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

"The media should have been reporting on candidates and issues, not on misspellings and rumors." TN

"What the media must understand is that they are the catalysts for improvement." MD

"It is the media's job to inform the viewer and listener, not to educate his opinions. . . Most listeners have full-time jobs and families to support. Some have very little time to find the facts about the election themselves and depend on and turn to the media to do the job for them...It is much easier to flip on the television than to spend hours reading and researching and newspapers and magazines. Consequently, if the media's information is false, the viewer suffers." SD

"Like the antagonist of a well written novel, it (the media) slowly increased its power over the candidates until it had almost full control. It searched for well hidden secrets, from avoided drafts to Nixon connections." OH

"The media amounts to a fourth branch of the government. It is a branch which holds the same powers of checks and balances, although the checks outweigh the balances. The media continuously checks the government by reporting to the people, while the government tries to maintain balance by using the courts, ruling on the ethics of the media. The point being made is, how much better suited is the media, another branch of the government, in choosing a candidate than either of the major parties? How well can this judgment be trusted?" PA

"Because of our government's size and complexity, we the people cannot simply investigate every questionable matter in our federal system. If we are unable to be the watchdogs, then shouldn't an institute that was not mentioned in the Constitution be used to monitor and report the doings of our government? MD

"These three topics: lack of coverage, too much emphasis on unimportant issues, and the making and breaking of campaigns show the large role the media have in choosing our candidates for national office." IL

"The media is vital to the election process. It is the most important communication we have. While free press should always be preserved, so should media standards. Character bashing and manipulation are useless to voters. Voters should be given only important information and the candidates' plans." KS

"In 1944, Franklin Roosevelt was slowly dying. This fact was known by the press but it was kept from the public. The press felt that it was not in the best interest of the country to report that the president of the United State was dying." MD

". . . the press is the one source of public information that a politician cannot control and should not be able to control." PA

"If the media is biased it is because they are only responding to what the people want . . .When the media restricts themselves to what they perceive the public wants, they are in a way restricting the very freedom of press often used to defend themselves." TX

"The media's power to report and cover what it deems important may be healthy for the media, but is unfair too and bad for the political process." IL

"The issues were pushed into the background as the race became a contest to see who could get out the most scandalous piece of information. The media turned what is one of the most important activities in the entire world into a three ringed circus." PA

"(How does one know the future? Isn't the past the only indicator?) "When a voter goes to the polls the focus should be on the future not on the past. But because of the the media and also the voters, the whole election is focussed on the wrong things." MI

"Former Senator John Tower of Texas was nominated to be Secretary of Defense, but was rejected for that position after being charged with 'decades-old, unverifiable boozy womanizing.' He was unpopular with his colleagues in the Senate and the relevance of his private behavior to the Pentagon duties was never made quite clear. Another such case was a rumor that (Senator) Charles Robb had observed illegal drug use at parties he attended several years ago in Virginia Beach. However, the Washington Post stated its inability to confirm the truth of that rumor while still placing it on the front page. Whatever happened to the American right of 'innocent until proven guilty?' Even though the media doesn't directly say 'Yes, the candidate did it and has no right to be in a public office,' that candidate will be scarred. . ." MO

"The media can determine elections in several different ways. First, they can report on a candidate's past record and personal life. Second, they can incorrectly release information on a candidate who is trying to run for office. Next, they can back a candidate by declaring their support for that candidate. Also, the media can take polls that supposedly show how people will vote on election day. Finally, the media can declare a candidate a winner before all the results are tallied." KS

"Numerous political magazines and news stations state their opinion of who they think will win, who they think should win and who, in their opinion, is winning. These statements (influence) . . ." KY

"When the press starts tainting the facts with its opinions or becomes involved in the mudslinging, it starts to program the people. This programming comes in the form of propaganda. This propaganda consists of articles that catch your attention with flashy titles. . . Finally on election day, when the people go to the polls, they pull the levers that they were programmed to. They do this with the same lack of consciousness that a rat has when running a maze. In essence, the media is completely undermining the democratic system. By programming us to their way of thinking they are attempting to personally decide who wins the election. If this is the way we want things to be, then we should just drop the election process and turn the decision over to the media." PA