The Media’s Effect on Student Voters
The constant availability of information has enabled people to be heavily engaged in this election cycle and has caused the younger population of voters to become more politically involved. This is due in part because of online networking groups, such as Facebook, an infinite amount of political blog sites, and a more open discourse around the issues. The process itself also allows the future leader of this country to hear what people have to say and address these issues more elaborately.As more conversation is generated, the more opinions there are. It therefore becomes difficult for viewers to distinguish what to believe, and it should be the media’s job to report on the truth and facts. A poll conducted on Facebook among people ages 19-25 illustrated that television and the Internet are the predominant sources of news, followed by newspapers and radio. Among the list of television stations, Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC were the top three stations, while others watched The Daily Show, Colbert Report, and C-Span. A small percentage of these voters accessed foreign newsgathering corporations, such as the BBC.
This election cycle has also spurred the growth of online viral videos and party slamming campaign tactics. The increasing amount of sensationalism takes away from issues that affect the future of our nation, such as the war in Iraq. However, eighty percent of the people polled felt as though the media coverage of the Iraq war did not affect their general outlook on the election. This statistic is interesting because the majority of the people that were questioned said Fox News was part of their daily newsgathering. Fox News, according to critics and some observers of the channel, say that this station promotes a conservative political position, although the channel disagrees with these allegations of bias. Rupert Murdoch, the creator of the channel, claims to have established Fox News to fill what he saw as a niche in the market for news that was "fair and balanced".
Regardless of the media outlet, the polling results of young voters found that the coverage did not change the way that they initially thought they would vote. It may be that people prefer to do their own research of what each candidate has said rather than rely on the media. In regards to coverage of the war, Peter Flynn, 24, said, “coverage of what is really going on in Iraq is few and far between, especially with election coverage. Reverend Wright has received more air time than issues surrounding the war.” Others claim to prefer reading soldiers’ blogs and unaffiliated journalists’ blogs to receive a more accurate portrayal of events.
Of the poll participants, seventy percent are voting for Democratic candidate Barack Obama, ten percent for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and ten percent were not voting. With only ten percent of the support for Republican candidate John McCain, it appears that although the participants watched Fox News, their opinion was not swayed by any conservative coverage that may have occurred. It is excellent that young voters are getting involved in the election, and it is also necessary for the mainstream media to continue to report stories that qualify as news in order to paint an accurate picture of what is happening. Ultimately, popular opinion means nothing if people do not go out and vote on Election Day.
Student Focus: Avoiding Media Bias
University of Massachusetts Amherst freshman Rachael Bazzett is optimistic about her first real opportunity to actively participate in the democratic process this November. The nineteen-year-old Uxbridge, Massachusetts native carries a bag imprinted with large bold letters that reads “PEACE NOT WAR.” Although her anti-war stance is shared by many college students, particularly on the widely liberal UMass Amherst campus, Rachael has made her decisions about the Iraq War and upcoming election in a different way than most of her peers. Skipping over CNN, Fox News, and The Daily Show, she gathers her information from what she considers “a much more neutral source.”
Growing up with a liberal mother and conservative father, politics has always been a sensitive and avoided topic in Rachael’s house: “It always ends up with my dad getting angry and not talking to anyone, so we just don’t really go there.” As a seventh grader during the 9/11 attacks, Rachael became interested in the political arena and foreign policy at a young age. “It was the first time in my life that I really felt unsafe being an American,” she said, and at age twelve began following the unfolding events in Washington and overseas. Since she never felt comfortable discussing such topics with her parents, she decided to seek out information on her own. She relied solely on the Internet, and found one news outlet that she felt was “free of American bias.” The British Broadcasting Company became Rachael’s primary source for political coverage.
While Rachael still uses BBC to follow the progress of the war and presidential race, she does not feel that media coverage of the war has strongly impacted her outlook on the election. “I’ve never been for the war itself, so since the beginning [of the race] I knew I would support either Clinton or Obama,” she said. She has decided on Barack Obama, favoring his plan of withdrawing troops over Hillary Clinton’s. Rachael describes the war as the deciding factor for her in the upcoming election, mainly because she is interested in international development. She has high hopes for peace and when asked about her career plans, replied simply: “I want to join the Peace Corps, build huts in Africa.”
Rachael tries to ignore mudslinging and viral videos and prefers to “. . .just focus on the issues. Foreign policy, healthcare, the environment, the things that are actually important. . .I don’t care about Rev. Wright, or what happened in Bosnia, or about things like physical appearance. I want someone in office who will make a difference.” She adds that although these things do show up on the BBC website, she finds it easier to avoid by not following American news outlets or consulting YouTube. In her opinion, society and media in America tend to focus too much attention on sensational stories rather than the things that will actually impact the United States, both in the near future and in the long run.
