A media aided election is not only necessary but quite beneficial to democracy. Is it not said that a free media is the corner stone of democracy? Well if it is not said yet, I am saying it now. But what we see in America and possibly Canada is a media controlled election. This is done at a very subliminal level as the laws that prevent this from happening are quite strong. But something that I believe they can manipulate are the polls. Of course the large companies (like Gallup) are likely to be reputable but a lot of newspapers and TV programs commission their own and it would be quite easy to hand pick neighbourhoods across the country that are likely to go one way. Now what is the advantages?
Well in Canada say the Liberals and democrats are put at a dead heap It would likely draw votes away from the smaller parties as people do the unthinkable - strategically vote against other parties. So if a paper was pro-Liberal they could easily aide the party by finding Polls that push the conservatives up. Likewise they could rally the conservatives to turn out in higher numbers if they put the conservatives a few points behind.
In America it is beneficial to be shown out in front since you vote for the President and local politicians separately. If McCain is put out in front people may be more inclined to vote for a republican senator and congressman since they do not want a "do nothing" capitol hill which tends to happen when the president is from an opposing party to the house.
The same could happen if the elections are called on the east coast early enough that the west can get out the vote to block it. The media clearly had something to do with the Florida debacle as well.
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I see where you are coming from, the fact that there is less coverage of smaller parties, and those who would consider voting for smaller parties generally vote on the bigger one that leans their way due to polling speculation.
Here is my view as a former libertarian purist. I still consider myself a libertarian but would never vote libertarian. Why? Pure libertarianism is far too extreme. What is the transition plan to implement your values? What sort of plan do you have to balance things out so as not to alienate the large portion of society that disagrees with your party's agenda?
In most cases, there are few answers along these lines. The parties suggest changes to society that are so dramatic they scare away the average voter who agrees, in principle, with them. Nobody will ever truly vote for them, not because of the media, but because nobody wants to pay $3/litre for gas to encourage conservation, or completely eliminate all government intervention except for contract law.
Humans fear radical changes like this. It is the fanaticism of these parties that isolates them, not the media, in my opinion.
Sincerely,
Noah
i think it was Andrew Johnson who actually won his election becuase the periodicals of the day had reported that his opponenthe had 'won' before the election even took place. "polls" - whatever those were like in the early 1800s, showed him winning in a landslide.
nobody went out to vote for him as a result, and he lost that election.
to me, that is a media controlled election. and money controls the media.
my provocation, is that if the media told everyone blatantly not to vote, would they not?
my other qualm with the media is that they play the smear. im not sure who is more to blame - the people doing the smearing, or the people glorifying it. obviously FOX will play republican smear, and, i dont know, PBS would play democrat smear - CNN, being probably one of the most moderate networks in the US, would not not play it.
that brings you to right to information...
its wrong to play it, and its wrong not to play it (theoretically)..
i guess what i am getting at is that the media can, the way that we currently look at politics, greatly (and gravely?) influence an election. but 'we' chose our system, and chose to interpret what is shown to us the way that we do.
to get somewhat absolutist for a second - we are the media.
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