Political candidates seek to influence or spin media coverage of political debates to present themselves in the best possible ways. In these activities, you will examine how news outlets covered the 2020 Vice Presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Mike Pence, then write purposefully biased reports in which you generate political spin about the event from different political perspectives.
Political debates provide politicians with a platform to share ideas and information with their constituents and potential voters. At the presidential level, debates have become huge media events. Some 73 million people watched the first debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump in 2020.
Leading up to, during, and after the debates, political campaigns and partisan groups try to spin the results. Spin (also called political spin) is a term for how individuals use words and images to portray what happened in ways that put themselves or their political parties in the most favorable terms. Commentators, too, often spin the results of debates in partisan terms.
The origins of spin as a media phenomenon can be traced back to President Theodore Roosevelt, noted historian and journalist David Greenberg in his book, The Republic of Spin (2016). Before then, most newspaper reporters did not even cover the White House. But Roosevelt aggressively began communicating directly with the public as President. He gave Presidential addresses, participated in sit-down interviews with reporters, and went on speech-making tours around the nation. Since then, politicians have been using the media every chance they can to present themselves and their ideas in forcefully positive terms.
Meanwhile, news outlets, eager for viewers as a way to sell advertising, seek to capture and maintain audience attention.
How do these different agendas influence the way messages are framed to viewers?
Activity 1: Examine how News Outlets Covered the 2020 Vice Presidential Debate
Activity 2: Produce a Biased Media Report for the 2020 Vice Presidential Debate
In groups of 3, have one member write a news report purposefully favorable to VP Pence (Fox News style), one member write a news report purposefully favorable to Senator Harris (MSNBC style), and one member write an objective news report for a major newspaper (e.g., New York Times).
Then, critically review one another's reports using the following prompts as a guide:
Production: What is the news report's message? Why was this message chosen?
Language: What types of words were used to tell the story?
Audience: Who is the story aimed at? How do you know? How will people access the story?
Bias: How did the author use biased language, visuals, or perspectives in the news report?
Based on what you learned, create a presentation, interactive image, or video to inform your peers and family members about political spin as well as the differences between left-leaning, center, and right-leaning news articles about political debates.
Designing for Learning: Student-Created Activity Example