The Way Things Really Are -- Does the Media have Undue Influence?

"In recent years, the media has changed its role for the worse. Today it is the reporter of private lives and scandals along with the issues of the campaign." NH

"The media has photographers follow the people around that are running for president of the United States to take a picture of their every move. The press takes pictures, for instance, of Tsongas in the swimming pool, Clinton getting off an airplane, Clinton holding a saxophone in the crowd of people and also Clinton and his wife standing by a tree and hugging. The media should stay out of people's personal lives; they can't even go swimming without a person from the news team there taking a picture." SD

"Jerry Rothman Serot and her opponent were running for a Missouri State Office. The campaign ads were not about the qualifications or important events that would help in office, but how much money the other spent on a house or child care." MO

"Intertwining TV and politics, journalists have gotten into a vicious battle to keep up with each other and learned an important factor on the way--- gossip sells." VA

"Reading the newspaper and magazines or watching the news on television is no longer only about trying to learn more concerning our nation and world news; it's more like reading or watching a soap opera to see who is stabbing whom in the back" WI

"The candidates of the 1992 election year treated the media as a pet. They fed it whatever lies and smut their campaigns could discover and hoped it would not devour the hands that gave it life...The media has gone from being an organization of truth, to one that forces people to cover it up." OH

"If candidates want to dig up trash and put each other down they should do it face to face. I think cutting a guy down is a total misuse of the media." MN

"One of the networks even concentrated on the individual characters of each presidential candidate for three straight nights. The correspondents and reporters probed into past videos excerpting sound bites and airing them out of context. (They) researched the biographical history of the candidates, citing any instances that could spark yet even more controversies." MD

"Media personnel are spending far too much time trying to make an interesting story and end up not covering the real issues adequately." KS

"Many times the dirt is not brought to the surface by the media, but rather from tips of campaign opposition investigators." OR

"The strengths and positive qualities of the presidential candidates are often drowned out by the dirt that is dug up on each of them." IL

"Mud-slinging is a proper term for journalistic attacks because mud sticks to a person, dries, and is sometimes difficult to remove. That is what happens when the media attacks a candidate with a negative journalistic review--it sticks to the person, stays there through continuous reference to it, and try as they might, it is very hard to overcome it." OH

"Reporters were bumping into one another here in Arkansas trying to dig up some dirt on Bill Clinton. When he started getting ahead in the polls . . . it really got bad." AR

"It is a sad fact that people are more knowledgeable about Bill Clinton's alleged infidelity than about his national health care proposal." WI

". . . the fact that Bill Clinton had an extra-marital affair should not be public knowledge. It will not make him a worse President." KS

". . . it is none of the voting public's business what candidates for national office do after the lights go out." SD

"For years, there was sort of a gentlemen's agreement among reporters who covered public figures that certain issues were off limits. Many presidents, ranging from Warren G. Harding to Franklin Roosevelt to John Kennedy were widely known to be conducting extramarital affairs. Yet reporters, for the most part, avoided the subject in print." PA

"We have gone from a time when the personal lives of candidates were more or less off-limits to a time when they are discussed in detail. In a way, I think this is good; however we cannot believe much of the propaganda that we hear. We should be alert and disciplined in the way we deal with this material." OK

"Scandal stories were first routinely seen in tabloids, then they were carried somewhere deep inside a newspaper; however, now they are slated for the front page. Why the change in standards? If this pace is to continue, what will the next generation see on their front page? The same standards apply to television; the more salacious the story, the more coverage. The new standard seems to say 'A rumor's circulating; dig something up about it. Being first to cover it or print it is better than being right.'" MO

"Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Dwight D. Eisenhower had sexual encounters that the media never touched. Why the change? They (the media) no longer live by a code. Today, the media doesn't just inform us in order to regulate criminal acts, they do so to gain listeners or readers and fame. As a result of this immoral form of reporting, the campaigns have resorted to dirty pool. If something horrible comes out about one candidate, that party makes sure the same happens to the rest." SD

"Bill Clinton's success in candidacy shows that the Americans can distinguish public life from the private; Clinton's personal scandal as reported by the media did not destroy his campaign." MN

"As the election is drawing closer to an end, the media is realizing that the American people are disgusted with all the rubbish being dug up on candidates and they are now more interested in the issues and the candidates themselves than all the name-calling and mud-slinging that has been going on recently." MD

". . . a lot of the people in the press do not know when to use their best judgment, such as printing what the president's cat is doing! During the time that the reporters wasted, they could have used this precious, expensive time to tell more about Clinton's qualifications and if he can run this country effectively." SD

"In the few weeks before election day, Bush was always proclaiming that 'We don't care about the polls!' But what he did not realize was that the polls are also a powerful device in the shaping of public opinion." OH

"If the voter is somehow manipulated or controlled into forming his opinion about the candidates, and thus casting his ballot in a certain way, then in actuality, the. . .voter's opinion, and consequently, his vote, is determined largely by the information that he absorbs through TV, radio, newspapers, etc. The voter is unable to contest the control of the media simply because he lacks the resources and the time to do his own research on each of the candidates. Any information that the voter uses to form his view of the candidates is spoon-fed to him by the reporters, and so, just as the puppeteer is responsible for the movements of the marionette, the media is responsible for the decision of the voter." MD

"The way the media convinces people is through a kind of brainwashing. How many times have you fallen asleep watching TV or sing a song you heard on the radio all day long because you could not get it out of your head? When you hear things over and over, you accept them as your own thoughts." PA

"Influence is what the media gives us. They say to us pick this candidate because he was a Boy Scout, and he supports the death penalty. Support him because he was a blue collar worker like most Americans. The media gives us reasons for support that we can relate to but sometimes leaves out important details. It is a proven fact that if a person is told something over and over again, the person will start to believe it. If you don't hear about anyone else or an opposing opinion, you may start to believe what they are telling you. Repetition is also a tool used by the media, and if we aren't aware, they may get to us." OH

"The news is followed with commentaries on what the news really means. Not only does the media present the issues and campaigns of their choice, they also tell the public what to think." SD