Essay --

John Keen English 101-003 Amy Borders 14 March 2014 The Media Bias That Affected the 2012 Presidential Election President Barack Obama was re-elected to a second term as President of the United States in November of 2012. When giving his acceptance speech Obama was quick to thank his wife and family, his campaign officials, the voters, and everybody that worked so hard to help him get re-elected. One group left out of this display of gratitude, and perhaps the most influential one, was the mainstream media. The media plays a huge role in how viewers formulate their opinions, which in turn become deciding factors when choosing a President. The mainstream media has a responsibility to present the candidates in an unbiased manner, so that the electorate can make a truly educated decision as to the best candidate for the office at hand. While some may argue that the media presents an unbiased view of each candidate, this is not always the case. When looking back at the 2012 Presidential election, there are several examples where the media coverage aided the candidacy of Barack Obama and hindered the candidacy of Mitt Romney. The media outlets handled the candidates very differently when came to blundering comments. For example, the media came down hard on Romney for his comment about 47% of Americans not voting for him. In a secretly recorded conversation about campaign strategy, Romney made the statement the 47% of voters are dependent upon the government, and they believe that the government should provide them with food, healthcare, jobs, housing, along with whatever else they need. He made the comment that these voters would vote for the current president â€Å"no matter what,† and he said that his job was not to worry ... ...ced a great deal of negative reporting during the 2012 Presidential election, the majority of that reporting was about insignificant matters and came during the Primary stage where he did not face any competition. Once the election became between himself and Mitt Romney, the coverage was overwhelmingly positive toward the President. Opponents argue that the criticism that President Obama received over high gas prices, the bad economy, and national health care were unjustified and presented an unbalanced attack on the Obama Campaign. Factual reporting of current events but where were they when the media was criticizing President George W. Bush? National Healthcare has been a subject of debate since the early Clinton administration In weighing the evidence both for and against a media bias in favor of Barack Obama it is important to look at a variety of evidence. Essay -- John Keen English 101-003 Amy Borders 14 March 2014 The Media Bias That Affected the 2012 Presidential Election President Barack Obama was re-elected to a second term as President of the United States in November of 2012. When giving his acceptance speech Obama was quick to thank his wife and family, his campaign officials, the voters, and everybody that worked so hard to help him get re-elected. One group left out of this display of gratitude, and perhaps the most influential one, was the mainstream media. The media plays a huge role in how viewers formulate their opinions, which in turn become deciding factors when choosing a President. The mainstream media has a responsibility to present the candidates in an unbiased manner, so that the electorate can make a truly educated decision as to the best candidate for the office at hand. While some may argue that the media presents an unbiased view of each candidate, this is not always the case. When looking back at the 2012 Presidential election, there are several examples where the media coverage aided the candidacy of Barack Obama and hindered the candidacy of Mitt Romney. The media outlets handled the candidates very differently when came to blundering comments. For example, the media came down hard on Romney for his comment about 47% of Americans not voting for him. In a secretly recorded conversation about campaign strategy, Romney made the statement the 47% of voters are dependent upon the government, and they believe that the government should provide them with food, healthcare, jobs, housing, along with whatever else they need. He made the comment that these voters would vote for the current president â€Å"no matter what,† and he said that his job was not to worry ... ...ced a great deal of negative reporting during the 2012 Presidential election, the majority of that reporting was about insignificant matters and came during the Primary stage where he did not face any competition. Once the election became between himself and Mitt Romney, the coverage was overwhelmingly positive toward the President. Opponents argue that the criticism that President Obama received over high gas prices, the bad economy, and national health care were unjustified and presented an unbalanced attack on the Obama Campaign. Factual reporting of current events but where were they when the media was criticizing President George W. Bush? National Healthcare has been a subject of debate since the early Clinton administration In weighing the evidence both for and against a media bias in favor of Barack Obama it is important to look at a variety of evidence.