Wed, 04 Jun 2008

Coverage Across the Pond

Barak Obama has secured the Democratic nomination in the U.S. presidential election. A fact that the media in the U.S. seems to have conceded months ago. But, I was listening to coverage from the BBC last night and the reporter said that Hillary Clinton was desparately close to Obama over the last months. This is a term that the American media never used for the campaign. They seemed to favor Obama over Clinton rather than reporting the facts.

This brings up the topic of the media coverage of the elections. The goal of the media, after all, is not to report the facts, but to gain ratings. You wonder why we are talking about the media instead of the campaign itself. I think it's the fact that the media have such an influence on the elections. Most people never get within a 1,000 miles of a presidential candidate. Their only exposure to them is through the media -- either paid advertisements or news coverage. The paid advertisements bring in revenue to the media companies. The choice of coverage brings in ratings. Media organizations will choose their coverage to make sure that their ratings are maximized, not the information to the public about the campaign.

posted 06:18 [/Politics] permanent link