consultants, but the changes brought by YouTube are even more remarkable given that YouTube did not even exist during the presidential election of 2004, and it is owned by Google, itself barely ten years old. Pavlik, J. V., & McIntosh, S. (2013). Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, 3rd Ed (3rd ed.). : .
CHANGING RULES FOR POLITICIANS
The Changes brought to political campaigns by YouTube, Facebook, and other Web 2.0 social media technologies are still not fully understood and will likely change as technologies continue to evolve. However, there are some fundamental shifts that are already apparent from the 2008 presidential campaign. As candidates from both parties learned, to their dismay, there is no such thing anymore as an "off the record" event. It used to be that the journalists attending fund-raisers or other events that were off the record respected that whatever was said there by a candidate could not be reported on. But now, with a variety of citizen journalists and bloggers attending such events, there is no guarantee that the rules will be respected. Pavlik, J. V., & McIntosh, S. (2013). Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, 3rd Ed (3rd ed.). : .
SOURCES:
Pavlik, J. V., & McIntosh, S. (2013). Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, 3rd Ed (3rd ed.). : .
www.Google.com
www.Youtube.com
