“I just can’t seem to get the point across about how the media influences elections.”
Yeah, they did a fine job at influencing the election in 2016.
NOT!!
Do not fool yourself. The media had a massive effect on the election, it heavily influenced all the "blue" states, and it reduced the margin of victory in the "red" ones.
The fact that an exceptional man manage to build a coalition that beat them anyways is a condition we will not always be able to replicate in the future.
The media is still a grave threat to the nation.