One question the authors address: Do network projections based on increasingly sophisticated techniques for "calling" election outcomes well before polls close affect results? At no time has this question been more in the forefront of public consciousness than in the wake of the 2000 presidential election. The Langs draw on their own highly detailed study of voter reactions to election news to assess its effect on turnout, on political attitudes, on candidate strategies, and on legislative initiatives." "As a model of how to study communication effects, this highly readable volume will interest decision makers and analysts, as well as students of journalism, broadcasting, political behavior, and voters looking ahead to the next election."--BOOK JACKET.
This book serves as an accessible critical introduction to the broad category of American political television content. Encompassing political news and scripted entertainment, Political TV addresses a range of formats, including interview/news programs, political satire, fake news, drama, and reality TV. From long-running programs like Meet the Press to more recent offerings including Veep, The Daily Show, House of Cards, Last Week Tonight, and Scandal, Tryon addresses ongoing debates about the role of television in representing issues and ideas relevant to American politics. Exploring political TV’s construction of concepts of citizenship and national identity, the status of political TV in a post-network era, and advertisements in politics, Political TV offers an engaging, timely analysis of how this format engages its audience in the political scene. The book also includes a videography of key and historical series, discussion questions, and a bibliography for further reading.
"This is one of the best books I've read on the changing relationship of television to society. It provides a very good analysis of theoretical perspectives on television and makes excellent use of critical theory. An accessible book that at the same time challenges the reader to think more deeply about the role of television in a formally democratic society. —Vincent Mosco Carleton University In this pathbreaking study, Douglas Kellner offers the most systematic, critically informed political and institutional study of television yet published in the United States. Focusing on the relationships among television, the state, and business, he traces the history of television broadcasting, emphasizing its socioeconomic impact and its growing political power. Throughout, Kellner evaluates the contradictory influence of television, a medium that has clearly served the interests of the powerful but has also dramatized conflicts within society and has on occasion led to valuable social criticism.
Ever since Newton Minow taught us sophisticates to bemoan the descent of television into a vast wasteland, the dyspeptic chorus of jeremiahs who insist that television news in particular has gone from gold to dross gets noisier and noisier. Charles Ponce de Leon says here, in effect, that this is misleading, if not simply fatuous. He argues in this well-paced, lively, readable book that TV news has changed in response to broader changes in the TV industry and American culture. It is pointless to bewail its decline. "That s the Way It Is "gives us the very first history of American television news, spanning more than six decades, from Camel News Caravan to Countdown with Keith Oberman and The Daily Show. Starting in the latter 1940s, television news featured a succession of broadcasters who became household names, even presences: Eric Sevareid, Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Peter Jennings, Brian Williams, Katie Couric, and, with cable expansion, people like Glenn Beck, Jon Stewart, and Bill O Reilly. But behind the scenes, the parallel story is just as interesting, involving executives, producers, and journalists who were responsible for the field s most important innovations. Included with mainstream network news programs is an engaging treatment of news magazines like "60 Minutes" and "20/20, " as well as morning news shows like "Today" and "Good Morning America." Ponce de Leon gives ample attention to the establishment of cable networks (CNN, and the later competitors, Fox News and MSNBC), mixing in colorful anecdotes about the likes of Roger Ailes and Roone Arledge. Frothy features and other kinds of entertainment have been part and parcel of TV news from the start; viewer preferences have always played a role in the evolution of programming, although the disintegration of a national culture since the 1970s means that most of us no longer follow the news as a civic obligation. Throughout, Ponce de Leon places his history in a broader cultural context, emphasizing tensions between the public service mission of TV news and the quest for profitability and broad appeal."
Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring, and the District of Columbia
Bringing together well-established scholars of media, political science, sociology, and film to investigate the representation of Washington politics on U.S. television from the mid-2000s to the present, this volume offers stimulating perspectives on the status of representations of contemporary US politics, the role of government and the machinations and intrigue often associated with politicians and governmental institutions. The authors help to locate these representations both in the context of the history of earlier television shows that portrayed the political culture of Washington as well as within the current political culture transpiring both inside and outside of "The Beltway." With close attention to issues of gender, race and class and offering studies from contemporary quality television, including popular programmes such as The West Wing, Veep, House of Cards, The Americans, The Good Wife and Scandal, the authors examine the ways in which televisual representations reveal changing attitudes towards Washington culture, shedding light on the role of the media in framing the public’s changing perception of politics and politicians. Exploring the new era in which television finds itself, with new production practices and the possible emergence of a new ’political genre’ emerging, Politics and Politicians in Contemporary U.S. Television also considers the ’humanizing’ of political characters on television, asking what that representation of politicians as human beings says about the national political culture. A fascinating study that sits at the intersection of politics and television, this book will appeal to scholars of popular culture, sociology, cultural and media studies.
This book is a startling expose of the increasing threat to free speech and democratic government. A broadcast insider with twenty years of working experience with the major networks, Mazzocco describes the ways that an ever-expanding U.S.-based multinational media cartel veils the machinations of the corporate state by dominating worldwide markets for TV, radio, newspapers, books, movies, cable, recordings, and videos.
Undergraduate and graduate students and scholars of film and television studies, comedy studies, and cultural studies will value this strong collection.
