Abstract

The research paper is about finding whether sympathy voting is a necessary effect of

Mass media as viewed in Nancy Binay’s winning the 2013 senatorial seat. Nancy Binay’s ascent

to politics and her winning brought confusion to the public and casts doubt on Mass media’s

power to directly affect public perception. In social media in particular, she was greatly

criticized for being incompetent and overly ambitious. The criticisms went from being

informative to being an avenue to defame making Binay as a laughing stock of the public.

However, despite the destructive and degrading criticisms, it was surprising that Nancy Binay

still won even getting 13, 310. 290 votes which made her land in the 5th position. The

researchers concluded that Mass media may have a great influence on what the public should

think and talk about but not necessarily what their approach on the matter is going to be. It

revolves on the idea that the audience is no longer passive but an active participant in the

whole process of communication. Furthermore, the Mass media may have been used as a tool

to supposedly suppress Nancy Binay from getting a seat in the senate but her winning the

position as a perverse consequence only strengthens the claim that Mass media is a powerful

tool in Philippine elections.