American politics can be broken down into four main
categories; candidates, politicians, the press and the public.
In
terms of debate, political communication can be defined as the means of emphasizing
a candidate’s fact based opinions in an attempt to persuade figures of
authority and commoners to relinquish their differing opinions to see things
their way. In a previously held democratic debate, presidential candidate Jim
Webb argues with moderator Anderson Cooper in front of the entire nation for a
chance to be heard. Is this an effective means of political communication?
Body
language is also a huge factor that must be considered when talking about
political communication and Donald Trump uses his body language to communicate
quite a bit. Whether it’s the way he animates his face when hearing something that
he doesn’t approve of or throwing his hands in the air and pointing his fingers
at people, Tump knows how to effectively use his body language.
Instead
of having a massive debate at the start of the election season with all Democratic,
Republican and other third-party presidential candidates, these candidates
spend millions of dollars in their efforts to communicate with the public in
hopes of winning the election. Candidates do this by communicating to the
public that they understand the hardships that they face and present them with
a carefully drafted plan to fix these issues.
For presidential candidates, it
is important to show tremendous leadership capabilities. At the same time, they must communicate to the public on a level that they can understand and relate to on a personal level. Candidates use
phrases such as, “Yes We Can,” or “Let’s Make America Great Again.” These
slogans use the words “we” and “let’s”. Perhaps this is a method of persuasion to let the public feel as though they are an
important necessity to the candidates' political ambitions.
Political
communication, coming from a holder of an elected office, differs from that of
the political communication from a campaigning candidate. Candidates are
continuously communicating for and against things and figures of authority in
an effort to gain a seat of power. Elected officials, instead, communicate with
one another in efforts to come to an agreement on political issues and
establish change; instead of promising change once they’ve been elected.
Playing
a significant role in presidential elections, or any political issue for that
matter, are the Press and the Media. Sure, candidates and elected officials may
have their own websites where you can find all sorts of information about them,
but how reliable is that information? In political communication, the Press and
Media act as third-party fact checkers for the public. Nearly all major news
and media entities communicate to the public in an effort to expose them to the
truth. Typically, when the “truth” has been exposed by the media, a great deal
of controversy arises from candidates, politicians and the public. For example, Donald Trump once said the following quote in response to an attack made
against him from a news source.
“You know, it really doesn’t matter what the media write as long
as you’ve got a young, and beautiful, piece of ass.”
Maybe this is truly the way that Trump wants to be
seen by the American public; a sexist person that jumps to radical conclusions.
Otherwise, why would he boldly communicate to the press the way he is and has been
doing? Is this an effective means of political communication?
