The 2016 American Presidential Campaign and the News
Implications for American Democracy and the Republic
Contributions by Abe Aamidor, Stephen D. Cooper, Katherine Haenschen, Mike Horning, Jim A. Kuypers, Stephanie A. Martin Southern Methodist University, Natalia Mielczarek, Chad Painter, Andrea J. Terry, Joseph M. Valenzano University of Dayton, Ben Voth associate professor, communication; director of speech and debate, Souther, Erin Whiteside Edited by Jim A. Kuypers
Publication date:
14 March 2018Length of book:
266 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksDimensions:
242x161mm6x10"
ISBN-13: 9781498565110
This book examines perhaps the most contentious election in modern US history—the 2016 United States presidential election. It is unique in its discussion of a wide range of issues affecting the news media coverage of the election, coming from an equally diverse range of intellectual perspectives including the rhetorical, social-scientific, communication studies, and media studies. With eleven chapters grounded in hard evidence and communication theory, The 2016 American Presidential Campaign and the News: Implications for American Democracy and the Republic examines significant topics such as fake news, media construction of Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s campaign personalities, media bias, visual meme depictions of the candidates, identity politics in the news, Trump’s Twitter use, entertainment news, and social media as news. These chapters individually and collectively provide a direct commentary on the implications of the 2016 campaign news coverage for the future of the American Republic and political communication in the media.
Probably since the earliest days of campaigns and elections in the United States, no one with the claim to be an “expert” has gotten more wrong than during the 2016 presidential election. This is why we need scholars who have the time to drill deeply into the data to let us know what really happened and why. The 2016 American Presidential Campaign and the News: Implications for American Democracy and the Republic is, thus, extremely timely. The broad range of essays covers almost every aspect of the campaign, especially its communications tactics, technology, and innovations. Journalists, political commentators, scholars, and students will be equally enlightened by its revelations. Moreover, the wisdom of the book applies to post-election discourse, which is vital to understand before the next election.