CofC Professor Examines the Media's Role in Presidential Politics
Karyn Amira, associate professor of political science, has published an article for The Conversation that examines the role of the media in presidential politics.
GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis on television screens at a Washington, D.C., bar during the first 2024 Republican presidential primary debate on Aug. 23, 2023. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
College of Charleston political science professor Karyn Amira has published an article for The Conversation that examines the role of the media in presidential politics.
Amira notes that when it comes to media coverage during a presidential primary, there is a widely discussed pattern called “discovery, scrutiny, decline.”
“When a candidate says something novel, they are ‘discovered’ and receive a burst of coverage,” Amira explains. “This attention brings momentum, making them subject to ‘scrutiny,’ which then pushes their polling numbers back down, and they ‘decline.’”
Amira says the “discovery, scrutiny, decline” trend is likely due to the media’s appetite for novelty.
