July 2024 Part 7: Media influence and trust in election results
Television, radio, newspapers, magazines, etc. are often classified as traditional mass media, while the Internet is as a new interactive media. Even though it is called a new media, the Internet has been used by many people for more than 20 years and has become widely used. It is fair to say that the influence of the Internet on elections has been increasing in recent years
For better or worse, it would be difficult for election candidates to win if they were not covered by the major mass media. However, the major mass media often focus on people who are already famous or have been known for a long time. If you only look at the major mass media, you might think that it is difficult to win an election unless you are famous for a long time or widely known to the public.
The Internet is attracting attention as a method for unknown people to rapidly gain support. It is said that an effective method is to first increase your name recognition on the Internet and increase your supporters through word of mouth, as a preliminary step to getting featured in the mass media. Then, once you have gained a certain level of popularity on the Internet, you can strategically expose yourself to traditional mass media.
People who spend all their time on the Internet tend to be biased towards information found on the Internet, while people who spend all their time on traditional mass media tend to be biased towards that information. When you look at the election results, you may feel that "Oh, that's unexpected" or "The results were different from what I thought they would be." This may be because the media you watch on a daily basis is biased. Take this opportunity to review the media you have watched up until now and check whether you have been accepting biased reports at face value.
The election results are also a good opportunity for the media themselves to reflect on whether they have been reporting in a biased way. If the election results were far off the mark, it is possible that they have been reporting in a way that is far removed from what people want.
When the outcomes in the world do not go as you had hoped, being able to properly self-reflect is very important in advancing business.
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