Television the Influence of Television

Television

The influence of Television

Television's influence on world and national affairs is unquestioned. I reviewed the article "Presidential Elections in the Age of Television" by Jennifer Truran Rothwell, which appeared in the September 1, 2000, edition of the journal "Social Education."

When I think of television's influence on elections, my mind jumps to the presidential debate between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy in 1960, but Rothwell says the medium's effect can be traced farther back than that. Rothwell says television first became a part of the political scene in 1948, when the networks first covered the Republican and Democratic conventions, and when Harry Truman ran the first political advertisement.

Rothwell also points to the 1952 presidential election, in which Dwight Eisenhower hired an advertising firm to create an advertising campaign for television. Eisenhower's opponent, Adlai Stevenson, criticized Eisenhower's advertising firm for selling a candidate the same way it sells inanimate objects, but Stevenson, too, used some advertising.

Rothwell spent surprisingly little time on the 1960 election, which some believe completely changed because of television. During the presidential debate between Nixon and Kennedy, Nixon appeared shadowy and he had a five-o'clock shadow, while Kennedy looked youthful and energetic. The effect was that it gave Kennedy a much more positive image to the audience than it did of Nixon. The author makes mention of the effect this had on future political campaigns without going into much detail as to just how much of an effect the debate had on that particular election.

1964 was another year in which television played a significant role in the presidential election. While the contest between President Lyndon Johnson and Republican Barry Goldwater may not have been close with or without television, the campaign is known for the "Daisy" advertisement by Johnson's campaign. It showed a girl pulling the petals off of a daisy as the narrator counted backwards from 10; when the narrator got to zero, the girl was replaced by a mushroom cloud in an attempt to claim that Goldwater was dangerous and unafraid of nuclear war. The advertisement was so controversial that it was pulled after the first time it aired.

In 1968, the news may have played a part in the election. While Rothwell's article covers only political advertisements, the news coverage of the way the violence outside the Democratic Convention in Chicago may have been damaging to the Democrats. Demonstrators were attacked numerous times by Chicago police. Not only did it take away from the Democrats' attempts to get their message out to the public, but it also may have hurt the party because the Mayor of Chicago was a Democrat, and he was standing up for the police department's actions.

The next presidential election greatly affected by television, according to Rothwell's article, was the election in 1984. Rothwell points to Reagan's upbeat message as a factor in his landslide over Walter Mondale. She also says that Reagan's response to questions about his age during a televised debate helped ease concerns that he might have been too old to be president.

Rothwell also mentions the Willie Horton advertisement run against Michael Dukakis in 1988 and the increase in soft money for advertisements in 1996 as instances in which television played a role in the outcome of the presidential election.

The author then talks about television as a political medium. Television, she wrote, "prefers images to words, icons to understandings... And arguably, emotion to reason." Rothwell then says that television exaggerates those preferences in political ads.

Rothwell writes that television has blurred the lines between politics, journalism, and entertainment. She uses examples such as presidential candidates appearing on late-night television programs.

This, in turn, has led to a simplification of the issues. She cited a 1996 study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs that found that the amount of time spent on political issues and the depth of the stories about political issues were both declining. For example, she said the study found that the average sound bite had gone from 42 seconds in 1968 to seven seconds in 1996; she wrote that the study also found that the amount of "horse-race" news had tripled from 1993 to 1996.

Rothwell goes on to talk about the role of money in politics, since it's needed to buy so much television advertising, but some studies have shown that the law of diminishing return also applies to the amount of television advertising bought by a candidate. In other words, it can have a great effect up to a certain point, but after that point, each dollar (or ad) begins to lose its effectiveness. She is correct, though, in pointing out that the cost of television advertising prevents candidates who are not well-financed from running for President.