Campaigning at Your Mailbox

Election Day is approaching. In local elections or other elections where voting turnout is expected to be low, direct mail has long been the preferred method of advertising. And if you are not a registered voter, you never see these mailings. Examples will be shown on a PowerPoint in class.

Questions...

•How are these mailers an example of targeted communications?

•Why are these ads effective?

•What are the advantages and disadvantages of slate mailers?

•How might an "atoms to bits" transition take place with this type of political advertising?

Hail to the Tweet

Would Donald Trump be President if Twitter didn't exist? It's an open question since it is certainly part of his success. As this NPR story suggests, maybe Mr. Trump is the first Twitter president.

Questions...

•Why is Twitter an effective medium for Mr. Trump? How are Trump and Twitter a good match?

•Is Twitter an inherently brutal medium? Is it anti-intellectual? How?

•What types of communications is Twitter good at? What types is it not so good at?

•What is the role of TV news and newspapers if the president doesn't hold news conferences, but tweets instead?

Poll Position

Last week, we looked at presidential polls in several MC101 classes. Your Humble Blogger briefly discussed the Los Angeles Times-USC poll, which unlike nearly every other poll (including the Fox News Poll!) predicted a Trump victory. So how did so many other polling agencies get the result wrong and this poll got it right? NPR reports.

Questions...

•Do election polls have news value? If you were an editor or news producer, would you do stories about the latest election polls? Why or why not?

•Do polls about social issues (like support for the death penalty or regulating firearms or same-sex marriage) have any news value? Why or why not?

•In your estimation, do pre-election polls make an impact on voting in any way?

•The Los Angeles Times endorsed Hillary Clinton on their editorial page, yet their poll predicted a Trump victory? What, if anything, does this say about the newspaper?

Quadrennial Equation

Every Four Years, Your Humble Blogger puts his graduate education in Political Science to work by giving students a few things to watch for on election night. First thing to know about presidential elections: the candidate who wins the nationwide popular vote doesn't necessarily win. Ask President Gore.

Today's presentation will introduce MC101s to the electoral map, and how things may unfold on Tuesday night.

Questions...

How many votes do you need to be elected President?

Ready for Trump Tweets?

This is a Medianote Classic. It was originally presented in September 2015. In Spring 2016, it will be presented to TTh classes only.

Political campaigning is a race for name recognition and connection with various groups of voters. And then motivating those groups of voters to turn out at the polls. It should be no surprise that social media has become a large and growing part of political campaigns. NPR reports.

Questions...

•In Chapter 1, we learn that all media messages are constructions. How are these media messages constructions?

•Is social media particularly effective when there are a lot of candidates to choose from? How?

•How is a campaign tweeting live (or nearly live) from a debate an example of disintermediation?

•How might a campaign adjust its tweets for particular groups of voters?

•How might social media be used in a campaign for GCC student body president?

Your Opinion Is Needed

This MediaNote is a little different. Your Humble Blogger has been asked to poll MC101 students on their attitudes toward e-Textbooks. Clickers will be used in class to assure anonymous responses. Five multiple choice questions will be presented via PowerPoint.

•••Postscript: Friday, May 2, 2 pm*** Your Humble Blogger has tallied the results of the MC101 student poll on eTextbooks. You can read the report, which is fittingly in PDF form, on the MC101 Moodle page. It is between the entries for your textbook and Club MediaNote.

Politics Goes Postal

Los Angeles and other local cities are holding municipal elections this week. Direct mail is the advertising medium of choice in local (and sometimes state) elections. These mass mailings don't go out to everyone, and that's part of the reason why they are effective. You will see examples of these mailings in a PowerPoint put together by Your Humble Blogger.

Questions...

•Imagine you are running for mayor. What issues would you highlight in a political mailer sent out to community college students?

•When can an endorsement be a negative for a political candidate? If you were running for mayor, who would you NOT want to be endorsed by?

•Your campaign for mayor has enough campaign funds to send out three separate mailers: one about your ideas about environmental protection; a second about being tough on crime; and a third one about improving local public schools. What groups in the community would you try to send each of them out to?

Media as Hero Killer

High profile political campaigns are rough. The candidate's drunk driving arrest from 20 years ago could come up. So might the legal status of a former housekeeper. And watch out if the candidate has ever been intimate with anyone other than his or her spouse.

Political Commentator Jeff Greenfield believes that even the much-revered Abraham Lincoln would look less like Honest Abe and more like Lyin' Lincoln in the harsh glare of today's mass media.

Greenfield's commentary is in Yahoo! News.

Questions...

•What sorts of things do we find out about major political campaigns from the media?

•What don't we find out in their coverage?

•Does the media reinforce the political center, or the extremes?

•How is politics changing because of the Internet?

Facebook Primary in 2016?

What motivates people to vote has been studied by political scientists for generations. Campaigns recruit armies of volunteers to make phone calls, drive voters to the polls, and give out information. But what if voter turnout could be increased by merely informing Facebook users when Election Day is, where they can vote, and which of their friends have already voted?

The Atlantic Monthly has this fascinating report of an experiment that may lead to increased voter turnout.

Questions...

•In everyday life, when does peer pressure make a difference in how people behave?

•Name all the ways that Facebook alters our behavior

•If Facebook is cooperating with experiments designed to increase voter turnout, are they being politically neutral? Why or why not?

•In general, does social media make us more involved with real-life events, or less involved? Why?

Register to Vote by Oct. 22

California Governor Jerry Brown wants you to be registered to vote. Below is his message to California college students...

Subject: Message from Governor Jerry Brown

As a college student you can help decide the future of California by voting on November 6. But the first step is to register as a California voter before the deadline on Monday, October 22.

Registering to vote has never been easier. For the first time, Californians can register to vote online. http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vr.htm

Critical choices will be made at this election. California voters will decide issues affecting education funding and college tuition, the state budget process, punishment for crimes, and food labeling rules. And the candidates chosen will shape the policies of our state for years to come.

You are eligible to vote in California if you are:

• A United States citizen,
• A resident of California,
• 18 years of age or older on Election Day,
• Not currently serving any part of a felony sentence (see the Secretary of State’s website for more information).
• Not found by a court to be mentally incompetent.

If you have moved from your previous address, or changed your name, you should register again. http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vr.htm

The power is in your hands—don’t miss the opportunity to make your voice heard.

Register before the deadline, Monday, October 22.

Then vote on Tuesday, November 6.

With respect,

Governor Jerry Brown

Register to Vote

New voters can now register online. You must register by Oct. 22 to vote in the November 6 election.