Term Paper on "Election Coverage in Spain vs. The US"

Term Paper 7 pages (2440 words) Sources: 6 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Communications

Media Coverage of Presidential Elections:

The United States and Spain Compared

All across the globe, the media pay a major role in today's political campaigns. Television, newspapers, magazines, and increasingly, the Internet, help both to disseminate information about candidates, and to shape our understanding of the issues they represent. Many times, media outlets pick and choose from a variety of possible angles, casting one candidate as liberal or conservative, sympathetic or aloof, or knowledgeable or ignorant of what matters to the electorate. The sheer factor of media exposure can make or break a politician's or party's chances. The United States is currently in the midst of hard-fought presidential primary campaign. The Republican Party has already effectively picked its nominee, while Democrats continue to struggle over a choice between two candidates who seem ever more to be dividing their party into two powerfully opposed camps. Spain, too, recently witnessed a presidential election campaign in which two major parties faced off against each other, grappling for precious media praise. As in America, the Spanish campaign was influenced by the reports of newspapers and television stations. In the two nations, bloggers presented their own thoughts on the issues. Accusations were tossed out and, all too frequently, a serious candidate, or an even more profound political issue, was turned into a caricature. The media frequently emphasizes events and comments that may not reflect the real concerns of the electorate. A simple slogan, broadcast over the airwaves and across the Web, or plastered over every conceivable space in the form of stickers or posters, can change public perceptions of reality and move voters in suspected directions. In America, as in Spain, presidential election campaigns are fought and won in the media.

In the United States, the 2008 primary campaign has taken an interesting turn as the usual two party system has seemingly devolved into a three-way competition. The media finds itself taking the part of either Republican, John McCain, or the two Democratic contenders, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. A quick survey of magazines will reveal entirely opposed views on the candidates, their potentials, and even their "real" stance on the issues. The issues themselves are differently defined, what is important to one opinion-maker is insignificant to another. Many of the tactics employed by the various sides can be summed up in a statement by British columnist, Helena Kennedy, "I have just returned from the United States, where political insult and invective hit lows that would be considered beyond the pale in Britain. Race and sex stir deep emotions and there are undoubtedly deep hostilities in the presidential contest."

The reference to race and sex speak particularly to the controversies swirling endlessly around the two leading Democratic contenders - an African-American man and white Woman. Barack Obama is the first ever African-American candidate ever to be put forward as a viable candidate for the American presidency by either major political party. Clinton is likewise the first woman. Basing his campaign primarily on the perception that he "transcends race," and represents a new kind of politician who will bring "change" to the American landscape, Barack Obama has been helped out by the large segment of the media that views him in an essentially positive light: "He is simply likeable. But this likeability goes very deep. He has a kind of cool grace in almost all situations that indicates an underlying self-control remarkable in a relative novice."

That such issues of "personality" would play such major roles in the American campaign are telling. They speak to an obsession with the idea that candidates must appeal to voters on an intimate, personal level. In contrast, Hillary Clinton has been portrayed as, "smart, articulate, and disciplined... [having] not made major strategic mistakes in her primary campaign. But she is hampered by his-and-hers political baggage, a fact that is especially apparent when she is compared with the charismatic, seemingly post-partisan Obama.

The message is that Hillary, while knowledgeable and calculating, is unable to "connect" to the voters in quote the same way as her rival.

From early on, Clinton's candidacy also revealed another aspect of media coverage of the American presidential primary campaign - the tendency to bring in outside "influences" on a candidate. How individuals associated with a candidate shape public perceptions of that candidate is considered a fair topic for analysis and discussion. In Clinton's case, it is her relationship with her husband, former president Bill Clinton; his administration, and policies, which are considered to shape public views on her electability. More recently, Barack Obama and John McCain have come under fire for their associations with religious leaders considered controversial by many. Following evangelist John Hagee's endorsement of the Republican frontrunner, the media was awash with announcements that Hagee brought with him a "history of discriminatory comments about women, African-Americans, Jewish-Americans, Catholics, Muslim Americans, LGBT Americans, and the victims of Hurricane Katrina."

The idea was that the endorsement somehow reflected on McCain's own views toward those groups, a significant consideration in an America that is increasingly diverse and concerned with achieving equal rights and opportunity for all. Obama has been similarly dogged by inflammatory statements made by his long-time former preacher, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. From the Internet's YouTube to virtually every major television news program, newspaper, and magazines there have come an endless stream of critique and comment. Commenting on Wright's widely publicized sermon,

The government gives them the drugs, building bigger prisons, passes a three- strike law and then wants us to sing God bless America? No, no, no. Not God bless America, God damn America. That's in the Bible, for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating its citizens as less than human,"

Fox News' Bill O'Reilly noted, "Barack Obama is put in a very difficult position."

For political purposes, Wright's words are directly linked with Obama's personal opinions. The fact that Wright would exhort his followers to cry, God damn America!" is viewed a smear on the candidate's patriotism. Wright's other charges raise questions about Obama's beliefs, values, and judgment in supporting a man who expresses views widely seen as suspect by millions of voters.

The Spanish Campaign, too, presents its own carefully crafted images. The two major candidates, incumbent Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodr'guez Zapatero of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, and leading challenger Mariano Rajoy of the People's Party, faced off over issues both familiar and new. Unlike in America, Spain's executive and legislative branches are not separate. The President is the leader of the majority party, or coalition of parties, in the nation's parliament. Further, the members of parliament are chosen from lists of candidates drawn up by their respective parties. The public, in other words, votes for the party and not the man. Zapatero, in fact, represents a coalition of largely socialist parties. As in America, the media frequently criticizes itself for not taking the proper view of particular candidates. Commenting on the recent presidential debate, German Yanke, a correspondent for the conservative paper ABC observed that,

The media has taken over the role of the politicians, but has no program of its own beyond anecdotes and image.... It deals only with minutiae, not the contrast of political visions. The debate was Mr. Rajoy's last chance, and Mr. Zapatero was more effective. But there was no real debate, just a dispute over details. It was disappointing, a wasted opportunity."

The two parties theoretically present major differences in program, but the media tends to emphasize only small differences in personal style, or minor variations on a theme. The claim is that voters are essentially misled by being submerged in a sea of details, unable to see the ultimate horizon offered by the respective candidates.

Indeed as in the United States, presidential campaigns depend on drumming up emotional support for or reactions to the different candidates. A photograph from Getty Images captures a middle aged woman holding a sign with three pictures of a broadly smiling Rajoy.

Above him is the word "Votanos," and below "Gracias."

Behind stands a young woman, cell phone camera in hand - she is evidently filming the candidate. Such images should be familiar to Americans. Not only is there the obvious enthusiasm of the two women, but the mix of ages that that is deemed so essentially to conveying the message that the candidate possesses widespread support. Even the "technologies" employed by the two women speak to the generational differences - "the low tech" of a homemade sign, and the "high tech" of the latest portable personal communications device. A blogger's poem on the Internet, laments the Spanish emphasis on political slogans:

Not good news for Spain, where very mediocre candidates run the show.

With just slogans.

Repeated 24/7 by the media.

The emphasizing of image over substance is a problem common to both the Spanish and American systems. Based on media presentations that only touch lightly on the issues - or more particularly, underscore minor points of disagreement - the public becomes conditioned to… READ MORE

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