Does Media Bias Really Affect Public Opinion??? Google Trends, Ron Paul & Barack Obama.

Here is an old video from after the 2008 elections, where Jerry Day explains how, despite the mainstream media very much under-reporting Ron Paul, he was still very popular on the internet, actually more so than Barack Obama. He then shows that after a long time of the media ignoring Ron Paul, and focusing mostly on Barack Obama, then Obama became more popular.



Well, I just got curious and looked up Ron Paul and Barack Obama on google trends for the last 30 days and I found something interesting.

[link to www.google.com]

It seems that there was a big spike in Ron Paul searches on the internet when he announced he's starting an exploratory committee for 2012. Well, it seems that almost right after that, there was an increase of media for Barack Obama. I was wondering if this is the birther thing? The release of his certificate? It seems to coincide perfectly, and then after all that, Barack Obama became more popular on google trends again.

Anyway, I just thought this was interesting, and maybe some other people might find it interesting as well... To see how media really influences what becomes "popular". And perhaps, judging on what is becoming popular discourse from citizens, maybe they release certain stories as ways to distract from those other discourses that they would rather not have us talking about... That's the more "conspiracy" version of this, but hey, that's what this site is for.

Either way, I'll be keeping an eye on this as the presidential election moves forward.