The Role of Media in the Rise of Trumpism

The Role of Media in the Rise of Trumpism
Abstract
As the agenda-setting theory explains, the mass media plays a crucial role in informing the public about various issues and influencing how they think and perceive them. This paper uses the agenda-setting theory to explore the role of media in the rise of Trumpism, an ideology resonating with outside persona, nativism, and populism. To do this, this study qualitatively analyses newspaper articles published online by notable media firms, including The Guardian, Washington Post, The New York Times, CBS, BBC, ABC, NBC, USA Today, and CNBC. The study found that the media extensively covered Trump giving him an advantage over his competitor. Trump also utilized social media to appeal to his followers, thus contributing to the rise of Trumpism.
Introduction
The June 2017 United States of America presidential election was among the most interesting in history. President Donald Trump won the elections after taking a unique approach to his campaign. He took a populism approach earning him many votes, especially from the native Americans and those who believed America was headed in the wrong direction and needed redemption from outsiders or foreigners slowly taking over and controlling the country. Among the issues Trump explored in his campaigns were immigration, populism, terrorism, crime, and economic insecurity (Caulk, 2017). However, these are not the issues that earned him the confidence and trust of the voter, but the media's role in informing the voters about what Trump's presidency would do, as explained by the agenda-setting theory. Articles published in various print media platforms, including the Guardian, Washington Post, The New York Times, and CNN, portrayed Trump not as a presidential candidate but the saviour Americans had been waiting for to deliver them from terrorism, economic, criminal, and social injustices, especially from foreigners. His Slogan "Make America Great Again" insinuated that America had lost its glory and that Trump would restore it. This gave rise to a new term called Trumpism, a political ideology, style of governance, social emotions, political movement, and the mechanism to acquire and keep control of power associated with President Trump and his political stronghold (Caulk, 2017).
Based on the above description, this paper aims to explain the rise of Trump into power and the emergence of Trumpism using the media influence lens. It explores the agenda-setting theory. This paper uses a qualitative research approach to explore this topic. It qualitatively analyzes print and online media articles based on the agenda-setting theoretical framework to explain the emergence of Trumpism. The agenda-setting theory is a model which describes how the media influences people to think and perceive various public interest issues through the angle of reporting the stories (McCombs & Shaw, 1972). This paper argues that the media helped Trump win the presidency and develop Trumpism through the approaches to reporting his campaign manifesto points.
This paper illustrates the role of agenda-setting theory in the rise of Trumpism. Dautrich and Hertley (1999) note that most Americans consume political information through media. The agenda-setting theory is the best to explain the rise of how political information is transmitted to the audience and how they interpret it. The model is anchored on the influence of the media on its audience to shape how they think and perceive issues of public interest (McCombs & Shaw, 1972). This is achieved through the angle of reporting, the kind of images and graphics accompanying the piece, and the general framing of the story. Based on this theory, this paper argues that the media framed Trump's campaign stories positively, influencing the voters positively and making them vote for Trump.
This paper will also use the results from the newspaper and online print media articles to show the current and future effects of agenda-setting theory on the audience based on the four principles of Trumpism; celebrity, outsider persona, nativism, and populist appeal (Tabachnick, 2016). Therefore, when analyzing the articles, this study looks up the four Trumpism themes, including economic insecurity, crime, and terrorism.
Literature Review
This section reviews previous work on agenda-setting theory and how it affects media consumers. It discusses two specific aspects; the rise of Trumpism and how the media portrayed Trump during the presidential campaign up to his election into office. However, it is essential to review the agenda-setting theoretical framework.
Agenda setting
Agenda setting dates back to the first chapter of 1922 Water Lipmann's book Public Opinion "The World Inside and The Pictures Inside Our heads" (Lippmann 1929). In this chapter, Lipmann asserts that the mass media connects the events that happen in the world and the images that the public form in their minds about those events. In 1972, Dr Max McCombs and Dr Donald Shaw formally developed the agenda-setting theory based on Lipmann's book. McCombs and Shaw studied the 1968 American election and called it "The Chapel Hill Study" and found a strong relationship between the thoughts of hundred residents of Chapel Hill about the election and what the media covered as the most important issue in that election (McCombs & Shaw, 1972). These authors determined the degree to which the mass media influences the public by comparing the salience of issues with the public's perception.
McCombs and Shaw (1972) explored two agenda-setting levels significant for this study. The first level is the media's function in telling their audiences and the general public what to think about. According to the authors, the second level, which is also the framing phase, is where the media tells the people how to think about an issue (McCombs and Shaw (1972). Based on this argument, the media plays a significant role in telling the voters what the critical issues are in an election. In most cases, people will hold dear the issues the mass media gives more coverage to and will likely use them to decide who to vote for.
Agenda setting and coverage of the candidates by the mass media is concerned about the extent of media coverage that a candidate gets and the issues given salience. Research shows that voters found it easier to learn personality traits than the ideologies and experiences of a candidate (Carmines & D'Amico, 2015). The media emphasizes select issues and candidates taking unique approaches making the voter think along those lines. In turn, it sways the voters in a certain way because what the media focuses on influences them. Ultimately, this type of coverage helps the audiences think and act in a particular manner.
Trumpism
Trumpism is an ideology, a set of a group's beliefs explaining how they think societies should function (Post, 2017). Political figures significantly influence ideology formation, which Donald Trump enjoyed during his time. In most cases, these ideologies are short-lived, as Trumpism did. McCarthyism is another example of a short-lived ideology in the American political sphere in the 1950s. Hayden (2011, p.12) says, "McCarthyism was a nationalistic, xenophobic response to the perceived threats of the Soviet Union and the Chinese communist-led revolution." The two major concerns McCarthy raised were the infiltration of communists in government offices and the external threat from the Soviet Union (Ridout & Searles, 2011). Research also suggests McCarthyism reincarnated in the US after the Twin Tower Bombing on September 11, 2001 (Gibson, 2008). Gibson (2008) explored the intolerance levels in government at the beginning of the 21st century and during McCarthy's era and noted that although it had reduced, there was an increase in the number of people who believed that they did not have adequate freedom of expression.
Populism
Trumpisim uses populism appeals (Judis 2016). Populism uses emotional appeal and fascism to influence people, making them believe their opponents are selfish and undemocratic (Judis 2016). Populism divides society, creating an "us vs. them" conflict, and has two wings, the right, and the left, as Judis (2016) discusses. Right-wing populism relies on painting the elite groups negatively that they favour groups like immigrants and minority groups. Judis does not give a definite description of the elites, but it ranges between the Washington insiders and intellectuals to the upper class. Trump used populism by appealing to the silent majority who felt they finally had someone who could speak on their behalf (Judis 2016). They viewed Trump as the saviour that Americans had waited for long and that they should not waste the chance.
Methodology
This paper will use a qualitative methodology to analyze the content of selected articles published online about Trumpism from renowned media firms. The basic assumption here is that the media influenced people's perception and the way they think about Trump's presidency (McCombs &Shaw, 1972). The articles will be selected from The Guardian, Washington Post, The New York Times, CBS, BBC, ABC, NBC, USA Today and CNBC. This study chose these media firms because they are widely consumed by Americans and regarded as having substantial influence on their readers because they are the most trusted. The suitability of the articles will be determined by searching those that talk about Trump's opinion and policies on terrorism, crime, immigration, and economic insecurity. The approach of reporting in these articles will be compared to determine the extent to which the media promoted Trumpism.
Media Review
This section analyzes newspaper articles, live shows, and other mass media digital content within the agenda-setting theory jurisdiction. This media review seeks to show that Donald Trump utilized the power of media to win the presidential elections and that the press covered him extensively and in an angle that made the voters resonate with Trump more than his competitor, Hillary Clinton. It also analyzes Trump's use of media, which, together with media coverage, led to the rise of Trumpism. Concentrating on the media's agenda-setting theory, this section will analyze the role and overall coverage of Trump, and the media's issue selection criteria. It will also concentrate on Trump as a candidate and his media use focusing on his messaging style and individual communication.
Media
Role of the media and the overall coverage of Trump
Trump enjoyed increased media coverage. Shorenstein Center's report towards the end of 2016 found that Trump received more extensive media coverage than his competitor, Clinton. His coverage was almost double that of Clinton beginning when he announced that he would be running for the presidency and when he was nominated by the Republican party (Patterson 2016). The media's focus on Trump was average, 15% higher than Clinton's during the general election (Patterson 2016). The 2016 Tyndall Report also showed that the top 20 news stories that year comprised more than a third of al...