1. The Media April 25, 2013

2. Opportunities to discuss course content Today 11-2 Monday 10-2

3. Learning Objectives Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of how presidential and congressional elections are financed. Identify and describe the formal and informal institutions involved in the electoral process

4. Readings Chapter 7: Political Communication and the Mass Media (Flanigan)

5. Horse Race Coverage What is it? What does it contain Why?

6. Following The Polls

7. The keys to horse race coverage Polling Perception No issues

8. Horse Race Dominated the Primaries

9. HORSE RACE COVERAGE IN THE PRIMARY ELECTION

10. Component I: Categorizer Sorts the candidates into winners and losers Creates an Image for the candidate Romney Obama

11. Component II: Expectation Setter Puts odds on the candidates You want to be at the top… duh But it isn't as good as you might thinkthink

12. Component III: Mentioner You want the media to notice you Not all press is good press Mentions mean money and votes

13. Component IV:Winnowing The Press Winnows (narrows) down the candidates Attention is on Iowa and NH Frontloading is the results

14. Winnowing In 2012

15. DEBATES

16. Presidential Debates A Recent Phenomenon General Strategies Do not screw upscrew

17. Why Candidates Like these A chance for exposure A chance for Legitimacy A chance to move in the polls

18. Presidential Debates Who Wins (the leader in the polls) The Person who doesn’t make a mistake Does it matter?

19. Presidential Debates Win by not losing What don't you want to do? – The 1960 DebateDebate – Seem heartlessheartless – You are no Jack KennedyJack Kennedy – Eastern Europe is Free Eastern Europe is Free – Adm. James Stockdale Blind, Deaf, Dumb BlindDeafDumb

20. Impact of the First Debate on Coverage

21. THE GENERAL ELECTION

22. 2012 vs 2008

23. Less Horse Race than 2008

24. Obligatory Chad Long Dig

25. Negative Coverage Dominates

26. Horse Race Coverage Favors Frontrunners

27. The Media Missed Palin

28. THE MEDIA STRATEGY

29. The Media Strategy Getting the Message Out – Paid Advertisements – Free Press You campaign for votes and you campaign for media by getting free coverage Avoid cannibalizing

30. Getting Free Press Having your message get covered by the media You can reach a wide audience and It is not costing you money This is fully mediated

31. Obama Gets More Coverage (President + Candidate)

32. Maximizing Free Coverage Create a package Convey a winning message Shape an Image

33. Maximizing Free Coverage Don’t Say too Much Repeat the Few Basic Points Bad Press is Bad Press

34. Ask Herman Cain about Bad news

35. PAID MEDIA IN 2012

36. Paid Media Unmediated Control the Message More outlets than ever

37. A Record Breaking Year 1 million ads were aired Both Sides were overwhelmingly negative Obama Spent more and Ran More Ads The Best AdsAds

38. Herman Cain Bizarre Ads The Rabbit Smoking

39. Targeting Ads and their Effect Uncommitted voters vs Partisans When are they Most Effective? Ads are a sign of political viability

40. Candidate Credibility We have to trust the messenger Issue Ownership Try to focus on your best issue

41. Getting More Votes Delivering a positive message about your candidate (mobilizing) Deliver a negative message about the opposition (mobilizing/demobilizing)

42. Biographical Ads Inform us about the Candidate Very important early in the campaign Obama doesn’t need to run these….

43. Issue Ads Focus on a specific issue or a policy area Associate yourself with favorable policies Do not mention issue weakness

44. Examples of Issue Ads The Bear in the Woods in 1984Bear Mike Huckabee and Chuck Norris...Chuck Norris Hillary Clinton- Attack/Issue AdAttack/Issue Ad

45. Attack Ads The Norm Rather than the Exception The Mother of all Attack AdsMother

46. The Effect of Attack ads on voters Some voters become disenchanted and disaffected Your Base Loves them!

47. How Effective are these If they didn’t work, candidates wouldn’t run them The Lessons of 1988 – The Revolving DoorDoor – Willie HortonHorton

48. Why They Work and Who uses them more We don’t trust politicians They are more memorable and informativememorable Challengers and vulnerable incumbents use them

49. How To Deal with them Defend the ChargesCharges Counterattack on the same issue or up the ante- The Puppy AdPuppy Attack the Credibility of your opponentCredibility

50. How not to deal with them Do Nothing If you get Punched in the nose, you must punch back

51. How the attack can backfire If you are seen as being too evil

52. Ads Can Backfire You do it too late to make a difference You bring a knife to a gun fight

53. The New Media Innovative in 2008 Candidates had a lot to like They didn’t like the anarchy

54. Social Media in 2012 No new Innovations Obama Retains the social media advantage More Control More negative

55. You have No Friends on Social Media