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: To find out what the research says about media’s evolving role in the elections process, we talked to three scholars from the UO School of Journalism and Communication. 1. To cover or not to cover
Regina Lawrence, executive director of the SOJC's Agora Journalism Center and author of “Hillary Clinton’s Race for the White House: Gender Politics and the Media on the Campaign Trail,” is a nationally recognized expert in political communication. Photo by Schaeffer Bonner. 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: