The Farce That is a Presidential Race

Like I have mentioned in previous posts and like the class has discussed, the media has taken it upon itself, with the support of corporate America and the Executive Branch, to become a shaper of public opinion. Media has done this by deciding which news items to cover, how to cover each news item, what news actually is and what the public should know.

This new influence that media holds over the common people has greatly disrupted our society and continues to shape our government into a tool of industry, which directly violates the principles set forth by the Founding Fathers at the Constitutional Convention and those present during the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. The influence of the media has extended greatly into the government by severely impacting presidential campaigns. Like Parenti describes in his article "Inventing Reality," the media makes judgments about candidates character and their potential effectiveness as President, as demonstrated with the media's focus upon Hilary Clinton's laugh, Howard Dean's yell and Al Gore's sigh. Using this tactic, the media attempts to downplay the integrity of a candidate, make a deliberate and misguided attack on a candidate's character and blatantly attempt to influence public opinion claiming that the candidate will have lost support due to their action, when in fact the public does not care anything about a laugh, yell or sigh. The media also influences the elections by deciding what is news worthy. In most cases, the media focuses on events such as a candidate going out and kissing babies or something of that nature instead of highlighting a candidate's policy and summarizing a candidate's response in lay mans terms from a debate from the night before.

This disgusting violation of the principles of media should not be tolerated because it is influencing public opinion and changing the way our government works. In the past corporations and government officials would be taken to court and the Supreme Court would rule certain things unconstitutional, but why the lackadaisical attitude towards media? I do not know the answer to that question, but I do know that the actions of today's media are unconstitutional and are changing the frameworks of the American government and without immediate action the election process and government will become a farce.