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Best,
Muslim Affairs Team
Answer
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Name
Abdallah Black
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Profession
Question
From your long experience with CNN, how do you evaluate the stunning technological tools they used this coverage? What about the content of their coverage?
Answer
Thanks for your question. I think CNN made excellent use of maps this year. The technology allowed them to "zoom in" on a state or locality with the touch of a finger to look at voting patterns or results from previous elections, which were often quite revealing.
The touch screen technology has been around for a while, but CNN used it even more effectively this year by putting more and more data into the maps. On election night, they also used a touch screen to pull up specific results from exit polls, and to visualize the data.
One technological advance struck me as more of a gimmick than a benefit for viewers, however. They used multiple cameras to create a hologram effect, making it appear that a correspondent was in the Washington, DC studio when she was in fact in Chicago. Cool, perhaps, but what was the point? When you have a correspondent on the scene of an event, I think it's more useful for the viewer to see her there, not make it appear she's somewhere else.
Name
Leo of Tripoli
- Egypt
Profession
Question
To what extent do you think that media agencies that are closer to AIPAC play a role in politicized coverage of the elections?
Answer
Your question presumes that US media coverage of elections is "politicized," and I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that. There are always questions about "media bias" in the United States, with conservatives complaining that the media are biased against conservative candidates.
They would point to the tone of coverage of the two candidates this fall as proof. A study found that coverage of John McCain in the leading media, print, and broadcast, was considerably more negative in tone than coverage of Barack Obama during the fall campaign. But I don't think you can say this was due to media bias. Stories like the Republican party's spending tens of thousands of dollars on clothing for vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin could not be anything but "negative" in tone.
A story about Obama's endorsement by former secretary of state Colin Powell was no doubt rated as "positive" in tone. The point I'm making is that the tone of coverage is largely influenced not by the bias of the media but by the actions of the candidate and campaign.
Name
A.Mahmoud
- Egypt
Profession
Question
Aljazeera is rising in the international media as a unique station offering unique angels of coverage, would that apply only to the Arabic channel of Jazeera in its coverage of the elections? or does it extend to the English channel?
Thank you Ms. Potter
Answer
I wish I could tell you that I was able to watch AJE's election coverage this year, but unfortunately it is not widely available in the United States. I think that's a shame, because it would be good for American viewers to have more options for international news.
I do know that the director of the Kamal Adham Center at American University-Cairo was not impressed by AJE on election night. You can read Larry Pintak's comments here: http://www.arabmediasociety.com/?article=698
Name
AIR
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Profession
CMC Grad
Question
Why did the whole world eagerly follow this elections, or was it just the increased media attention to the world opinion?
Answer
I do think this election drew more international attention than others in recent years. It was a great story with compelling candidates and significant issues at stake. We had the first really serious woman candidate, who also happened to be a former first lady, Sen. Hillary Clinton. We had an African-American candidate, Barack Obama, the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, who passed up big money for a career in public service. And we had a war hero, Sen. John McCain, who was written off as politically dead last summer and came roaring back to win his party's nomination.
What was interesting to me about the reaction around the world to the campaign was the focus on the Democrats. I was in India during the primaries and people kept telling me it was great that the next president of the US would be either a black man or a woman. I had to point out that the election wouldn't be over once the Democrats chose a candidate -- that candidate still had to defeat a Republican candidate who would definitely be a white man.
So yes, there was a lot of excitement about the possibility that the United States would make history with this election. I also think the negative view much of the world had of the Bush administration and the desire of people around the world for a change in Washington had a lot to do with the worldwide interest in the election.
Name
Hesham Mohamed
- United Arab Emirates
Profession
Question
Salam Alikom,
It's commonly known that the Amercian Media, is one of the most effective medias in the world and it can shape peoples' minds. What exactly was the US media's role in the elections?
Answer
The media's role was the same this year as always--to give people information that will help them decide how to vote. And, as always, some news organizations did a better job of fulfilling that role than others. There were many examples of excellent coverage--in depth interviews with candidates on TV and in print, as well as stories that compared where the candidates stood on significant issues. But there were also too many stories based on poll results and on cable TV in particular, too many pundits and talking heads whose opinions didn't add much to the voters' understanding.
One key difference this time was online, where the audience for political information was larger than ever. There were new political sites (like politico.com) and new fact-checking groups (like politifact.com) that helped keep voters up to date on the campaign and helped keep the candidates honest, which is one of the media's important roles.
Name
Abo Salma
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Profession
Question
Do you agree that the US media was somehow paranoid with Obama and helped him indirectly get more publicity and coverage than McCain.
Did the US overstepped media coverage on Obama have affected the results in favor of Obama? Thanks
Answer
You're correct that the media gave Obama more coverage than McCain during the primary season, but there's a good reason for that: Obama was in a competitive race against Hillary Clinton, while McCain had won the Republican nomination.
After the two party conventions in August, the two party slates (Obama-Biden and McCain-Palin) received almost exactly the same amount of attention, according to a study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism. As I noted in an earlier reply, the coverage of McCain was more negative, but that had a lot to do with the candidate's and campaign's actions.
I don't think the news media sided with Obama in this election, and I also don't think media coverage influenced the outcome in any decisive way. The candidates and the issues did.
Name
Mustapha
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Profession
Question
To what extent can the outcome of the polls shape the opinion of the voters putting in consideration the "group effect" and that voting for the winner is always safer?
Answer
That's a question scholars and researchers have been wrestling with for years, Mustapha.
I have not seen convincing evidence to support the so-called "bandwagon" effect--that is, that people will vote for the candidate who is ahead in the polls so they can say they supported the winner. What we've seen in several past elections is almost a reverse effect; when one candidate gets a lead the other almost always cuts into it as election day nears. You might call it the "underdog" effect. And there's also been some evidence of a reverse bandwagon effect in runaway elections -- that is, when one candidate is sweeping the early voting states, voters out West may simply not bother to vote at all because they don't think their votes will matter. This is a real concern, especially in statewide races. But I think this year voters across the country did want their voices to be heard, and the turnout results bear that out.
Name
Editor — Abdelrahman Rashdan
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Profession
Question
The session has ended. We would like to thank Deborah Potter for taking the time to answer your questions, and all those who participated in the dialogue.
We apologize for not being able to answer all the questions due to time limitation.
Kind regards,
Politics in Depth Team
Answer
Thank you for inviting me to take part in the dialogue, and thanks to you all for your questions.
