Media Manipulation In Donald Trump's Political Campaign

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The media’s ability to quickly propagate information to the masses is a powerful tool used by politicians to spread propaganda. Additionally, the media’s addiction on covering negative news has caused politicians to capitalize on the extra media coverage negativity receives, resulting in extra publicity, and extra votes. A prime example of media manipulation is President Donald Trump: “Trump continues to be credible, to receive massive media coverage and win more votes” (Salama, 2016, par. 16). Trump’s expertise in celebrity has helped him manipulate the media in a fashion that benefits his political campaign: “His media campaign is highlighted by three constraints provided by the man himself – conflict, availability and unpredictability” (Wolf, 2016, par. 4). For instance, Trump’s media strategies are often short-term and of-the-moment, and involve him being fearless. This is exemplified when Trump has the audacity to say, “I’m not just saying Mexicans, I’m talking about people that are from all over that are killers and rapists and they’re coming into this …show more content…
Historically speaking, Americans have historically been exposed to xenophobic policies to both protect the American economy and national security; therefore, these policies were necessary during times of instability, but were not intended to have a lasting effect on the American people. In addition, when combined with power of the media to spread and perpetually showcase information, Trump’s expertise in celebrity and use of the psychological theory of system threat, brainwashed the public to a point where the xenophobic remarks became socially acceptable. This idea was also fueled by the media itself due to how the interpretation of different

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