beyond partisanship, unpopular politicians are using the media to win
In the article, Illing argues that beyond partisanship, unpopular politicians are using the media to win. Today, the media overwhelms the public with information, some accurate and others fake, leading to a sense of nihilism. People feel a sense of meaninglessness because when there is so much conflicting information about an issue, it becomes easier to give up on the idea that the truth will ever come out. Illing adds that the influx of both accurate and conflicting information is deliberately “manufactured.” Politicians have mastered the art of saturating the media with misinformation, which minimizes its ability to expose the truth. The strategy is to create great cynicism around the truth so that it becomes almost impossible for institutions such as the traditional media and modern media to unearth the truth. With so much confusing information going around, the public becomes convinced the truth is “unknowable.”
Similarly, Coppins claims that the Trump re-election campaign will largely be based on targeted misinformation to the public. Specifically, the use of social media to run deceptive and misleading ads or messages was used by Trump 2016 campaign and is set to be used in his re-election. Politicians using such tactics accomplish this by spreading misleading information about an opponent. For example, the team tracks past information about the nemesis and uses it to deflect the matter by questioning the integrity of the information he or she presented. The idea is to appeal to their supporters by employing precisely crafted digital messages that make the opponents seem questionable and untrustworthy. Beyond social media, digital campaign drivers have learned the art of sending anonymous messages directly to millions of voter’s mobile phones without their consent permission. Through these strategies, politicians like Trump use the power of digital media to sway voters into their favor.