Are the perceptions of candidate traits shaped by the media?

The media will shape a political figure’s or candidate’s profile, sealing their support or disdain for them and cementing that image in the minds of the public. Certain political personalities or candidates, as well as their characteristics, may be made more salient or popular in the media than others. As a result, the media has a major impact on how viewers view elected leaders. The analysis method is being carried out in order to prove this point. It is based on the analysis of the facts and review of the literature, related to the topic of the role of mass media in shaping the image of political figures and candidates in the eyes of the public.

Eberl, J., Wagner, M. and Boomgaarden, H. (2017). “Are Perceptions of Candidate Traits Shaped by the Media? The Effects of Three Types of Media Bias.” The International Journal of Press/Politics, 22(1), 111–132

Professors of the faculty of Communication of the University of Vienna Jakob-Moritz Eberl1, Markus Wagner1, and Hajo G. Boomgaarden devoted their article to the topic of perception of the candidates and political leaders in the media. They try to develop the idea and prove that mass media can considerably influence the way the citizens think about political leaders. In this respect, the study, presented by the authors, explores how three types of media bias, visibility bias, tonality bias, and agenda bias influence affect assessments of politicians’ traits by the voters.

The authors tell that media influences candidates’ perceptions, and in case, media is biased, this perception will not be neutral, since the media has become extremely biased recently, especially in the areas of visibility, tonality and agenda. As a result, political candidates are presented and discussed in a different way in diverse news outlets. In other words, the bias of the media helps create general attitude of the candidate in the eyes of the voters and media bias in coverage influences perceptions of candidate traits. The authors state that the more biased the media is, the more influence it has on perception of the candidates’ traits in audience.

The article is written for the students and researchers, involved in the study of mass media effects on the perception and attitude of the voting audience towards the candidates. The article may be used as supportive evidence in the research, studying the same phenomenon.

The information, presented in the article is relevant, especially owing to the recent presidential elections in the United States, as it helps understand to what extent the mass media shapes the attitude to the candidates and defines their traits in the eyes of the voters.

Special feature of the material is that it tells about the three major types of media bias, which influence the opinions of the viewers. These types of bias are careful described and explained in different contexts and with a variety of examples, so this information is a major strength of the article. As for the weaknesses, the authors use calculations to measure the amount of negative attitude to the candidates’ traits; however, these calculations are sometimes difficult to understand. In general, the article is very important for the research, as it provides in-depth explanation how media influences voters; therefore this article can become a significant source for the future research.

Wu, D. and Coleman, R. (2014). ”The Affective Effect on Political Judgment: Comparing the Influences of Candidate Attributes and Issue Congruence”. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 91(3), 530–543

Professors from the University of Missouri, School of Journalism, Columbia presented their research, in which they underlined major ideas of the impact of affect on candidate assessment and traits and voting intention of population by conducting an experiment, with the use of the three treatments: positive, negative, and neutral. The researchers carried out an experiment, in the course of which they tried to find out how the assessment of mass media, be it positive, negative or neutral, influences the perception of the candidates and attitude to their traits from the side of the voters. The authors tell not only about candidates, covered in the media, but also about other political persons, whose image and traits are influences by the way, in which mass media show them.

The research is a demonstration of the experiment, in which 230 participants were divided into three groups, each was shown positive, negative or neutral images of the candidates and other political figures, with the aim to measure which image has most influence on the audience.

The target audience of the article is predominantly students from the journalism faculties, however, the information will be useful for those, who are involved in the study of the mass media phenomenon and its influence on the minds of the audience.

The information from the article is relevant to the research question of the paper, because it examines how three types of images, presented in the media help shape the traits of the candidates in the eyes of voters. Moreover, the paper examines the predominance of the candidates’ features, presented in mass media. Therefore, this information will be used in the research to demonstrate the difference of influence, produced by diverse images of the candidates.

Major strengths of the article are presentation of the information from different angles, which help compare and contrast the role of mass media in the process of shaping candidates’ traits. As for the weaknesses, the major one is difficulty of the language, in which the paper is written.

Asemah, E., Nkiru Nwammuo,A. and Nwachukwu Edegoh, L. (2014). ”Jos Metropolitan Residents’ Perception of Government-Owned Broadcast Media Coverage of the 2011 Gubernatorial Electioneering Campaigns in Plateau State, Nigeria”. Global Media Journal African Edition, 8(1):84-113

The group of researchers from the African University conducted a research on how Jos residents perceived the broadcast media coverage of the 2011 gubernatorial elections in Plateau State, in Nigeria. The rationale behind the study was to define how Jos metropolitan residents perceived the way and style the Nigerian Television Authority. The researchers tried to find out how Television and mass media coverage of the elections, helped shape the attitude of the candidates in the minds of the electorate.

The audience of the article are students, scientist and researchers, who are conducting the research about the role of mass media in shaping the minds and opinions of voters. Information, presented in the article will be used in the research to show that the role of mass media of all types is extremely important during electioneering campaigns of the candidates. Therefore, the information in the article is relevant, especially taking into account the recent elections of the US President and active discussion of his personality, covered in the media.

The major strength of the article is clear and precise information, relevant and supported by carefully selected sources. However, the weakness of the article is its relation to the elections in Plateau State, Nigeria. The unique feature of the material is its usefulness and easiness of presentation, so it is easy to read and comprehend.