What Is Television's Real Purpose?

In the United States, television has been influential in presidential elections since the 1960’s. Television has a way of “turning away from policy sphere,” it judges candidates based on their appearances, not their message. Television has shifted the key point of presidential debates: from pursuing issue to pursuing image. Therefore, television is misleading, having a negative impact on presidential elections.

Television is an important educational tool in society, however, it does not have a place in presidential elections, due to the inequality and lack of substantive discussion in televised debates, as well as irrelevant physical standards being placed upon presidential candidates. Journalists agree that political debates are an ineffective method for deciding the leader of the country, and they are not worth the use of television resources. Should the decision of who is in charge of a massive country be made based on physical appearances, such as height, hairstyle and other superficial traits? Using these methods of deduction to decide an elected official is extremely unintelligent and ineffective compared to the alternative, an intelligent interview printed in an article or magazine. Citizens of a society are incredibly resistant to change, but examining journalists’ opinions and articles proves that a significant change must be made.

With the 2016 election in full throttle, Kennedy and Nixon’s presidential debates of 1960 are still very much a part of American democracy. Televised presidential debates have become a backbone in an American election. Although these debates are now considered a norm in American politics, this has not always the case. Even after the first time a presidential debate was held between presidential candidates from across the aisle, it took another 16 years for another debate to occur. It is highly doubtful that either Nixon or Kennedy, much less anyone else of that time period, would have been able to foresee the effects of their debate. The presidential debates between Kennedy and Nixon have shape American politics for what seemed like the better but as more and more research is published, this claim is starting to fall apart. While presidential debates offer the public a chance to compare and contrast the Republican and Democratic presidential candidate, they have an impact on viewers that is not always positive. Rather, televised presidential debates impact voters across the aisle and throughout levels of political awareness. An in-depth look at the history of televised presidential debates and their impact on viewers could answer the question of whether televised presidential debates should remain a central part of the modern American democracy.

Television has been influential in America’s elections since the 1960’s, and as TV continues to grow, so will the influence it has over the people. Many people believe whatever comes on their television screen, and don’t think twice to counteract the information. As America continues to televise presidential elections and politics pertaining to that, the elections will be frequently unfair and biased, the candidates won’t be able to completely focus on what’s important, like their imagine instead of their ideas. Television may give more substantial access to millions of more people, but that could change that end result of the presidency for better, or for worse.

The invention of the television has had an impact on all aspects of American's lives. It has affected how we work, interact with others, and our foreign relations. One part of American society that it has especially affected is presidential elections. Television has impacted who is elected and why they were elected. Since the 1960's television has served as a link between the American public and presidential elections that allows the candidate to appear more human and accountable for their actions; consequently this has made television a positive influence on presidential elections. But it has also had a negative affect on elections, making presidential candidates seem like celebrities at times and making it easier to publicize mistakes

Television promotes candidates’ image over their policies. Instead of the candidates discussing what they are going to do for the country, they simply argue why they are better than each other. The candidates being televised gives the audience a sense of knowing them, which causes them to lose the audience's interest in political ideals and to be “judged by standards formerly used to assess rock singers and movie stars”(Source B). Instead of the candidates

I believe that television has been a positive impact for presidential elections because the world has changed into more modern

The development of the television in the 1940’s first gave way to a new and direct way to communicate publicity allowing a positive change to happen but over the years it has started to have a negative impact on presidential elections.

Over time, TV lost its viewers and ratings because people turned away from politics. In order for the television stations to gain back viewers and ratings, the stations “dumbed down the issues by forcing the candidates to respond instantaneously” (Source C). This made the debates more interesting, boosting ratings and viewers. This also provided less information about the politicians. Dumbing down the information has turned the debate into game making it less about the politicians content and more about arguing over pointless things and ratings. However this has furthermore decreased the interest in politics. Even the stations that dumb down content “are failing, more often than not, to get good ratings”(Source

The main goal of this article was to discover if the televised presidential debates increased the amount of knowledge of campaign issues amongst uneducated voters. One of the downfalls of this campaign overall, was that it seemed too artificial and staged to some of the voters. It was during this election, that many print media providers were called out for simply focusing on the “horse race” as opposed to the political issues at hand. In hope to contradict this claim, evidence was “found that more than 75 network TV stories mentioned each of the ‘big four’ economic issues of 1988—taxes, trade, unemployment, and the state of the economy.” (Drew & Weaver, 1991, pg. 28) The presidential Debates were also seen as evidence to contradict this claim

Television has been influential in United States presidential elections since the 1960’s. But just what is this influence, and how has it affected who is elected? Has it made elections fairer and more accessible, or has it moved candidates from pursuing issues to pursuing image? The media only impacts the American Society, especially for the presidential election as it increases the talks in politics and gives the president a higher role to follow. The television race captures more popularity than what a citizen is actually voting for.

The media and various technologies degrade democracy. Media and various technologies corrupt Americans and make them more of consumers than citizens. As Postman talks about in the book, politicians use television and other technologies only to win votes (Postman 129). The political ads that are available to the public rarely discuss a candidate’s ideas and honest thoughts. More times than not, political ads are used to entertain viewers, and this

In campaigning, media coverage plays a large role for candidates. They use the media to make their name heard and image seen. “Nearly everything a candidate does is geared toward the media, especially television” (Stuckey, 1999, p. 99) Candidates make appearances on talk shows,

Rhetoric is found virtually everywhere, from billboards to commercial ads on television, it is a part of the 21st century’s daily routine. Communication thrives on rhetoric because it is the foundation of opinion. Without discussion or opinions, life will become dull and uninteresting. Political debates towards the end of presidential elections are predominately a few of the greatest examples of this. By the end of elections, a majority of people have lost interest in the repetition of each candidate, with rhetoric, people become more inclined to tune into their television to listen to two candidates debate.

It is very common among the United States’ political sphere to rely heavily on T.V. commercials during election season; this is after all the most effective way to spread a message to millions of voters in order to gain their support. The presidential election of 2008 was not the exception; candidates and interest groups spent 2.6 billion dollars on advertising that year from which 2 billion were used exclusively for broadcast television (Seelye 2008.) Although the effectiveness of these advertisements is relatively small compared to the money spent on them (Liasson 2012), it is important for American voters to think critically about the information and arguments presented by these ads. An analysis of the rhetoric in four of the political