Media Coverage and the Election: Did it Make any Difference?

CBS senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield discusses how the 2008 election was covered in the mainstream media, the full-throated emergence of new media (whose impact was real but vastly overrated), and how "real" events drove the outcome. He posits that this election, like many (but not all) past ones, was shaped by political factors that were largely outside the media's sphere of influence Series: Carsey-Wolf Center for Film, Television, and New Media at UCSB [9/2009] [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 17094]

Category:

Education

Tags:

• 2008
• election
• media
• news
• Jeff
• Greenfield
• CBS

[drpsionic]

It would be an improvement if this were edited to get rid of the babbling idiots doing the interminable introductions of people no one cares about.

[lordennis01]

It was interesting what Noam Chomsky had to say about this guy.

[nurbsenvi]

yeah it's like seeing bad acting part of semi-porn.

[prheusse]

To be clear, I am not pushing the notion that Obama got elected by the media, by no means. I simply stating the painfully obvious, though easily glossed over FACT that the media may and DOES choose to omit not only key information, but also key images, that could quite easily tell a more full holistic story of what is actually going on in the world today. Instead, we get watered down, insultingly dumbed-down information. Don't be fooled by this guys rhetoric. News media influences everything

[prheusse]

Furthermore, this guys contentions are so blatantly influenced by the same media he has worked for. To be blunt, lets get real here. OFCOURSE mainstream tv news influences elections. The issue is less whether they influence elections one way or another..the problem is that they provide unprecedented weak, pathetic, context lacking information. It isn't what the media DOES day..it is what they consciously choose to omit in order to save make money for their advertisers and corporate comrades.

[prheusse]

Lets come off this idea that the media is somehow leftist. The content and stories that fill the airways of CNN, FOX MSNBC etc. are at the very most mildly influenced by these apparently closet-liberal journalists and reporters. Of course, at the end of the day information is controlled only by CEOs, presidents, and the higher-ups. IE the Ruper Murdochs of the world (perhaps not all so extreme) but still, WASPS fiscal conservatives nevertheless. Dig deep enough, and all media is conservative.