Presidents in The Visual Media

     

        After Donald Trump hosted "Saturday Night Live" this month, other Republican rivals were demanding equal air time. Since the presidential election of 1960, the presidential candidates have used all kinds of media to help them advance in their campaigns. Even though many citizens saw the great impact of having the debates held through visual media, they have ignored the faults in watching our candidates compete. John F. Kennedy was favored on television, unlike Richard Nixon no matter what the debate topic was. Visual media can be a favorable and useful tool to inform the public, however it can cause a great deed of bias during the presidential elections.

        For instance, Donald Trump is famously known for his "clown" face and ability to make a sales pitch. With opportunities to visually show the public his face, the public is becoming more supportive for he's a great entertainer. Like John F. Kennedy, the television has become manipulative and advantageous way to win over people. This was great for Kennedy, but not for Nixon. Nixon hated makeup and the idea of making his campaign a "show". He was dedicated to his campaigns, and didn't rely on his appearance to win the people- just his actions. However, no matter how he represented himself, without the "T-V Star" look, he was "trumped."

        Nixon even comments in his memoir, "It is a devastating commentary on the nature of television as a political medium that what hurt me the most in the first debate was not the substance of the encounter between Kennedy and me, but the disadvantageous contrast in our physical appearances."

Today visual media is a crucial part to how the public gets their knowledge. It can be a helpful method of informing the public on events such as a presidential election, but shouldn't depend on it. 

        I can't imagine getting rid of visual media during presidential elections, but the public should be mindful of its effects on our decisions. Trump has the right to host an SNL show if he chooses to, but as citizens who are expected to vote for our president in hopes of effective and knowledgeable decisions, we should keep in mind that the visual media is bias and not exactly a good path for our future presidential elections.