In the last 2 weeks the Republicans and the Democrats had their Conventions where they formally selected their candidate for the Presidential election in November. And the acceptance speech of the candidate was his opportunity to put forth his credentials before the American people.
Its very likely that the single biggest factor in determining the next President will be Television. The power of the media is to be seen to be believed. The conventions of both the parties lasted for 3 days.
The Republicans held theirs in Tampa, Florida.
The Democrats theirs in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The key speakers were scheduled to speak between 10 and 11 which is considered prime time and all channels cover the convention.
You can check out their websites for the details and much, much more.
Republicans : http://www.gop.com/
Democrats: http://www.democrats.org/
Both parties had their best speakers paraded during that time. The spouse of both candidates spoke on the penultimate day of their respective conventions. And the candidates rounded up the Convention on the final day with their acceptance speech.
To succeed in American politics, its very important for politicians not only to be very good at politics, but also to be Master actors with phenomenal Television presence.
And most of the Speakers were very good. And lived up to the expectations of their party. Each speech was analyzed ad nauseam, by reporters and analysts on various channels. And every newspaper covered it.
Now one would assume that since the whole event is televised live, you would get very similar reports and evaluations. And you couldn't be more wrong.
Every article picked up only those portions of the speech they'd like to attack or defend. And then went ahead and made the speakers look inept, incompetent and in many cases Liars. This is not only acceptable, but considered good journalism.
The biggest difference that I see from the media in India is "Opinion". This in my "Opinion" has more negatives than positives. The positives are rather obvious. It puts forward a point of view and allows the reader to analyze the information from several different points of view.
The negatives are not readily obvious, but could be potentially dangerous. There are 2 main risks. The first is that the political affiliation of the newspaper or channel biases their opinion and then the individual reporter's personal preference also gives different shades to their article and does not allow for an unbiased opinion.
The second is that there is a conflict of interest. Both the parties spend several million dollars on buying advertising in the media. And its likely that the spends and selection of media is likely to depend to some extent on favourable coverage.
The Television show, "The Newsroom" gives an insight into how the media manipulates and is manipulated.
http://www.hbo.com/the-newsroom/index.html
And finally an unbiased opinion on which party is likely to be better for America's economy and thereby for America. After listening very carefully to both parties and their arguments, and analyzing the impact of their policies, the simple answer is "I don't know". The reason is that both parties have spoken in generalizations and like most things in life, the results depend on the execution. So the party that's able to best execute their plan should win.
So here's hoping that the best actors with the most money are also the best executors.
Its very likely that the single biggest factor in determining the next President will be Television. The power of the media is to be seen to be believed. The conventions of both the parties lasted for 3 days.
The Republicans held theirs in Tampa, Florida.
The Democrats theirs in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The key speakers were scheduled to speak between 10 and 11 which is considered prime time and all channels cover the convention.
You can check out their websites for the details and much, much more.
Republicans : http://www.gop.com/
Democrats: http://www.democrats.org/
Both parties had their best speakers paraded during that time. The spouse of both candidates spoke on the penultimate day of their respective conventions. And the candidates rounded up the Convention on the final day with their acceptance speech.
To succeed in American politics, its very important for politicians not only to be very good at politics, but also to be Master actors with phenomenal Television presence.
And most of the Speakers were very good. And lived up to the expectations of their party. Each speech was analyzed ad nauseam, by reporters and analysts on various channels. And every newspaper covered it.
Now one would assume that since the whole event is televised live, you would get very similar reports and evaluations. And you couldn't be more wrong.
Every article picked up only those portions of the speech they'd like to attack or defend. And then went ahead and made the speakers look inept, incompetent and in many cases Liars. This is not only acceptable, but considered good journalism.
The biggest difference that I see from the media in India is "Opinion". This in my "Opinion" has more negatives than positives. The positives are rather obvious. It puts forward a point of view and allows the reader to analyze the information from several different points of view.
The negatives are not readily obvious, but could be potentially dangerous. There are 2 main risks. The first is that the political affiliation of the newspaper or channel biases their opinion and then the individual reporter's personal preference also gives different shades to their article and does not allow for an unbiased opinion.
The second is that there is a conflict of interest. Both the parties spend several million dollars on buying advertising in the media. And its likely that the spends and selection of media is likely to depend to some extent on favourable coverage.
The Television show, "The Newsroom" gives an insight into how the media manipulates and is manipulated.
http://www.hbo.com/the-newsroom/index.html
And finally an unbiased opinion on which party is likely to be better for America's economy and thereby for America. After listening very carefully to both parties and their arguments, and analyzing the impact of their policies, the simple answer is "I don't know". The reason is that both parties have spoken in generalizations and like most things in life, the results depend on the execution. So the party that's able to best execute their plan should win.
So here's hoping that the best actors with the most money are also the best executors.
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