The Networks' Views of the Campaign: A Critical Assessment
Plattner, Marc
Marc Plattner: The Networks' Views of the Campaign: A Critical Assessment Television is, among other things, an instrument of persuasion. And it is clearly in this light that candidates understand...
...Yet would not even the most pure and incorruptible and popularly representative public officials continue to face the problems of pollution, poverty, crime, the economy and national security...
...Roughly it would work this way in the United States...
...The computer would then select five hundred of them who would be the Congress, the Supreme Parliament, the Everything for four years...
...But the great danger is that viewers will see the candidate only as the newsmen present him...
...There would be no other qualifications of property or education or charisma or even of sex...
...Occasionally, the networks might even show a film clip of a candidate's speech uninterrupted by reportorial commentary...
...The theme of politics as a horserace permeated both the coverage of the individual primary contests, and the reporting of the overall campaign situation...
...Nor were they any more informed about the administrative performances of Governor Wallace or Mayor Lindsay...
...What is "momentum" in the political context...
...they tell it as it really is...
...And arguments are the essence of political issues...
...In almost every primary the candidate labled by the newsmen on election eve as the likely winner did in fact gain the victory...
...Certainly the newsmen themselves often do, though they blame the repetitiveness of it all on the candidates and the system rather than on their own limited perceptions and the genre of stories they feel compelled to produce...
...And somewhere on back there, the first black woman candidate for president, Shirley Chisholm...
...But this cynical attitude towards actual politics is intimately connected with an idealistic view of what politics might and should be...
...TV During the Democratic Primaries Yet, in the Democratic primaries, the citizen who wished to know what the candidates had to say about the issues and what their qualifications were for high office got very little help from television news...
...Perhaps we will soon reach the stage when leading political figures are manufactured and used up as fast as a TV series...
...And there is no doubt that such a group would be a reflection of our deepest and most sincere feelings - because the method of selection is exactly that used to determine our most popular television programs...
...Whether this view was right or not, it seems patently unfair to Yorty that he was almost invariably presented in this light...
...The thing is that each of these random selections would, from that moment on, be removed from the normal temptations and frustrations of civil life...
...In a commentary on ABC news on March 13 Howard K. Smith mused about the difficulties of explaining primary results to a hypothetical foreign observer of the American political scene: " 'Then,' he (the observer) said, 'Muskies chances rose when he won in New Hampshire, yes?' 'No,' I said, 'his chances fell when he won...
...Four of the six leading candidates were United States senators, but viewers learned next to nothing about their legislative records...
...At the very least, he would seem to have been entitled to an opportunity to present the public with his own view of his candidacy...
...TV news is part of an industry which is devoted to entertainment, and the news programs must compete in the ratings for viewers who watch television primarily to be entertained...
...But the fact that television news said George McGovern had it is likely to have further increased his momentum...
...Politics as a game, the favorite, theme of the newsmen, is never a theme of any candidate's campaign...
...It is where the seven serious campaigners here finish in the field and by how much they outdistance their immediate rivals that will influence the racing form for the twenty-one other primaries on down the road...
...There was almost no attempt to present even the most minimal sort of information which might help to clarify the terms of an issue (e.g., on the question of the defense budget, what were the reductions in forces which McGovern's proposed cuts involved...
...All politicians appeal to justice and to the public interest...
...The assumption of that commentary appears to be that if only there were no corruption in high places, if only we could have politics without politicians, then all the problems of government would disappear - and so television news would have a lot of time to fill...
...delapidatedhousing), but it is utterly useless when it comes to presenting arguments (e.g...
...And do not the men who must deal with these problems require competence as well as zeal and incorruptibility...
...And even when one of the networks devoted an entire story to an issue (such as busing), it usually concentrated exclusively upon the questions of which candidates and groups were for it and which against, and how the tide of public opinion was running...
...More generally, the most reasonable safeguard against the dangers of television news distortion would be to give the candidates a greater chance to present their own stories...
...Nor was there any effort to present the arguments (as opposed to the slogans) employed by spokesmen on different sides of a contorversial question...
...Thus the reporters talk not so much about wins and losses, as about "margins of victory," "strong showings," "better than expected performances," and "moral" or "psychological" victories...
...Obviously, the candidates are sometimes disingenuous in this respect, and it is easy to conclude that they merely indulge in "empty rhetoric," while the newsmen go behind the superficial public proclamations of the politicians and uncover the "inside story...
...For it encourages on the "part of the citizens a pervasive cynicism about their political institutions while, at the same time, depriving them of the information that is needed if they are to contend those institutions...
...The premise of this statement is that American politics as it is currently practiced is thoroughly corrupt, wholly dominated by selfish men and base motives...
...A perfect example of this cynicism occurs in a commentary by Harry Reasoner on ABC (14-72...
...But even if occasional stories on the issues might turn off the viewers, it seems unlikely that regular viewers would turn off their television sets...
...It has its appeal at this stage of an American election year...
...and all this without the equally repugnant trappings of authoritarianism or aristrocracy...
...Cut camera to map of Florida...
...Both the cynic's view that politics is merely a game played by self-serving politicians, and its natural complement, the moralist's view that politics can be redeemed by putting power back into the hands of "the people," overlook a fundamental aspect of political life...
...They wish to appear on the evening news, and in as favorable a light as possible, in order to win over voters...
...Rarely did viewers have the opportunity to hear a candidate say more than one or two sentences about any issue...
...As our earlier discussion of the television news form indicates, there is a natural tendency for the newsmen to search out and emphasize the dramatic...
...Even some of the newsmen themselves have been struck by the strangeness of this kind of "newspeak" - or perhaps Orwell meant "newsspeak...
...And the inevitable consequence of this view is cynicism about the whole political process...
...And, in a free society, it is misleading in a far more dangerous way...
...On the day of the Wisconsin primary, CBS again presented a story using this same format...
...We might indeed see our parliament become the forum of gold-like guardians which Plato envisaged and which the United States Congress has not really attained...
...And, indeed, in this case the effects are much more substantial than their cause, which in large part seems to be a mere creature of the imagination...
...As a winner-take-all contest, with a large number of crucial delegates at stake, the California primary, the reporters explained, could not provide "moral victories" to the loser...
...The nature of the presidential primary route - in which the fruits of victory in any particular contest are usually not very great - further exaggerates the tendency of television news to concentrate upon trends rather than events...
...Indeed, one suspects that, in general, the case for experience is not easily made in the television age, with its stress on personality and its ability to create instant celebrity...
...But a good many of these (71.9 per cent) dealt with the issues only or principally in terms of tactical considerations (e.g.., "Wallace is attempting to ride to victory on the busing issue here in Florida...
...When I read statistics that show sixty per cent of Americans get all or most of their news from television, I shudder...
...A candidate has momentum when people think he has momentum...
...But from the point of view of the newsmen themselves, who are employed, after all, not by the candidates but by the networks, the role of television news is quite different...
...The proposal for a "randomocracy" points to the possibility of a politics wholly free from corruption, ruled not by politicians but by ordinary people...
...But if the opinion polls diminish the excitement of waiting for the votes to be counted, they also provide a means of extending the horserace metaphor to every stage of the campaign...
...NBC reporter Jack Perkins, commenting on George McGovern's "strong showing" in the New Hampshire primary, defined it as follows: 'â– 'Momentum in politics means the money comes in, volunteers start calling, the staff works with a new zeal, the candidate is lifted...
...This lacuna is strickingly illustrated by the Harry Reasoner commentary on "randomocracy" quoted above...
...The camera may be able to present "facts" of a certain kind (e.g...
...But as we have suggested, the "inside story" may be a more partial and misleading account of the political truth then, the "public story...
...In About Television, Martin Mayer quotes the following statement by Av Westin, executive producer of the ABC Evening News: "I think television news is an illustrated headline service which can function best when it is regarded by its viewers as an important yet fast adjunct to the newspapers...
...And it might be argued that it would bore viewers...
...In other words, the cynical view of politics as a game seems to produce as its natural complement a kind of anti-Establishment - one might almost say anti-political - orientation...
...This dialectic of cynicism and moralism characteristic of the newsman's view of politics is made explicit in a remarkable statement by Eric Seva-reid (CBS, 1-31-72): "Without moral fervor," Sevareid said, "American politics would be a cynic's game entirely, an historical dead-end...
...In the 1972 Democratic primaries the most prominent application of the horserace theme to the race for the nomination as a whole was the "frontrunner" treatment of Edmund Muskie in the early part of the campaign...
...Some of those men in positions of responsibility at the networks are aware of the weaknesses and limitations of their news shows...
...Perhaps this admittedly speculative suggestion may help to explain the fact that the themes of television news stories tended to reinforce the themes of the "populist" candidates...
...The constant films of candidates at airports or shopping center rallies, addressing crowds, talking to supporters and endlessly shaking hands, accompanied by the familiar commentary explaining that candidate X is confident that he is gaining ground or candidate Y is attempting to maintain his hold on his traditional areas of support - viewers may find all this pretty tiresome too...
...And it is clearly in this light that candidates understand it and attempt to use it...
...They were thus naturally disposed to look kindly upon those popular movements which enthusiastically proclaimed their dissatisfaction with "politics as usual...
...We have seen how television news coverage may either reinforce or cont adict the message that individual candidates seek to convey...
...The contenders were engaged in a horserace for a political prize, and they employed certain strategies and tactics to gain support from various sectors of the population which would move them along the track...
...The art of rhetoric in itself may be morally neutral, available both to the deceitful demagogue and the statesman of high purpose...
...Still, one must conclude that the typical effect of television news coverage is to contribute to the difficulties of the frontrunner - especially if he is seen as enjoying a fairly large lead at an early stage of the campaign...
...Those of McGovern who lost, rose.' " The way a candidate who loses comes out a winner is by picking up "momentum...
...fully 52.8 per cent of television news stories about the campaign mentioned questions of national policy...
...Marc Plattner is Assistant Editor of The Public Interest and co-author of The Alternative's study of television news...
...In most TV news stories the words spoken by the reporter vastly outnumber those spoken by the candidate, and what the viewer sees and hears from the candidate is solely determined by the discretion of the newsmen...
...Bunched back there in the pack for second: Washington Senator Scoop Jackson and the two who were 1968 entries, Ed Muskie and Hubert Humphrey...
...a candidate will never say that he is doing this...
...And they could run an occasional general story about a controversial policy question, concentrating upon the most cogent arguments offered on behalf of conflicting points of view...
...Although Reasoner's tongue is lodged at least partially in his cheek, this commentary is nonetheless quite revealing: "I was brooding about all the political news today and into my mind popped a recollection of an essay in an Irish newspaper of several years ago proposing for that republic a new form of government in tune with the computer age-a randomocracy...
...But there is a deeper problem than the errors of omission to which Westin's statement refers - and that is the problem of distortion...
...And Shirley Chisholm - hardly any organization and virtually no money- but making a valient effort to prove a point or two by staying the distance in this tough political race...
...Muskie's frontrunner standing was weakened in the first primary (New Hampshire), and then lost altogether in the second (Florida...
...But the universal language of political rhetoric is never morally neutral, because it is determined by the goal of political life...
...The Business of Politics The business of winning and losing is the most obviously exciting aspect of political campaigns, and television news milks it for as much drama as it possibly can...
...But by this point in the campaign, the burdens that often go with the position of frontrunner - his need to achieve a certain "margin of victory" to preserve his momentum - were almost entirely dissipated...
...all catering to special and sometimes venial interests would become unnecessary...
...But if their product is the chief source of political information for the majority of the American people, don't those who produce television news have an obligation to do more than shudder...
...This is George Wallace country (camera cuts back to anchor man) and if he isn't several lengths ahead by race's end, the rail birds are going to cluck derisively over his future prospects...
...all of the wearying minuetes of election campaigns would stop...
...But the newsmen were also on the alert for those manifestations of moral fervor that appeared to challenge the view that politics is merely a cynical game played by the politicians...
...For in such an inherently dull horserace, any sign of slippage on the part of the frontrunner or increasing strength on the part of the underdog will immediately be trumpeted by newsmen seeking to inject drama into the campaign...
...It attempts to strip away the "veneer of hypocrisy" to get at the "harsh truth" about American politics...
...Such reportage would lack the dramatic character of more typical campaign stories...
...But each of these legislators, and the president, would be guaranteed a very handsome income for life after the four-year term ended and another randomocracy succeeded them...
...I know what we have to leave out...
...Some "distortion" of this kind is inevitable, given the thematic character of television news stories: there can be no choice of themes that is simply neutral or impartial...
...These circumstances, together with the TV news form itself, create inevitable pressures for the news to be persented in the most exciting and dramatic possible fashion...
...Yet one cannot properly understand public life without taking public rhetoric seriously...
...There's one problem, but it's parochial: with no campaigns, no announcements, no political scandals, we in news would have a lot of time to fill...
...In this way, at least, the TV audience would have an unfiltered view of the candidates, and thus some basis for evaluating the way the candidate is presented by reporters...
...Washington's Senator Scoop Jackson, who thought his brand of middle-road conservatism would look good here in Florida until Wallace entered, is now in the race for second place, with longtime frontrunner Edmund Muskie making a bid to overcome his disappointingly small margin of victory in New Hamp- shire last week...
...The networks could devote more of their coverage to the issues...
...In its effort to describe the events of the political season in an entertaining fashion, network news is aided by its own image of American politics - an image that emphasizes the individualistic and highly competitive nature of the political campaign...
...All the temptations of glory and power and riches would be eliminated from political life...
...After Florida, no candidate established a clear title to the front-runner's mantle (although it was occasionally awarded to various candidates in particular news stories) until ,George McGovern took a commanding lead in the opinion polls in California...
...Such reporting makes the campaign an exciting and dramatic contest - but it also encourages the view that American elections are little more than a struggle among individuals seeking personal gain and power...
...He's out here, by beating Lindsay, to put that doubt to rest once and for all, and to have some heavy and smart money on his side in Wisconsin...
...We might use it to find out more of what is really going on...
...busing, he's for...
...The fact that George McGovern obtained thirty-Seven per cent of the vote in New Hampshire may in itself have convinced some people that he had momentum...
...This tells us what the effects of momentum are, but nothing about the thing itself...
...He or she would never again be permitted to hold a job in private enterprise or to own stock or to buy speculative real estate or to run for re-election...
...To some extent, the TV reporters view themselves simply as another branch of the journalistic profession, whose function it is to inform the people, to give them "the facts...
...These questions lead us back to the very reasons why we choose our public officials by elections rather than by lot: to provide the voters with a choice on the issues and an opportunity to select the candidate who, in their opinion, is best able to manage the public's affairs...
...Now it is true that television is not the medium best suited to a serious presentation of matters of public policy...
...They could build at least some of their reports around what a candidate is saying about a particular issue, showing either pertinent excerpts from his speeches or filmed interviews with reporters...
...Its failure to provide citizens with the kind of information they need to make an intelligent choice among the candidates constitutes a serious charge against television news...
...Television news does talk about issues...
...All of which points to a more general characteristic of TV reporting of the political horserace: by reporting trends, television tends to magnify those trends...
...More important, television news is, in Irving Kristol's words, "the slave of that most superficial and unenlightening of perceptual instruments: the camera...
...And the result would be a better informed electorate...
...But it is questionable if TV's attempts to focus on the "dramatic" aspects of the campaign really are all that interesting...
...Finally, as the convention itself loomed nearer, the hard reality of delegate votes began to far outweigl any psychological factors connected with primary showings that were "better (or worse) than expected...
...he may be running a race by himself out front...
...For the most part, television reporting of the Democratic primaries portrayed politics as a game, dominated by self-serving politicians and by special interests...
...The newsmen will often say a candidate is taking a particular stand on some issue in order to gain votes...
...Television news, however, refuses to let the politicians get away with such "rhetoric...
...All citizens over a given age who are not in mental hospitals or under sentence for felony would be listed in a computer...
...The news coverage given to Senator Humphrey indicates that a long and prominent public career may even turn into something of a liability for a candidate...
...Then, in the New York primary, where Senator McGovern might otherwise have been exposed to the "perils of the frontrunner," he faced little opposition and was able to win handily...
...The fate of Sam Yorty provides perhaps the most striking example of the kind of coverage that this can produce...
...Consequently, more than a few stories on the Democratic primaries told us that one candidate won but lost, and another lost but won...
...possible policies for attacking the housing problem...
...Allowing the candidates more of a chance to present their own stories would also helpt to correct the one-sided view of the electoral process as a whole presented by television news...
...But the nature of the medium in which they work imposes its own set of demands on the electronic journalists and makes television news a very different sort of product from newspaper news...
...But it was not only on the day of the race that television news used the metaphor of horseracing...
...Sam Yorty's candidacy was portrayed by the networks as an absurdity...
...Believed to be further back, a two-horse race for fifth, New York's Mayor John Lindsay and George McGovern...
...This term, popularized in recent years by sportscasters, now occupies a prominent place in the political lexicon of their news department colleagues...
...But in these days of ubiquitous and reasonably accurate public opinion polls, the drama of election day itself is considerably reduced...
...Moreover, to the extent that television reports campaigns as a kind of sporting event, it creates a natural tendency for the fans (at least those who are not partisan rooters for one of the teams involved) to sympathize with the underdog in his struggle to come from behind...
...Among the stories that did not relegate the issues to mere tactical weapons, many devoted only a single sentence to them...
...It is the language of public statements that reveals what politics is truly about, what is really at issue in the political realm...
...It would - again at complete random - select one additional name and he would be the president for the same term...
...For they enable the newsmen to speak with some confidence about which candidates are moving up in the race and which ones are losing ground...
...The candidates, of course, have also begun to speak in this launguage-when it suits their purposes...
...Typically, a candidate's views on important matters of public concern would be presented in the briefest possible fashion (e.g., "Vietnam - he wants to get out now...
...This image conceives of American politics as a kind of game played by self-serving politicians, and thus reduces the campaign itself to a competitive "horserace," as Walter Cronkite made clear in reporting on the Florida primary (CBS, 3-14-72): "This Florida primary tonight is a game of percentages, best illustrated perhaps by that old cliche of the horserace...
...pennants with candidates' names appear when the candidates are mentioned) "George Wallace is odds-on favorite here...
...Cynicism and the Wonders of TV The networks' image of American politics (that is, politics as a game and the campaign as a horserace) formed the basis of the great majority of television news stories about the 1972 Democratic campaign...
...And Hubert Humphrey, the old war horse, first time out of the stable this season, determined to prove his legs and stamina are just as good as any of the young beauties...
...In that race for fifth place, New York's Mayor John Lindsay, making his first bid on this Democratic circuit, and George Mc-Govern, fresh from a showing in New Hampshire that cast doubt on the winter book which had given him virtually no chance at all...
Vol. 6 • November 1972 • No. 2
