The reality of the election from Australia’s point of view
I am an exchange student from the United States of America. The upcoming election is a big deal for me and I will be going back just in time for the November election. It’s important for me to keep up with what is going on back home, and what topics the candidates are discussing. I’ve been keeping up with the election by following the candidates Twitter pages.
Links to Clinton’s twitter page and Trump’s twitter page.
Penney states that many people learn about politics through digital platforms like Twitter, however he writes, “While some who engage in this activity enthusiastically embrace goals of persuasion, others opt for alternative conceptual frameworks…” (2016). I thought that it would be interesting to see how politics are reported in Australia.
According to some polls, “for each Democrat voter who shifts to Trump, two Republicans are getting behind Clinton” (McGeough, 2016).
Aaron Blake, another journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald, writes about how Trump looks like he is already going to lose by a landslide. Trump simply cannot stop being Trump, stating rude remarks, name calling, and uncalled for comments about other people.
Becker (2016) reports on Trump claiming that President Barack Obama and Clinton “co-founded the Islamic State,…” even though later he claims his statement was sarcastic. Becker discusses the FBI searching though thousands of Clinton’s email between 2009 and 2013, to see if there were leaked emails after her breach in security in 2015.
Sydney Morning Herald video discusses how Trump could improve his campaign.
Many of things that Australian reporters are saying are similar to what American reporters are writing about the two candidate.
(McGeough, 2016)
(Blake, 2016)
Sources used:
Blake, A 2016, ‘They said Donald Trump wouldn’t hurl personal insults any more. They were wrong’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 August, viewed 24 August 2016, http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-election/they-said-donald-trump-wouldnt-do-personal-insults-any-more-they-were-wrong-20160822-gqyo3j.html
Becker, A 2016, ‘US election ‘alternative reality’: Clinton’, News.com, 23 August, viewed 25 August 2016, http://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-news/us-election-alternative-reality-clinton/news-story/568255100e2436021971f607e5e53628
McGeough, P 2016, ‘Donald Trump, crushed in polls by Hillary Clinton, talks of ‘rigged election”, The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 August, viewed August 25, 2016, from http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-election/donald-trump-crushed-in-polls-by-hillary-clinton-starts-to-talk-of-rigged-election-20160810-gqpqww.html
Penney, J 2016, ‘Motivations for participating in ‘viral politics’: A qualitative case study of Twitter users and the 2012 US presidential election’, Convergence: The Journal Of Research Into New Media Technologies, 22, 1, p. 71, Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File, EBSCOhost, viewed 19 September 2016.
Communication and Politics 