Read one of the following articles and write a comment that relates the article to material that you have covered in one of the Janda textbook chapters this year. Your comment should include specific details from the article and should use vocabulary from the textbook. Comments that meet these requirements and are at least a paragraph in length will receive +2pts. on the most recent exam. Include you first name and last initial at the end of your post to receive credit.
Your Choices:
1. An article about New York's 23rd district and the special election being held to fill its empty seat. This article relates to material we've covered on campaigns and political parties.
2. An article about New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie's reaction to hints from his opponent that he is to obese to be governor. This article relates to material we have covered on campaigns and the media.
17 comments:
The media plays a very big role in the New Jersey Gubernatorial campaign because the ads are presented on television. Also, many people are hearing Christie's side of the issue through the Internet (group media) as well as television and radio. Because the media is privately owned, journalists are compelled to put stories like this on because they know it will cause a reaction and more people will watch their station. I believe that the need to make money has become so controlling that people do not respect each other any more.
Chris Christie is in the middle of a media firestorm because of ads by his opponett in NJ's gubernatorial race. Christie is using the media to his advantage by attacking Corzine by telling him to man up. The media (in this case the radio) weren't covering the real issue of this election, but instead Christie's weight. The media belives this media event is more important than the issues themselves.
In New Jerseys gubernational election the republican candidate Chris Christie has recently been called obese and his opponent, Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine, said that Christie should quit in that his weight will cause him trouble. In this situation the media plays a major role. Christie had an inter iew on through broadcast media on the radio. There have also been attack advertisements, a form of group media, sponsored by his apponent highlighting his weight. Christie shrugged these comments with jokes about his weight.P
Sam B pd. 7
Alex Stephanson
Period 7
Extra Credit
This article described the situation in the New Jersey governor's race where John Corzine keeps hinting that his opponent is fat. This ties in perfectly with chapter 6 in our government book because the point Janda is trying to get across to the reader is that the media does not do a good job of informing the public about current issues, affairs and general politics. This is especially true when it comes to elections. The media tends to focus on on scandals and personal images as opposed to the candidates position on important issues. This has become so commonplace that the television hypothesis has been created. This is the belief that television is to blame for the low level of knowledge about public affairs. This article is a perfect example of this. Instead of talking about Christie's position on the issues facing New York, the article talks about Corzine joking about his opponent's weight and Christie's response to Corzine's jokes.
The comments on Christie's weight didn't have quite the effect that Corzine wanted. Instead of changing the image oriented people's oppinion of Christie, Corzine created media opportunities for Christie. Although not the highest level of newsworthiness, hristie was aw to use this to create a sound bite "man up...", putting down his opponent almost as much as an attack ad would. This was a big media event.
--Postwd by:Claudelle Calfat--
The house seat for the 23rd congressional district election outcome is potentially being altered because of the media coverage. Ms. Scozzafava the candidate for the republican party is being criticized by many people because of her policies that make her more leanient to the left. Sarah Palin said that Ms. Scozzafava, "a candidate who more than blurs the lines, and there is no real difference between the Democrat and the Republican in this race.” Another person who is criticizing the republcan candidate is Sarah Johnson who believes that the republican candidate should be more conservative and not resemble a democratic candidate. Based on what people have said it seems as though the line between democrats and republcans should be more clearly drawn. Different political parties should not share the same ideas (Scozzafava is pro-choice and a supporter of gay marriage which usually coincides with democrats). The media that is the Internet (group media) and newspapers which has given the election morepublicity. Liliana Ramirez
Democrat jon corzine uses the mass media as a way to attack his opposing candidate for new York governor. He keeps implying in his interviews that republican Chris Christie is overweight. Then denies it, with silly excuses. Obviously those kind of accusation were very newsworthy because it would be very controversial in the piblic's eyes. Also part of what gets broadcasted is due to gatekeepers. They decide what events and stories get reported. Jon corzine thinks by pointing out that his opposing candidate is fat he will get the public to see how that could hurt the public. That Chris is not setting a good example to the public about how seriously they must take their health. However, Chris says he is that he is advertising fast food restaurants. For the public to go and help those unemployed get their jobs back. As well as using the television both candidates use print media as well.
Nataly m.
The article about Chris Christie and his weight problems relates to what Janda discusses about campaign strategies and the use of the media. On one side, Corzine is using an image-oriented strategy to show the weakness of Christie's personal qualities and his weak leadership ability over himself. Corzine believes that if Christie can't take care of himself how would he be able to take care of New Jersey. Corzine uses the media to help him get his point across by never actually stating that Christie is fat, but hinting at the fact which allows the media to point it out. On the other hand, Christie uses the same ideas to attack back at Corzine by saying that Corzine should man up and say he is fat if Corzine believes that. Christie's attack is also against Corzine's image-oriented strategy. Christie shows how Corzine has poor leadership ability because he won't stand up for what he really believes. Christie uses the media by getting onto to a show like Don Imus and cracking jokes to increase his support of voters. Both Corzine and Christie use the media and attacks against fellow candidates in their campaign for the election.
Shane M.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie has been put down my democratic candidate Jon Corzine for commenting about his weight in subtle hints on interviews and negative advertisements. Christie has done well with shrugging these comments off however, he jokes carelessly about his weight on broadcast media outlets like radio stations and tv programs. Broadcast media stations love stories like this, as most stations only play interesting stories that would attract viewers instead of informative and relevant election stories.
Lelia T.
In article 2, Christie, a republican candidate running for New Jersey governor was interviewed by a radio station (broadcast media). In his interview he spoke about his fatness. This led to newsworthiness coverage to many audiences in the world. Corzine, Christie's opponent, made ads about Christie that said that a fat governor is not a reliable one. This was covered on many television stations, showing that any mass media will do anything no matter how small and unimportant it is, to get money and more audiences. The press (all the medias) need to consentrate more on fairness and positions during campaigns and other news stories.
Iara Rogers Benchoam period 7
In New York's 23 congressional district three canidates are participating in a "special election" with Bill Owens as the Democratic canidate, Dede Scozzafava as the Republican canidate, and Doug Hoffman as New York's Conservative Party canidate. Scozzafava is very liberal for a Republican, believing in gay marriage and in favor of pro choice, and more conservative members of the Republican party are upset about this. The Conservative Party is a small party but decided to nominate Hoffman because they believed Scozzafava to be too liberal for the party. The Conservative party is advocating thier rights by protesting in a conventional manner by nominating a canidate, but by doing this, the party is decreasing the chance for any "right wing"canidate to claim the majority of votes to win. It is understandable that the Conservative party would want a more coservative canidate, but they nominated a canidate at the possible expense of the election to Bill Owens.
Brianna Hogan
The story about Republican candidate for governor, Chris Christie, demonstrates an image oriented campaign by his opponent, Jon Corzine. Corzine is trying to say that voters should vote for him because he is not obese, and therefore, probably better health. Also, this type of story is the perfect for media coverage because it shows conflict and is relatable to struggles the average American goes through, since most Americans are obese, or becoming so, and therefore they would feel strongly if somebody was getting discriminated against because of their weight. The way in which Christie uses the media as a tool to fight back, saying, “Man up and say I’m fat,” only gains appeal to Christie because he is standing up for himself and he isn’t denying the fact that he is overweight, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be a great governor. -Sarah Danik
Corzine has obviously decided to use a primarily image based campaign in his race against Christie by continuously hinting at Christie's obesity. christie has, however, been able to use these attacks as ammunition in a primarily issue oriented campaign, saying that Corzine just wants to make Christie look bad instead of actually giving voters information. Corzine realy should lay off on the fat references for a while, and concentrate on actual issues.
This report describing the battle between Democrat Jon Corzine and Republican Chris Christie for the seat as governor of New Jersey, shows how Corzine’s attack ads have backfired on him. He has been using mass media, especially television, and the issue of Christie’s obesity in an attempt to attack his opponent. Even though this newsworthy subject was used in an effort to ruin Chris Cristie’s image, Christie was able to use it to his advantage. The subject has been made into a media event where Corzine is frowned upon because of his inconsiderate remarks on his opponent’s weight. “We have to spur our economy. Dunkin Donuts, International House of Pancakes, those people need to work too.” This sound bite of Christie’s shows his capability of standing up for himself and to prove to the state of New Jersey that he is above Corzine.
-Jillian Luoma-Overstreet
New Jersey's Republican nominee for governor, Chris Christie, has been attacked by his democratic opponent, Jon Corzine, about his weight. Christie is overweight, which Corzine stresses is bad through his attack ads on the television (mass media). Instead of attacking Christie through his controversial issues, he attacks him through his image. Corzine is attacking Christie hoping that people will vote for him through the image-oriented strategy because he is thinner. Christie's weight does not effect his issues and the contributions he could make, yet he is being attacked for it because Corzine knows that the public could be persuaded by it, which shows the public's ignorance. Christine jokes about his weight and responds that Corzine is acting "beneath the office".
Hagar S.
Chris Christie, the republican candidate running for Governor of New Jersey in an interview, via radio a type of broadcast media, comments on the hints made by the democratic candidate, Jon Corzine who is mocking him on his weight. The fact that this news is even up, truly shows that Americans voted through attributes and not policy issues. Christie tries to use his “obeseness” as a positive attribute therefore is running an image orientated campaign by joking about it during the interview. This “news” may harm or affect the “fat” governor, it has two possibilities. People may say he is one of us, as the American population is increasingly getting obese. On the other hand, people may say he isn’t healthy so he isn’t reliable just as how Corzine focuses on in a television ad, which can be described as an attack ad. Going back to Americans focusing on attribute and not policy issues, this is a short term factor in the election which may end up of benefiting one candidate and thus may result in winning the election
What makes the election race for the representation of the 23rd district of New York different than most is the fact that a third party is also competing for the same representative position. Doug Hoffman is the nominee of the Conservative Party, a bolter party that split from the Republican Party. The split is a result from the nomination of Dede Scozzafava as the Republican nominee for this election. Even though she claims on being a “moderate Republican,” Republicans who support Doug Hoffman and the Conservative Party believe that Scozzafava’s pro-choice and support of gay marriage policies are too far left (too liberal) to be the policies of a true Republican. And unlike most bolter parties, “Recent polls show Mr. Hoffman [and the Conservative Party are] rapidly gaining” in terms of popularity. Furthermore, the Conversative Party is using a blend of a party-centered and an issue-oriented strategy for their campaign. They still associate with Republicans even though they cannot and therefore do not rely on the Republican Party for support. They also have policies that are very similar or exactly the same as Republican polices. Yet, they propose some policies that are far more right (more conservative) than those proposed by Dede Scozzafava. In the end, the formation of the Conservative Party is a conventional way of participating in this election. However, their participation could lead to a split among Republican voters between Dede Scozzafava and Doug Hoffman, which would lead to a Democratic representative in the 23rd district of New York (along with a repeat of the presidential election of 1860).
Stephen C.
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