After months of campaigning, the 2016 Presidential Elections were over. The American people voted and the opposing candidate won. With 290 electoral votes, Donald Trump won one of the strangest elections in U.S. history. With mass coverage of both candidates, did the media go too far? Did social media ruin our only hope towards democracy by overshadowing the false information from the reality?
This was the first election that I was able to take part in. The previous years, I wasn’t old enough to go vote, but I remember the coverage of when Obama won four years ago. It was definitely different this time around. I don’t know I felt like the media was focusing a lot on the negative side of the candidates. When we weren’t hearing about the candidates on television our social media platforms were showing the same information.
It never stopped.
There wasn’t a common ground where the media would ultimately stop talking about the elections. I understand that in the 21st century social media plays a huge role in influence, but I think we all have limits on the amount of information we consume. However, there wasn’t an end to it. From the backlash, Trump had from all his nauseating comments he made and to Hillary’s email fiasco, it seemed like Americans were constantly being shoved “News”.
When most of the results were coming back, a lot of the journalists on Television were freaking out. They kept messing up because they just like most Americans couldn’t really understand how Trump was winning. One of the CNN commenters, completely blew my mind and said what a lot of people were thinking that night.
Van Jones, looking choked up, somehow manages to sum up the fear and pain that many are feeling tonight. pic.twitter.com/K7eiJdO8Aj
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) November 9, 2016
Now I might seem biased, but this is what journalists and Television News should be reporting on. They are the voice of many Americans and they also stand up for them. I don’t have an issue to what Van Jone’s said because someone needs to say it. This type of information is important for the world to hear.
Finally, I think the media needs to improve its measures. This election was filled with drama, but there wasn’t enough substance to cover. This is why the media had to focus on certain issues and make them extreme. There has to be a better way to do an election with the media. There needs to be a common ground. Also, certain news outlets shouldn’t favor one candidate over the other, they need to remain biased. As media conglomerates, they need to use synergy to allow this change to become apparent.
