Sarah Davidson Discussion

Mrs. Sandy Davidson visited the Rollins Lounge on Tuesday to discuss the effects of politics on the media.  Davidson is a professor of journalism, communication and law at Mizzou.  Although the discussion was intended to discuss the effects of politics on the media, it turned out to be a discussion on the effects of the media on politics, as well as foreign affairs and the crisis involving the economy.  The obvious opening topic was the racial diversity in the presidential election, along with the gender difference.  Senator Barack Obama of Illinois is an African-American while Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska is the vice presidential candidate for the Republican Party.  Each candidate would be the first African-American or woman in his or her respective offices.  She emphasized the importance of the college students' votes and how they could sway the election.  According to Davidson, journalists, including journalism students, are in an exciting time in history with the election, as well as the technological changes that are affecting foreign affairs between countries.  However, the economy crisis is not helping anyone.  The media is affecting the debate by using its opinions to get into the voters' heads to vote a certain way.  In a bigger picture, the media is attempting to sway the public to think the way it does in all major affairs.  For example, although Russia is still making it through the ranks to become a world power once again, the media has blown things out of proportion, as if to scare the American public.  It is once again proving that it has influence over the public, which was a major point brought up by Davidson.  She also addressed the fact that the media is placing a strong emphasis on the financial crisis in the US, which is appropriate.  Overall, the discussion was interesting, yet not as informative as I would have hoped.