How the mainstream media chooses our political leaders for us
By: Brii Renee and Wes Messamore
The Humble Libertarian
We like to think of ourselves as independent minded when it comes to politics. In the most recent Gallup poll, independents (registered voters who are not affiliated with any political party) outnumber those affiliated with either major party:
(Republicans: 26% | Independents: 39% | Democrats: 32%)
But the mainstream media consisting of the most successful news mega corporations like News Corporation (Fox News, the Wall Street Journal), National Broadcasting Company Universal (NBC News, MSNBC), and Cable News Network (CNN) often chooses who advances to the general election for our highest elected public offices (like seats in Congress and POTUS) because whoever they give the most airtime to is most likely to win.
For instance, as the Washington Examiner reported in August of 2015, a study by the Media Research Center found that Donald Trump got nearly 10 times the amount of TV network coverage that all the other sixteen GOP candidates got combined since January 1st of that year. So of course he won the primary.
And here's a graph made by Jonathan Stray for Nieman Lab:
So if you really want to be an independent thinker, resist the urge to support a political candidate simply because a very powerful and influential media with an agenda of its own promoted them to you with the most free publicity. Decide what you really think for yourself about politics and then use the Internet to find which political candidates align most with how you think.
By: Brii Renee and Wes Messamore
The Humble Libertarian
We like to think of ourselves as independent minded when it comes to politics. In the most recent Gallup poll, independents (registered voters who are not affiliated with any political party) outnumber those affiliated with either major party:
(Republicans: 26% | Independents: 39% | Democrats: 32%)
But the mainstream media consisting of the most successful news mega corporations like News Corporation (Fox News, the Wall Street Journal), National Broadcasting Company Universal (NBC News, MSNBC), and Cable News Network (CNN) often chooses who advances to the general election for our highest elected public offices (like seats in Congress and POTUS) because whoever they give the most airtime to is most likely to win.
For instance, as the Washington Examiner reported in August of 2015, a study by the Media Research Center found that Donald Trump got nearly 10 times the amount of TV network coverage that all the other sixteen GOP candidates got combined since January 1st of that year. So of course he won the primary.
And here's a graph made by Jonathan Stray for Nieman Lab:
"This chart shows the number of times a candidate’s full name appeared in the top 25 online news sources, as a percentage of all mentions, for October to December of 2015. (Republican candidates were mentioned about twice as often as Democratic candidates overall, but this chart compares each candidate to the others within their party.) There’s an uncanny agreement between the media attention and each candidate’s standing in national primary polls. It’s a textbook correlation."
So if you really want to be an independent thinker, resist the urge to support a political candidate simply because a very powerful and influential media with an agenda of its own promoted them to you with the most free publicity. Decide what you really think for yourself about politics and then use the Internet to find which political candidates align most with how you think.
