Media Power
"Does the media wield too much power in America?"Today, with all of our advanced technology, the media influences our lives more than ever. Whether it is television, radio, newspapers, magazines or the Internet, the media has a huge impact on American lives. In the last fifty years alone the media has in some way or form shaped just about every aspect of American life. The media tells us everything, from what kind of laundry detergent we should use to who we should vote for for president. The greatest impact the media has is that on politics. The media shapes America's interest in politics, the type of candidates that will run for office, and even tells us what to think about candidates and issues. The media affects American interest towards politics by only showing us what they want us to see. If there are many issues in a certain campaign, the media will focus on the ones they believe to be the most important, they may leave others out completely. We become interested in certain areas of politics because we hear about them very often, and we lose interest very fast because we are always being bombarded with new bigger things. There is usually always a much greater turn out to vote for president than there is to vote for se
When was the last time a horribly ugly president was elected, it was probably in the 1800's with the election of Abe Lincoln, and look at what a great president he was. But a candidates appearance is not the only thing that plays a part in getting them elected. Ads are made for entertainment, to make a candidate look good and to encourage people to vote for them. This happens because there is more media coverage of the presidential race than there is of a senate or house of representative race. Most Americans don't want someone to be elected to represent them because they look like the kind of person that would do a good job, we want them to have to prove to us that they can do the job and that they can do it better than anyone else. Years ago many people would vote solely based on the party they affiliated themselves with, if they were a democrat they voted democratic along the entire ballot, vise versa for republicans. Today, anyone can turn on the television or go to a web site on the Internet and see the candidates themselves talking about their issues. Political ads lead to a great deal of uninformed voting. They portray events and dialogues in particular ways so that you will think something was said one way when it may have been meant to be taken another way. To sum it up, most American's believe what they are told, and the media takes advantage of this, in a way brainwashing America to believe what they want us to. I do believe that the media does wield too much power in America, they should not be allowed to present biased news to the public and let them make up their own minds on what they want to believe. The candidate with the most money will be able to run more ads and will most likely have a better chance of winning because they received more exposure to the public. Viewers will see it and think, "that is the kind of person I want running my country", and they will go and vote with no other knowledge about the election at all. Now, more than ever Americans place excessive importance on appearance. This has nothing to do with if they are the better candidate for the job, it just sells their good points and gets their name known.
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Acceptance Essays
