The Influence of the Media in the Election Campaigns

According to Steve Chaffee's definition, political communication refers to "communication's role in the political process." In pluralist democracies, it is generally intended to assist in the election of the person whom it serves before or during an electoral campaign and to foster the support of public opinion during the exercise of a mandate. The question is: "Do the media do the elections?

Firstly, election campaigns are the ways by which candidates and political parties prepare and present their ideas and positions on issues to voters in the run-up to election day. Competitors use a variety of techniques to educate voters and deliver their messages through traditional and new media, public events, written materials, or other means. One of the essential elements of how electoral campaigns run today is access to audiovisual media. Actually, the candidates try to make known their ideas and their programs. So, apart from meetings and market visits, the media represent an essential vector of communication. Therefore, in the eyes of all, communication has gradually taken on very great importance in electoral campaigns.

In addition, in recent years, we have seen the establishment of new organizational models of communication systems. The influence of the media is an undeniable power in today's global society. The media plays an important role in determining ways of thinking, ideas, habits, and customs. They have become, in a way, the "judges of the truth" which they decide and dictate fashion, consumption, lifestyles. In fifty years, the media system has undergone major upheavals, notably with the arrival of the Internet and the development of social networks. However, during election campaigns, we can say that the relationship between the media and political actors has really changed. The belief in a decisive influence of the media on the outcome of the elections is widely shared.

To conclude, I would like to give an example that shows us the effects of the media and the uses of communication in political life: The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal. In June 2014, a company abused Facebook's laxity over member data. Then, The Guardian and The New York Times revealed that Cambridge Analytica, a political profiling company, captured the data of 50 million Internet users without their consent. This information was used to influence the voting intentions in favor of politicians who retained the services of that company; for example, it was used by Donald Trump during his campaign for the 2016 presidential election in the United States. Following the disclosure of the leak, the American and British audiences have expressed outrage. Even though the Facebook company apologized, the value of its securities has declined significantly. In my opinion, this incident was a good answer to the question I mentioned at the beginning, which intrigued me when writing the outline of this article and was a good indicator of the influence of the media in the election campaigns.