Title: Six ways the media influence elections | School of Journalism and Communication
Headings: Six ways the media influence elections
Six ways the media influence elections
1. To cover or not to cover
2. Bias, scripts and the polarization of America
3. Social media: Echo chamber and direct line to the masses
4. A picture is worth 1,000 words
5. Data journalism: Fact-checking, polls and the self-perpetuating cycle
6. Watchdogs of democracy

Content: The first way journalists get involved in elections is by choosing which candidates to cover and how much. Those choices alone can have a huge effect on voter perceptions. “As hard as it is to believe, the biggest thing that drives elections is simple name recognition,” said Regina Lawrence, executive director of the UO SOJC’s Agora Journalism Center and George S. Turnbull Portland Center. “ Research has shown that some candidates can be literally left invisible because they can’t win enough interest from the media.” Lawrence, a nationally recognized expert on political communication and the co-author of “Hillary Clinton’s Race for the White House: Gender Politics and the Media on the Campaign Trail” and “When the Press Fails: Political Power and the News Media from Iraq to Katrina,” said this effect was most noticeable during the Republican primaries, when Trump generated an outsized proportion of the media coverage. “He was able to get the equivalent of massive advertising buys without having to spend much money,” Lawrence said. For the media, this disproportionate coverage was driven more by economics than political bias. In a competitive 24/7 news cycle, news organizations publish stories that will drive traffic.