Media Influence On Political Parties

Media and Technology have evolved exponentially and changed the operation of political parties. Since 1968, the newspapers, radio, or journalists don’t cover the political parties. Instead, the media, especially, television is influential in who becomes the nominee of a party nomination. However, prior to 1968, the media was no that significant in the nomination process. Nominees are chosen strictly by voters at the contests. Media attention to nominees helps influence how the American public views nominees. Technology has also made it easy to contribute to a campaign. Political party sites allow people to make contributions via websites such as PayPal and because of this, millions of people can easily donate to a campaign. Before, it was tedious to sponsor a campaign. Political party websites make it easier for people to understand the ideologies of the parties. Websites make it easy for parties to promote their candidates.

Both, the Republican and Democratic party used statisitcs from TV viewer counts, social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, and text-polls. The public opinion of a candidate is also influential to the potential election of a candidate which depends on how many people know about the candidate. This was aided by technology such as YouTube which streamed debates, conventions, and campaign messages. The television has also harmed and helped candidates. Political analysts on TV comment or criticize on the actions of the nominee and predict the success of the party. Well-known analysts include Anderson Cooper, Jon Stewart, and Bill O’ Reilly. A third use of technology is in the ballot. Advances in phone technology allow people to vote over the phone instead of going to the ballot which is a very convenient change for those unable to make it to a