Media, Control by Campaign Organizations

CAMPAIGN ORGANIZATIONS WORK to control the media environment and shape their messages through the use of paid media, free media, political consultants, and increasingly, the internet. Paid media usually includes print ads, television spots, and radio advertisements; free media typically refers to media coverage that campaigns cannot explicitly control, but try to influence, such as newspaper editorials or radio and television coverage. Campaign organizations also spend funds not only on these types of media, but also on professional media consultants who help craft paid messages and influence free media coverage. Recently, political campaigns have also turned their attention to internet sites and third-party web logs, or blogs, as a way to sidestep the traditional media and relay their message to voters.

Paid media are one way in which political campaigns communicate their message to voters. One of the pros of paid media are that they allow campaigns to decide when, where, and how often to play their messages. However, controlling the media is an expensive task. In 2003–04, federal candidates, party committees, and 527 groups spent $1.85 billion dollars on the media, according to the Center for Public Integrity. Of that, $1.5 billion was dedicated to political advertising, according to Melilo in AdWeek. Political campaigns spend lavishly on advertising because it is the one venue in which they can control their message.

However, advertising is no longer the simple task of buying advertising space in a newspaper. Campaigns must consider the high costs of advertising to national television audiences during primetime hours, in comparison with cable television that offers cheaper costs, but fragmented audiences. Radio advertisements are also popular because they are cheaper relative to national television advertisements. With newspaper readerships at historically low levels, campaigns must also decide if, and in which newspapers, to buy ad space. Through these venues, campaigns use paid media to create a media environment that is conducive to their candidate or issue.

A second way in which campaigns try to control the media is through free media. This term refers to media that cover the candidate for free and includes newspapers, television, radio, and internet sites such as blogs. One of the pros of the free media are that voters often rely on these primary and objective sources of information. Though voters voice concern about the objectivity of the media, they are more objective than paid political advertisements.

While newspaper readership is often said to be dropping, a large majority of people still consume the news in one form or another. In 2006, when polled, [Page 402]81 percent of individuals said that they had gone to a news source the day before and, according to recent polls, voters also continue to have a favorable opinion of the media, according to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. Though there is no assurance that the free media will cover a political candidate or issue in a favorable manner, campaigns are mindful of this type of coverage because it plays a role in legitimizing a candidate or issue. This is because the inability to garner publicity for a candidate or issue can be a real threat for campaigns, because visibility is as important as being able to control their message.

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