1992-1993 Harry Singer Foundation National Essay Contest

What Role Does and What Role Should the Media Play In Choosing Our Candidates For National Office?
Teacher: John Hendricks

Salem High School, Salem, Missouri

   1st Kerrick Seay       2nd  Molly Coffman         3rd Yonni Boyer

We are not able to identify the excerpts below with a specific student. In the early years the Foundation made an effort to protect the privacy of particpants. Only later did we discover that students would rather be recognized for their opinions and research.  

"The media can 'pick and choose' words spoken by a political candidate in order to represent the person in a manner other than what he or she stands for or believes. Facts can often be totally misrepresented with the addition or deletion of a few simple words. While this fraudulent practice is extremely illegal, the media can usually work around the formal legalities and avoid prosecution."
unidentified student

"When pondering the role of the media in elections, it is of significance to examine its historical ramifications. During the French Enlightenment, the philosophers Locke, Rousseau, and others, through the media, laid the framework for the American, and later the French Revolutions. The media was, in essence, the bellows that fanned the flame for the American insurrection. James Madison's toil in the passage of the Bill of Rights was a direct correlation to his belief in the principle of the free press. That the media could influence elections was undoubtedly realized by our forefathers and deemed to be acceptable and necessary."
unidentified student

"The Watergate proceedings and the media's role in the bloodless coup of the Nixon administration was undoubtedly the media at its best. A corrupt government was undermined by two members of the press. In All the President's Men, one can see how a single newspaper, The Washington Post, changed the course of the political proceedings in this nation."
unidentified student

"The media should present only straight-forward, unbiased facts; opinionated statements made by media personnel should be clearly shown as opinions, and they should not be presented as a fact in any way."
unidentified student                                                                                        back

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