Are Democrats and Republicans really affected by media more and more today? If yes to what extent.

In today's world, yes it is clear that the media is affecting the choices of both Democrats and Republicans nationwide. The biggest way in how Democrats are being effected is how both of them are making their own individual decisions more based off of the media. There is more and more growing concern that every little act that they do might negate against them in the future so both sides are trying to get on the side of the media nowadays. My discourse for my final essay covered this topic and the very first thing that I did was analyze an image of Obama and Mccain during election times and how the media portrayed that image in a certain way to show one candidate as a possible better one over the other. In that image there were both depictions of Obama and Mccain standing in front of a group of supporters but one sides supporters seemed unconfident with their party or leader. This is what made the Republican party more conservative overtime and the Democratic party on the other hand more and more liberal. The media led the Republicans to start believing that there should be no tax increase for any sort of people while Democrats on the other side thought that minimum wage and progressive taxation would have been a better idea. The media also drifted apart both sides into making the Democrats believe that they should be based on the community and social support and therefore making Republicans believe that they should be based on individual rights and justice. The media even started to change both sides militaristic viewpoints overtime also by making the Democratic party understand that they should have decreased spending in whatever they do; but should still be able to make good decisions which is not so easy to do with a little amount of money, which could have lead to a possible advantage for Republicans. On the other hand critics say that one topic that the media has been unsuccessful to make both parties have a critical thought on would be a stance on gay marriage. There are many Republicans and on the other hand many Democrats that are for and against this idea. The states which are known for having strong supporters of Republicans are Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas; and likewise on the Democratic side are California, Massachusetts, and New York. Also the image that the Democrats got is a donkey while the Republicans got the symbol of an elephant, which can symbolize strength and power. Which is also a bit unfair to the Democrats. The number of seats in the senate and the house of representatives are mainly to Republicans and the media has control of everything that they show to us nationwide so another contributing factor as to something that effects both parties is the fact that Republicans generally tend to have more money than Democrats so they might have some more power in decision making. I can go on and on about this general discourse or topic but I have proved my main point that the media does play a mass role on how Democrats and Republicans both have changed many decisions that they make overtime as well as major processes as well. This image shown here will be just one of the many viewpoints of how the media is depicting both parties on some aspects. 
                              By: Shawaiz Hussain. (Student)