Max Layden

Ms. Gordon
AP Government and Politics
8/22/16
Media Framing and the 2016 Presidential
Election
When Friedrich Nietzsche prophesized the death of God, he did

not literally mean that a supernatural being had died. He was referring

to the rise of Secularism, and its direct contradiction with the essence

of Abrahamic faiths. In the same manner, sensational journalism has

risen, in a direct contradiction with the essence of our version of

democracy. In other words, politics is dead, and weve killed it. We, in

this case, means the people of the United States along with the media.

The death of politics was not the goal of the medias nefarious tactics,

but a side effect of a system of framing information. Rather than a

mirror (or simulation) of reality, the news is described more accurately

as a refracted version of reality (Patterson 316). However, in order to

begin any analysis of the death of politics, one must first define media

framing. Media framing (in the context of politics) is the way that the

contemporary gives us parts of news in order to construct a certain

type of story. The media abuses their power as common-carriers of

information in order to gain capital, which has in turn resulted in a shift

to the spectacle of politics.

It is undisputed that the media acts as gatekeepers, giving us

information. Overall, the media has four functions, outlined by Thomas

Patterson in the American Democracy..These functions are: the

signaling function, the common-carrier function, the partisan function,

Max Layden
Ms. Gordon
AP Government and Politics
8/22/16
and watchdog function. The signaling function alerts the public of

breaking news, such as natural disasters, or terrorist attacks. The

common-carrier function is the role that allows the media to act as a

filter for what candidates say. The partisan function gives a specific set

of news to specific groups with similar political interests. The watchdog

function allows the media to call out public figures or organizations

when they are being criminal or unethical. All of these functions have

contributed to the downfall of American political process, but the

common carrier function has done the most damage.

The expectation that the media will tell us what is news has

resulted in the media telling us what we want hear, by giving us bites

of information. Thomas Patterson writes on this subject, saying for

every minute that presidential candidates spoke on the network

evening newscasts, the journalists that were covering them spoke for

more than five minutes. The medias use of the common-carrier

function allows them to construct stories of a horse race with people

at the track (or tuning in to their televisions) cheering on their

candidates.

The construction of a horse race is extremely beneficial to the

media because it sells advertising space and grows viewership. People

love to see a spectacle, and corporations love to see people watch

their advertisements. The media loves money. CNN, MSNBC, and Fox
Max Layden
Ms. Gordon
AP Government and Politics
8/22/16
are all part of for-profit businesses, and the main way to rake in

revenue is by selling ads. For-profit media gave rise to Fox news and

MSNBC. These businesses play to different ends of the political

spectrum, but they both tell people what they want to hear. This

attracts large viewership and keeps everyone happy (the media, bus-

iness, and the people), all the while hiding the truth.

In the 2016 presidential election, even the notorious Donald

Trump (although deserving) has been a recipient and target of media

framing. His Obama founded ISIS quote was taken out of context,

and was breaking news for many media outlets. Already a proven

originator of the birther movement against Obama, it was easy for the

media to frame Donald Trump, in this moment, as an ignorant bigot

who hates Obama because he thinks hes Muslim. However, its

possible that Trump was making a nuanced (but nonetheless false)

argument against Obamas tactics of pacifism in the Middle East.

The impacts of media framing are ever-present in politics today.

Donald Trump (and others of his type) may serve as an illustration of

any sort of power-structure, even of the way politics works. We may

analyze this as a caricature of democracy, as a grotesque parody of it

(Baudrillard 12). In other words, Donald Trumps success is a product of

a system of spectacular politics, where elections function as a sporting

event, with voters as fans and politicians as players. Media Framing is

Max Layden
Ms. Gordon
AP Government and Politics
8/22/16
what makes this all possible, feeding the people stories of a close

race, and fulfilling our thirst for tabloid scandal. The construction of

politics as a spectacle is the death of politics as we know it, of

American democracy, and of the entire political process. It negates the

most sacred right of American Citizens, the right to choose their

leaders.

The media doesnt just skew the correct leadership choices; its

opposing discourses have caused intense political gridlock. Up until

1987, there was the Fairness Doctrine, a set of FCC rules requiring

that all networks give equal air time to all candidates for the same

position. Once repealed this happened, the partisan function was

created. News organizations could now unabashedly support one party,

and for every leftist media outlet, a conservative outlet was created.

This has contributed to political gridlock in such a way that all social

progress is stagnant.

Stagnant social progress is never good, especially in the face of

gratuitous violence from police, and potential mass deportation. This is

not to discount past progress on social issues, but to show that this

progress could have been much greater. In a conversation between

political activist Jesse Jackson Junior and the author of Who is a

person, Jackson says Heres my dadfeeling the need to declare he

was a person. The author responds Junior had arrived, or so it

Max Layden
Ms. Gordon
AP Government and Politics
8/22/16
seemed, and so had Barack Obama. But are we there yet? The

existence of that question, are we there yet, proves that in fact, we are

not. A utopia with equal rights is possible, but not in a system of media

framing.

Media framing has had a negative effect on American politics

and democracy, and is all the more prevalent today. There are a few

solutions to this problem, both bottom up and top down. The bottom

up solution would be for the people of the U.S to ignore opinionated

news. Alternative news sources, such as AP and Reuters, provide

unbiased information. This would allow citizens to make their own

opinions, and subvert the tell me what I want to hear system.

Another reform would be to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, which was

ultimately ended by Ronald Reagan under questionable circumstances.

Nonetheless, if America can break the system of media framing, its

democracy may be restored to its former glory.

The Media uses a variety of methods and practices to frame their

story. This can be particularly manipulative in the political process, and

has resulted in a multitude of problems. The shift to a spectacle of

politics has totally deteriorated American democracy into something

unrecognizable by the founders. It has also caused stagnant social

progress,
Max Layden
Ms. Gordon
AP Government and Politics
8/22/16
Works Cited
Patterson, Thomas. "The News Media: Communicating Political
Images." The American Democracy. 11th ed. N.p.: McGraw-Hill
Education, 2012. 315-44. Print.
Baudrillard, Jean. Carnival and Cannibal ; Ventriloquous Evil.
London: Seagull, 2010. Print.

Fineman, Howard. The Thirteen American Arguments: Enduring

Debates That Define and Inspire Our Country. New York: Random
House, 2008. Print.