Journey's With George..... and the Media

It seems we look to the President to do everything perfect, to fulfill all of our wishes and to fix all the problems this country faces. Somehow, we only seem to focus on the problems they don’t fix and the mistakes they make.

Our country and world have become very media oriented. Let’s get real, reading a story about the good things a President or a nominee does is not as interesting as an article talking about what they haven’t done or what they did wrong. The reason is we expect them to do good all the time and when they do something wrong we thrive on criticizing. This is emphasized by the press.

In the documentary Journeys with George we see the important role the press plays in the election process and the emphasis the presidential nominees place on paying attention to the media.

When George Bush made a mistake during his speech during the primaries for the 2000 presidency, he immediately needed to do damage control. He needed to try to prevent the traveling media covering his campaign from trashing him and his campaign. 

(Start video at 10:14)

We expect the president to be perfect so if they make a mistake the media skews it in a way to make it seem more interesting. The media will use whatever they can to increase their readership and you can tell in this video the presidential candidates pay much attention to that.

It seemed as if everything, every speech and every act George Bush made, was carefully chosen in a way that would be media friendly and make the media show him in a good light. One example was his choice to go snowmobiling. As the press say “I believe it’s a big lie” to the fact that “it is not a photo op it is because he really wants to snow mobile”.

It is obviously a way to show he is just a regular guy like everyone else and he gets that by getting the press to get him in a good light and the way he plans out for the media to portray him.

(Start video at 11:24)

Although a lot of the campaign is finding a way to influence the media through everything he does, it seems as if a lot of the time it is a very easy going atmosphere. Through this documentary you see the side of President Bush that is really just like any other guy; the guy who jokes around with colleagues and friends. Although, he is trying to influence the reporters to portray him in a good light to get elected, you see him acting like a regular guy and for part of the campaign he road with the press as well. This type of video makes the campaign lighter and enjoyable to follow, while getting information as well. To me this is a form of propaganda for Bush, because it seems as if I saw Bush in a different light than just as the President of the United States.