The Relationship between the Essay and the Hegemony Theory
The author The ideas from the essay The relationship between the essay and the Hegemony theory
1
Stephen J. Farnsworth and S. Robert Lichter
“The Nightly News Nightmare: Television Coverage of Presidential Elections” In this essay, the authors focus on the issues of presidents being the main concern of political news. The essay takes the reader through President Clinton’s scandals during his presidency. The essay as well explores how Clinton managed to sustain his popularity amid many opponents and critics. From the article, it is evident that his scandals especially the Clinton-Lewinsky sexual involvement could have damaged the president and the White House. Clinton’s struggle in shaping the media worked against negative influence imminent to the country’s leadership. The president manages to turn around the scandal through the media to lessen the impact to the White House. The president went against the norm of staying on defense for the matters at hand and decided to go on offense through the influence of media as the authors states, “media effects actually add up to system-building activities, even as reporters may criticize individual politicians through episodic coverage” (Farnsworth and Litcher, 2010, p. 153).
Normally, big crises like the one facing president Clinton in the essay require that the accused apply triage. This is a technique work to open defense against the media perceptions. For instance, the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal compelled the president and his defense team to admit the mistake in the name of the president. This resulted in changing the media’s tone toward the president and the White House. The team emerges as rational in the work of reporters and television newscasts. In addition, the move appealed to the public, that the president should remain in office. Farnsworth and Litcher assert that many reporters and citizens came to view the incident as a personal failing, not as a reason to throw the president out of office (Farnsworth and Litcher, 2010, p. 153). Notably, the partisan House impeached the president. However, it was difficult for the senate to move a vote of no confidence in the president, which could result in his removal from office. This is because they did not present the scandal well to the public. The writers state, “…the way scandals are framed can actually help political leaders remain in power” (Farnsworth & Litcher, 2010, p. 153). The essay applies elements of Hegemony theory in the way it presents the political strength in USA of maintaining the available rules and arrangements of the system. This is because the president in the event of the scandal did not seek for self-interest to protect his name. He admitted the flaws and carried the burden of all accounts upon his name. According to the essay, this was to manipulate the media to give a good impression of the White House.
In this case, the essay associates to the hegemony theory’s perspective of general interest as well as individual benefits. As a result, the president went on to capitalized on the public influence to support his personal interest of remaining in office. This does not just work for him to maintain control of the American people but defend the Senate and the White House at
large.
2
David Domke, Erica S. Graham, Kevin Coe, Sue Lockett John and Ted Coopman
“Going public as political strategy: The Bush administration, an echoing press, and passage of the Patriot Act” In this article, the authors bring out a different way in which politicians succeed in controlling political and media information. The main theme in the essay is administrators going public as a technique for them to gain control of media information. Politicians like Bush seek to influence decisions made by the Congress through speaking directly to the public. This helps in developing support for policies that should be established. In addition, they create a positive effect through interacting with the press so that they release information favorable to the administration.
The authors posit that seeking the support of public opinion is efficient during crises (Domke et al, 2006 p. 253). This is because there is likelihood that public opinion could influence policy inaction. Since the media are positive about the administration, they always present a favorable impression of the federal government. The article discusses the issue of going public in relation to the Patriot Act meant to fight against terrorists. Notably, it was imperative for the Bush administration to leverage public support to ensure that the bill passed. The authors give a number of reasons on the significance of going public to control citizens’ support and media information. According to them, it is critical for the administration to provide a consistent perspective among leaders and the citizens alike to gain their confidence and support.
It was evident that the Act could face a lot of opposition from the Congress. As a result, the president and attorney general decided to speak to the public prior to the debate to gain their confidence and influence the Congress to enact the Patriot Act. The article finds that the administration maximized its position by using aits tools of communication to the public before the congressional debate (pg. 260). This relates to the hegemony theory in that it focuses on Bush trying to obtain a Patriot Act in order to maintain the stability of USA. This means that the Patriot Act provides not only absolute gains but also relative benefits for the stability of the States. According to the conflict foreseen in the congress enacting the act, the policy relates to hegemony theory through provision of non-exclusion. This implies that all citizens of the united States of America would benefit from security even though some of them offered little contribution. The themes are non-rival to all people affected by incidences of terrorism. Collective benefit is central to the decision of the president to go public and convince the citizens to support the new act. The realist perspective provided in the hegemony theory signifies the possibility of openness and stability in the country through personal liberty and state security.
3
Patrick J. Sellers
“Manipulating the Message in the U.S. Congress” In this essay, the author focuses on how the administration manipulates messages in the United States of America through the media. According to the writer of the essay, initially the legislators won re-election by themselves without contribution from the parties involved. The author points out that the legislators have many techniques of winning considerable media coverage of their ideas (Pg. 180). He reveals that the legislator managed to win media coverage through carefully planned events using the constituents as well as producing press releases that focused on recent accomplishments of the party. They sought to solve narrow and short-term issues of the society so that they could evade cumbersome cases of addressing complicated concerns of the country. With this move, a lot of competition arises among parties to win voters’ attention to their apparent salient matters of the state. The writer believes that many legislators taking part in promoting the same message to the national media make that message to receive news coverage regardless of the numbers of the competing parties in the message (Pg. 186). Therefore, it is prudent for the members of the congress to publicize their issues before the congressional meeting since this has a mutual benefit for all individuals involved. This can happen through the influence of media, which acts as the perfect way to reach the public. Because of increased participation in the dissemination of messages by members of the unified Democrat part, their ideas received enormous media coverage as opposed to the Republicans although they had large numbers. This closely relates to the ideas proposed in the hegemony theory on the collective responsibility of individuals geared towards maintaining political and economical stability in the States. According to the theory, individual members should follow policies that other key players believe are relatively beneficial. The outcome of the contribution to message dissemination is mutually beneficial to every person within the party. The theory provides a baseline for motives and strategies of the hegemon individuals. The motive for the congressional participation is to get their issue covered in the media. They put in a collective responsibility towards ensuring that the States are have strengthened the system rules while also maintaining economical efficiency.
