The Decline of Television and the New Politics

The Decline of Television and the New Politics
By Daniel G. Jennings
The nature of mass communications in the United States is changing profoundly and changing the nature of American politics with it. These changes result from the decline of what we might call traditional television.
To understand this change a bit of historical background will be needed here. American politics, like all politics, has always been dominated by small groups of influential people. In colonial times and the early days of the Republic politics was dominated by aristocrats, landowners in the South, Merchant princes in the North. During the 19th Century politics was dominated by various political machines which controlled the voting process and determined who was elected. Generally, these political machines existed to dispense patronage, i.e., government money, jobs and favors. These political machines worked closely with the rising business community and controlled the mass communications of the day the newspapers.
In the early 20th Century politics changed again, reformers succeeded in defeating or at least containing the power of the political machines. More importantly, a new class of college educated intellectuals and powerbrokers succeeded in seizing control of the mass media the newspapers and the new mediums of radio, television and movies.
Control of the mass media and through it public opinion (or more precisely an illusion of public opinion) enabled this New Class to set the national agenda. This was why America was able to enter World War I even though most Americans were against the war because the New Class wanted to enter the war. It was also why America’s war effort in World War II focused on Germany because the New Class viewed Germany as America’s principal enemy.
The new class was able to manipulate public opinion and the political system because the nation’s communications system was centralized. The electronic media: radio and television were controlled by a few networks based in New York. Time for news was limited so a few network employees sitting in Manhattan could decide what was and wasn’t news. The situation in newspapers was similar most of the news content of the large newspapers was generated by a centralized organization based in New York the Associated Press. AP staffers could and decide what was news and how the news was portrayed.
Under this media monopoly politicians had to do as the New Class said or be destroyed by it. Politicians who rocked the boat could easily be portrayed in a negative light and destroyed, not even powerful figures like Sen. Joseph McCarthy, President Lyndon Johnson and President Richard Nixon could survive the attacks of the media elite. The only way politicians could get their message out without going through the media elite was to buy television advertising which was costly and of limited influence.
This of course was why political campaigns became so costly in the last few decades of the 20th Century. Politicians had to spend a fortune to produce TV ads then another fortune to put them on the air.
Now thanks to technological progress the rules of politics are changing. New media, the Internet in particular allows virtually anybody to distribute news on a national basis. No massive printing plants or staffs or transmitters are needed just a computer and an Internet connection. Conservative activists were able to shoot down CBS News’ shoddy attempt to smear President Bush as a draft dodger by exposing the fraudulent evidence upon which the claims were made. Vast numbers of people now rely upon the Internet for their news, news that isn’t filtered by the new class.
Even threatening to television is downloading that is the ability to literally download video footage say a movie or TV show from the Internet, satellite or a cable system. This means people will be able to choose what they want to watch and when to watch. Many people will take advantage of pay per view services in which they buy programs without commercials for a small fee. Others will purchase, borrow or rent DVDs.
What this means is that vast numbers of people can and will watch TV without commercials. Figure in the large number of people watching commercial free cable channels, DVD and videos and playing video games that means a majority of voters might not see those expensive TV commercials.
The question facing politicians then is how does one reach those voters with a message and influence them. Only a literate minority will listen to talk radio or visit political web sites. So new political tactics and organizations will be needed to reach voters or rather old political tactics rediscovered.
The answer is grass roots organization the formation of nationwide networks of activists and volunteers who get out the vote on a face to face basis. In other words politicians must recreate something like the old time political machines which mobilized voters on a local basis for national, state and local elections.
Recent elections seem to bear this thesis out. President Bush won the White House last year by mobilizing conservative Christian voters using churches as focal points. Bush got out the vote through Christian media and Christian activists who took the message to their friends and neighbors. These people were mostly average folk with strong feelings about issues like abortion and the ploy worked.
The Democrats backed heavily by the New Class ran an old fashioned media driven election. They relied heavily on television advertisements, media attacks and media exposure and failed miserably in efforts to get Kerry over. Tactics that worked in the past didn’t work, efforts to smear Bush with fake stories in big media failed. Hysterical advertisements that tried to scare young voters with fears of a draft didn’t make achieve any noticeable effect.
State elections this year are even more telling examples of television’s decline. In my home state of Colorado, the big government crowd put an initiatives, C, which would enable the state government to keep tax refund money on the ballot. The Anti-tax crowd responded with traditional TV advertisements showing greedy politicians stealing money from average people. Yet issue C passed largely because grassroots liberal activists, mostly government employees’ unions, and business and community groups like Chambers of Commerce, got out the vote on behalf of the issue.
In California, four issues put on the ballot by Arnold Schwarzenegger, a popular and charismatic media savvy politician failed. These issues failed largely because opposition from grass roots liberal activists mostly public employees’ unions. Interestingly enough, the grassroots activists have succeeded in damaging and possibly destroying Arnold’s reputation and derailing his reform efforts.
What this means is that the political game has changed completely, the media has lost much of its power and influence and so has the media elite. It’s no longer possible for a few wealthy elitists sitting at desks in New York to set the nation’s political agenda. The Harvard educated corporate plutocrats can longer rest soundly in their beds knowing that Walter Cronkite will tell the average citizen how to think and vote.
The power is now with the grass roots groups and their leaders, the public employees unions, the Conservative Christians and I’m sure other groups that’ll emerge in the future. Other groups which could potentially be powerful include veterans, senior citizens the American Association of Retired People, civic groups, civil rights groups, Catholics, unions, the peace movement, hobby enthusiasts and fans of sports and entertainment.
Already the peace movement is setting the Democratic agenda, Democratic politicians are rabidly opposing the war even though that is probably political suicide. On the Republican side President Bush withdrew Supreme Court nominee Harriet Myers because of opposition from cultural conservatives. In her place he nominated a good Catholic with a strong anti-abortion record. During the nomination debate, the views of a grass roots leader, Dr. James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, were considered more important than those of many Senators. Dobson after all is viewed as a kingmaker whose endorsement like that of an old fashioned political boss can make or break a politicians’ career.
How this all will play out I don’t know but I do know one thing. The center of gravity in American politics seems to have moved. The power is now with the grass roots activists and their leaders not with the media. So we have to ask ourselves how will this new class use its new found power, will it become corrupt and abusive like the greedy bosses who destroyed the political machines of the 19th century? Or arrogant and self righteous and estranged from the common man like today’s media elite? Only time will tell.