Lecture # 4 Media and the Election

I attended this seminar given by Bonnie Newman Davis, a professor at VCU in the Masscommunications department.  Seeing as the presidential election is just 6 days away, it was a very interesting and revelant topic to discuss.  Some of the key points Bonnie went over were:

-The fact that the media has been overwhelmingly supportive of Obama’s campaign.

-What is the media’s fascination with Sarah Palin?

-How effective were the debates?

-Has the large media coverage of Obama swayed voters?

Bonnie brought guest lecturer’s from Jim Webb’s political team, as well as a journalist from the Times Dispatch, to ask them their opinions.  By the end of the lecture, it was pretty clear that the reason Obama and Palin have been getting way more political coverage than any other president or vice-president candidates is because they are young, fresh, and a break in the trend of past politics.  Also discussed was the issue of sex and politics.  Many media sources play up the fact that Palin is female, and label any disputes or arguments against her as ‘misogynistic’ or ‘anti-feminist.’  I disagree with this.  When Palin agreed to run for VP, she put her self in the public eye, and therefore subjected herself to criticism.  Also, Palin tends to favor playing the gender card herself: she constantly makes references to hockey moms, lipstick, high heels, and totes her kids around with as she campaigns, as if they were props.  While my bias is quite clear, Bonnie tried to keep her opinions out of the discussions, which made for a  fair and in-depth analization of the media’s coverage of this presidential election.