How do politicians use the media? How do the media use politicians? 243for president in 2016 made a point of visiting the Iowa State Fair, where they shook
hands, ate some local specialties (from pork chops to fried Snickers bars), and in
general tried to attract as much media attention as they could. (Trump even used his
private helicopter to give rides to fair attendees.) By attending the fair, candidates were
trying to get their names and their pictures in local newspapers and on local television
and thereby increase their name recognition. Such coverage might have also helped
persuade Iowa voters that a candidate shared their views on the issues.
Another way politicians, especially candidates, try to shape citizen perceptions
is to run campaign ads on television, in newspapers, and on websites. As we discuss
in Chapter 9, candidates running for federal office generally spend about 80 to 90
percent of their budget on advertising. Candidates target these ads to reach groups of
likely supporters. A conservative Republican might try to buy advertising slots during
a broadcast of a NASCAR event, knowing that people who are interested in NASCAR
tend to vote Republican. These ads are an example of the by-product theory in action;
people don’t watch NASCAR to learn about politicians, but watching the broadcast
means they will be exposed to the candidate’s messages.
Potential presidential candidates also often appear on television talk shows as a
way of increasing name recognition and gaining some free advertising. Studies have
shown that viewing a candidate in such a relaxed, nonconfrontational setting can
help persuade opponents that a candidate is worth a second look.^18 Like all campaign
strategies, however, candidates’ attempts to shape media coverage work only some of
the time. For example, a poll in late 2017 by The Economist found that only 26 percent of
Americans saw Trump’s use of Twitter as “appropriate”—and 50 percent did not.
Candidate strategies can also backfire, such as when the campaign of 2018
Republican Senate incumbent Ted Cruz released a radio ad that argued his opponent,
Beto O’Rourke, had started using a nickname rather than his first name (Robert) in
order to appeal to Hispanic Texas voters.^19 The O’Rourke campaign responded by
releasing a childhood photo of the candidate that showed him wearing a shirt with
the nickname printed on it.^20 At other points in the campaign, the Cruz organization
released a 20-year old photo of O’Rourke playing in a punk rock band, and argued that
if elected, O’Rourke would try to ban consumption of barbecue (for the record, the
candidate had not mentioned doing so). In all three cases, press coverage benefitted
O’Rourke, who narrowly lost to Cruz in the general election.The Pressures and Legal Limits on Reporters
The proliferation of media sources has increased competition among reporters to
find and report on interesting stories. Reporters who refuse to use information that
a politician has provided may find that the politician refuses to talk with them in the
future, so reporters must carefully consider whether they want to use information
provided to keep their channel of communication with the politician open. Moreover,
the Internet has increased the demand for new stories and updates of old ones. Even if
reporters covering Congress think that nothing important is happening on a given day,
they may be forced to write a story just to have something new on their newspaper’s
website. Similarly, an up-and-coming news or commentary site might use a politician’s
offerings as a way of building its audience.
Because of these demands, reporters rely heavily on their sources—people inside
government who provide them with documents, inside information, and the details
of negotiations—to supply them with material for new stories. When sources reveal
information that is not supposed to be public knowledge, it is often referred to as leaking.
Reporters covering important or controversial stories often promise their sources thatleaking
The practice in which someone in
government provides nonpublic
information to a reporter, with the
aim of generating press coverage
favorable to the leaker’s aims.Full_08_APT_64431_ch07_232-261.indd 243 16/11/18 1:38 PM