Transnational Stories: The U.S. Presidential Election

In light of the rise of noöpolitik, or soft ideational power, non-state actors (i.e. journalists) are supposedly turning away from traditional political, social and economic discourse, and in turn are searching for stories, which can transcend borders, and capture audiences globally.  Reviewing popular news this past week, however, major U.S. and foreign national newspapers retained a strong focus on the United States presidential election race, between former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney and President Obama. 

In what was foreseen to be one of the most highly contested U.S. presidential elections in the century, there were a number of news and media sources closely watching the polls and stirring debates online with newly released reports.  Following, what appears to have become a global discourse on following the 'future of America's leadership and economic pursuits', all news and media outlets seemed poised to run continual reports on the election.  The interest of U.S. presidential election was certainly a major story garnering front-page status in the Korea Herald, Le Figaro, BBC news, and many other foreign national papers.  This could be justifiably seen as a result of new communicative and social media tools, and the ability for major news outlets to find out what is the most popular news attracting audiences to buy their papers, read articles on their websites, or even follow their twitter feeds.

Using the Korea Herald as an example, many South Koreans showed keen interest in the presidential race that Korea's main search engine Naver.com, received an un-surmounted number of keyword searches for Obama and the U.S. presidential election.  Presumably, rising coverage of the election abroad and even immense media coverage here in the U.S. created clear and significant political effects.  Just as Aday and Livingston address in their article, non-state actors (i.e. journalists) played an influential role in mediating news relevant to international affairs.  For example, there is a lot of meaning within the language used in news reports that can play a significant role in not only sharing ideas, but also shaping views or perceptions of the receiving audience. 

In a recently conducted BBC poll, foreigners were surveyed to select which U.S. presidential candidate they favored most.  With the influence of transnational media, the prospective view of these surveyors could have been influenced by many sources. However, similar to a poll conducted four years ago, 20 out of 21 countries strongly preferred President Obama over Republican candidate Romney. While, the president has received more popularity since his first in-stated term in office, he is also viewed as a TCI (third-culture individual) who is charismatically appealing to many foreigners.  This seemed to remain true after the results came through late Tuesday night, confirming President Obama as a 2nd-term president.  What is most surprising is how translational this one news headline story was around the world, and even now with the final electoral count in the state of Florida released, officially sealing President Obama's victory.  

Citations:


Barack Obama Opinons - Third Culture Kids and How Obama Really Thinks - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/barack-obama-opinions-062110#ixzz2By2Ps9bd


David Ronfeldt & John Arquilla "The Promise of Noopolitik" First
Monday 12 n. 8-6 (1999/2007).
http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/in dex.php/fm/article/view/1971/1846

Obama wins Florida, sealing massive victory in final tally. Korea Herald. Nov. 11,2012.http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=201211

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Picture taken from: Washington Post. Oct 23,2012. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blo gs/world views/wp/2012/10/23/poll-finds-20-of-21-countries-strongly-prefer-obama-exception-pakistan/

Sean Aday and Steve Livingston (2008) "Taking the state out of
state--media relations theory: how transnational advocacy networks are
changing the press --state dynamic" Media, War, and Conflict.

South Koreans keeping close eye on U.S. presidential election. Korea

Herald. Nov. 7,2012. http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=201 21107000618

Washington Post. Oct 23,2012. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blo gs/world views/wp/2012/10/23/poll-finds-20-of-21-countries-strongly-prefer-obama-exception-pakistan/