While it's always hard to say whether or not the media affects opinion more or opinion affects media, whatever the case is, it seems that coverage of the niqab incident was a major factor in the outcome of the election. Had Mulcair not lost the Quebec support, it's likely strategic voting would have occurred in the opposite direction than it did. No matter what the case, the media in general seemed to favour the left more so than the right despite the Conservatives having more last minute endorsements. That said, while having more endorsements, the variety of outlets for said endorsements is lower than than the Liberal. Ultimately, the mass media seems more reactive than active, as they only report on incidents that were impact-ful several days ago. This is largely due to to the role of social media far outpacing journalists in informing people about events. In a sense, mass media's role has been reduced to acting as a megaphone and archivist for the world's fast paced news.