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https://www.rainews.it/tgr/fjk/articoli/2020/11/tdd-trump-biden-ameriske-predsedniske-volitve-prvi-izidi-ba2194e8-6613-48a5-ae26-a9c39bc6705a.html

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US
Presidential Election

Eighth grade students learned about the authorities in the Republic of Slovenia and the method of their election in the lessons of homeland and civic culture and ethics. They learned about the parliamentary and presidential elections and learned about the characteristics and tasks of the National Assembly, the government, the president, and the courts.

During the distance school, the US presidential election took place, so they covered various media (TV, websites, and social networks, as well as newspapers and radio).

They have produced a project task, comparing the method of electing the president of the Republic of Slovenia and President of the United States and their duties and functions. They monitored the elections most intensively during the voting and counting of votes until the announcement.

State and local media

The students found that state media actively monitored political developments in the U.S. and commented, analysed, and predicted possible outcomes. Individual contributions have been published since the announcement of the candidates and were reported much more intensively during the voting. From February to December 2020, the Slovenian News Agency published over 500 articles on the topic of the American elections, of which as many as 137 in the last month.
In the local media, they noticed significantly fewer articles that generally presented what was happening in the USA, and they also mentioned the former first lady, who has Slovenian roots, several times. During this period, the Slovene media noticed a predominance of articles on the topic of COVID-19 and elections in the USA. Many of the contributions focused on Donald Trump’s reactions during the vote count and commentary, as well as the announcements at the announcement of the results in each state.
Some students also followed the American media and found that the Slovenian media often only summarize articles in foreign media. They also noted that some media outlets strongly supported Joe Biden and others Donald Trump. These media criticized the opponent with their contributions and emphasized the good sides of the selected presidential candidate.

Election monitoring

Students often do not follow elections because they say they are not interested in politics. However, it is difficult to completely avoid this, as in November the articles were published in all media. This time, the elections were monitored in order to prepare a project assignment. In addition, due to the epidemic, they were at home most of the time and therefore made more use of various media. The students noticed that the US election is a big media pomp and is covered by media from all countries as it is one of the most influential political positions in the world. They mostly followed the media through social networks and websites as well as television. They noticed that there were several articles in the Slovenian media commenting on the controversial actions of Donald Trump, so they were mostly surprised that there was a fairly close fight between the two candidates. Students, their parents and relatives were mostly of the opinion that Joe Biden is more suitable candidate for President, but they are not burdened by who the new US president will be.

Consequences

Most students believe that there will be no significant changes, regardless of who is the president of the United States, as Slovenia is a small country that has no special political influence. The previous first lady had Slovenian roots, but Slovenia did not benefit from it. The tweet of the Slovenian Prime Minister, in which he prematurely congratulated the later loser, caused quite a bit of outrage in the Slovenian and foreign media. However, students feel that this action will not have long-term consequences, yet it is not the most promising start.
Students feel that the U.S. election is a big spectacle that overshadows the news that need our attention more. They believe that the media should pay more attention to poverty, hunger, climate change and the ever-growing violence. They hope that politicians will spend more time changing the environment and raising people's quality of life.

Tina Hrastar