How are the media most influential during an election

The media has an extreme influential power during an election.  The media provides the public with all the information used to make their decisions for an election.  They have a responsibility to the people and government to report efficiently and with fairness.

People depend on the media to give them the facts about the potential political representatives.  Often the media reveals scandal or criminal offenses committed by candidates which can change the way people vote.  

The media is responsible for hosting debates where candidates for offices express their views and debate about why their opinion is superior to the opposing candidates.  The questions for these debates are written by the news outlets and the debates are monitored or managed by news anchors.

Sometimes the media presents the news about elections with bias, for example Fox News is famously bias towards Conservative politics, this means they tend to favor Republican candidates in their reporting.  On the other hand, CNN is bias toward Liberal politics meaning they report Democratic candidates in a more positive light.  So, Fox viewers most often vote Republican and CNN viewers are most likely to vote Democratic, largely because of the way their media source presented the candidates to them.