Rise of Digital Media in American Presidential Election Campaigns The case of Barack Obama’s 2008 Campaign

Abstract

IV Abstract This dissertation, entitled The Rise of Digital Media in American Presidential Election Campaigns Barack Obama’s 2008 Campaign, consists of two chapters. It aims at examining the role Mass Media play in presidential election campaigns in the United States of America (USA). First, it traces back the general development of media forms in the American society and examines how this development influenced presidential campaigning through history. This research mainly focuses on the three widely used media forms in the American society, newspapers, Television and the internet. Further, by applying Media Ecology Theory, the study investigates how Obama’s 2008 election campaign relied on the New Media (the internet) and how the strategic use resulted in an unprecedented movement-like Campaign.