If You Can't Say Anything Nice . . . Is the Media Too Negative?

"Sixty-four percent of the people polled in a class questionaire stated that the media should not report on the negative aspects of a candidate's personal life, but rather on the issues that are important to the welfare of America." VA

"The only stories that usually make the news are the things that are bad. Often the good points are overlooked, and something that is very minor may be blown totally out of proportion. . . It has to have an effect on a person to always be hearing the bad things about a certain candidate." MN

"I radomly picked some political cartoons from the Oregonian starting with the month of September to the month of November 1992. The political cartoons seem to focus on the negative aspects of each candidate, but I believe that these negative views is what makes the cartoon funny. I think it would be hard to get a laugh off the good things the candidates did rather than their mistakes. Although political cartoons have been around longer than the radio or television, they are still, I think, the best way to enjoy the elections along with giving you some information to form an opinion and choose a candidate." OR

"According to. . . Dr. S. Collier who conducted a recent survey, people are most likely to vote for the person about whom they see the most positive things. With fifty percent of the readers of magazines only flipping through the pages catching the pictures and the bold print, this could prove to have an extreme impact." KS

"Try to imagine these two events occurring in your day: first, overhearing a man teaching his son the importance of education in a heart-warming and inspirational speech; second, witnessing a drug-deal turn into a murder--two totally opposite events that create two totally opposite feelings, hope and fear. Which story would you be more prone to tell first to your family and friends? It is and always has been human nature to emphasize the negative rather than the positive. . . we must not blame the media for doing something that we are guilty of doing ourselves." TX

"The money from the research and air-time candidates spend saying bad things about their opponents, they can say twice as much good things about themselves." IL

"The important issues, like the national debt, taxes, and foreign policy, took a backseat to the media's scrutiny of the candidates' early lives. It is true that the candidates' individual flaws should be brought to the public's attention, but the bad qualities should not be the center of attention." AR

"(Pessimistic) reporting keeps the American voter from feeling secure about the candidate he or she chooses." WV

". . . the media should offer a positive image of our country instead of always looking for the faults." CA

"I find it extremely frustrating that all we hear and see are the negative aspects about the candidates. Therefore, we have a hard time choosing a candidate we respect for his positive side, and instead vote for the lesser of two evils. We should be hearing more of what they can do for our country, rather than what they are unable to do for it. This negative reporting tends to develop an uncomfortable feeling that anyone we decide to vote for will be insufficient and make poor decisions." OR

"Is Carol Mosely Braun really a thief and a racist, or does she have good ideas about how the government should be run? These are questions that cannot (or will not) be answered by our local media, because our local media has been concentrating more on her negative points during the past pre-election weeks." IL

"The media spends most of its time reporting on the negative side of the candidates' lives and very little time on building them up and showing what they can do for the country. They seem to show only what they cannot do. Rarely, if ever, does one see a news story giving a positive report on the private life of a candidate." SD

"One of the biggest problems in the news today is the amount of time spent covering the negative. Even issues such as Bill Clinton smoking marijuana and the Dan Quayle/Murphy Brown incident, that the public seemed to have lost interest in, were kept on a respirator by a scandal-hungry media." OR

"Reporters are sometimes too caught up with what the politician did wrong, than what the politician could do to make our country a better place." NY

"Reporters often ask a question so that the candidates cannot respond in a positive manner. This method of reporting causes a negative reaction towards the candidate from the viewers. The media also changes the context of a candidate's statement, sometimes only using parts of the statement." WV

"In my opinion, the role the media plays in the election process is scary." TN

"The media is out of hand and will only get worse over time unless something is done." NY

"Members of the media are known for their political mud-slinging and judgmental views." CA

"The media is insensitive to anything or anyone." AL

"...most journalists are by nature opportunists whose loyalties would never stop them from pursuing a career-making story." TX

"Society's busiest busybodies are the press, where, under cover of the Constitution, they expose, scold and ridicule public figures and sometimes win Pulitzer Prizes for it!" OK

"When made-for-ratings programming prevents the real decision-making factors . . . from reaching the public, then the media is not doing its job." OR

"The other winner of 1992 is the media, demonstrating its control on national politics and its unnecessary involvement in the personal affairs of the candidates. Its biased views and negative reporting have proven that it has become a bothersome, unfair, filthy institution, with its rightful place long since forgotten. When Thomas Jefferson made the comment, 'Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press,' he meant for the media to be a check on the government and a watchdog of the people's precious democracy, not an aid to the corruption and an accomplice to the thieves." OH

"Government's tool, the media, shuts the door on the public. The media seems to give power to the people, but it is the few chosen and wealthy who become participants in our government. The government does what the few chosen want and then the media tells the general public what the government did for the people." MO

"I will definitely think twice about believing what the media has to say when I am of the voting age." IL

"The problem with the media lies in the three areas: accountability, responsibility, and their attitude about news reporting." KS

"The only thing I can see the media has done that is really worthy is that they printed the great speech by Abraham Lincoln 'Four Scores and Seven Years Ago.'" IL