I have been meaning to take my text book Questioning The Media: A Critical Introduction off the bookshelf during this long campaign season. It is full of helpful insights on the media and how they operate. This
book and specifically the chapter Mass Media and U.S. Presidency is so
appropate for the current campaign. It was helpful as I watched John
King of CNN question the African America Mayor of Philadelphia, Mike
Nutter. John King asked Nutter about his support of Sen. Clinton. He
wanted to know if Nutter received any pressure from his African
American constituents to support Obama? Mayor Nutter explained to John
King that he spoke to his African American constituents about the
meetings he had with Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama. He told them that he
was deliberate in his choice to support Sen. Clinton and that these
type of questions mostly came from the media and not the people who he
represents. He essentially said that his African American constituents
respected his decision to support Sen. Clinton.

This, in my
mind, prompts the question: How does the media shape and or
misshape public opinion? Mayor Nutter's response to John King offers
ever so small a glimpse beyond and almost certainly behind the slick
productions of news organizations like CNN. What is behind the curtain?
I have a theory that news organizations benefit the most when they keep
a so-called controversies in the public domain. They win because they
can demand advertising dollars when the demonstrate to advertisers that
they have the greatest set of eyes balls watching their newscast. It
really doesn't matter if the controversy is about Sen. Clinton or Sen.
Obama. It is all about the advertisers and that they see a return on
their money.

Thank you Mayor Nutter for giving me this opportunity to explain the role of the media in the political process.

For the record, I didn't vote for Sen.Clinton, Sen. Obama nor Sen. McCain because I wanted a full view of the campaign.