The American Political Culture and its Relationship with Television
For citizens of the United States of America, reaching the age of 18 allows them to become a legal voter in their country. The Greeks invented the notion that citizens, the demos, could and should govern themselves. The United States’ adoption of the democratic system from the Greeks means that citizens have the ability to demonstrate their voice. The fundamentals of an efficient democracy require that the members of the system have the ability to gather information so that they can make an informed decision. Naturally and subsequently, many of those voters begin to take a deeper look into their political culture to examine how they will express their opinions in the elections. …show more content…
Television has become a dominant form of communication in American culture, resulting in the fascination of scholars, from all the behavioral sciences, of the medium. Researcher Robert Thompson studied the effects of appearance during presidential debates. The research discusses how the advancement in the popularity of television has introduced multiple new aspects to political campaign culture. In 1952, when television was coming of age, advertisers put together short and catchy TV spots for Dwight Eisenhower that ran during popular television shows such as I Love Lucy. It reached more voters than any other form of advertising did (16). Although Eisenhower’s ads were charming by today’s standards, political campaign advertisements are now employed in nearly all elections in an attempt to persuade the voters. Another major occurrence, Thompson found in his research, that influenced the American political culture was the 1960 presidential debate. The Kennedy-Nixon debates viewed by millions of American voters in 1960 were the first presidential debates carried on live TV (16). Nixon’s paled and tired appearance versus Kennedy’s tanned and rested appearance displayed one of the many new influences television can have on politics. After 1960, image became everything when choosing a candidate for president. In 1968, after realizing the power of TV image, Richard Nixon hired a team to put …show more content…
Many studies have been conducted in an attempt to see if voter exposure to political programs influences voter opinion. Kevin Arceneaux, Martin Johnson, and John Cryderman examined the effects of opinionated political talk shows. In order to measure the implications of viewing political talk shows, they developed a “theoretical model that formalizes selective exposure and media influence on a person’s reaction to arguments inconsonant with his or her prior views” (217). In their findings, they discover that “[w]hile it has the potential to polarize the mass public, it fails to do so because media fragmentation gives Americans the option to tune out, and too many do” (228). Dr. Jonathan Morris, an associate professor at East Carolina University, researched the potential consequences of a fragmented television news audience. In his research he hypothesizes that the intensification in “accusations of bias in political news […] may hinder the chances of political moderation and compromise among the mass public” (708, 726). Robert Cade and Ruth Cade conducted an examination of the association between mass media and voter behavior. In the article, they discuss the way the 1975 General Election in Mississippi restructured the behavior of the voters (28). They mention that “for the first time in a hundred years, the Republican Party offered a full slate of candidates” ,and as a result “political
For citizens of the United States of America, reaching the age of 18 allows them to become a legal voter in their country. The Greeks invented the notion that citizens, the demos, could and should govern themselves. The United States’ adoption of the democratic system from the Greeks means that citizens have the ability to demonstrate their voice. The fundamentals of an efficient democracy require that the members of the system have the ability to gather information so that they can make an informed decision. Naturally and subsequently, many of those voters begin to take a deeper look into their political culture to examine how they will express their opinions in the elections. …show more content…
Television has become a dominant form of communication in American culture, resulting in the fascination of scholars, from all the behavioral sciences, of the medium. Researcher Robert Thompson studied the effects of appearance during presidential debates. The research discusses how the advancement in the popularity of television has introduced multiple new aspects to political campaign culture. In 1952, when television was coming of age, advertisers put together short and catchy TV spots for Dwight Eisenhower that ran during popular television shows such as I Love Lucy. It reached more voters than any other form of advertising did (16). Although Eisenhower’s ads were charming by today’s standards, political campaign advertisements are now employed in nearly all elections in an attempt to persuade the voters. Another major occurrence, Thompson found in his research, that influenced the American political culture was the 1960 presidential debate. The Kennedy-Nixon debates viewed by millions of American voters in 1960 were the first presidential debates carried on live TV (16). Nixon’s paled and tired appearance versus Kennedy’s tanned and rested appearance displayed one of the many new influences television can have on politics. After 1960, image became everything when choosing a candidate for president. In 1968, after realizing the power of TV image, Richard Nixon hired a team to put …show more content…
Many studies have been conducted in an attempt to see if voter exposure to political programs influences voter opinion. Kevin Arceneaux, Martin Johnson, and John Cryderman examined the effects of opinionated political talk shows. In order to measure the implications of viewing political talk shows, they developed a “theoretical model that formalizes selective exposure and media influence on a person’s reaction to arguments inconsonant with his or her prior views” (217). In their findings, they discover that “[w]hile it has the potential to polarize the mass public, it fails to do so because media fragmentation gives Americans the option to tune out, and too many do” (228). Dr. Jonathan Morris, an associate professor at East Carolina University, researched the potential consequences of a fragmented television news audience. In his research he hypothesizes that the intensification in “accusations of bias in political news […] may hinder the chances of political moderation and compromise among the mass public” (708, 726). Robert Cade and Ruth Cade conducted an examination of the association between mass media and voter behavior. In the article, they discuss the way the 1975 General Election in Mississippi restructured the behavior of the voters (28). They mention that “for the first time in a hundred years, the Republican Party offered a full slate of candidates” ,and as a result “political