ap english synthesis essay on tv and politics essays

ap english synthesis essay on tv and politics essays The use of political campaigning through television has been around for quite a while. Broadcasting politics on television allows the elections to be more accessible to more viewers. Although politics through media was meant to be positive, the true purpose of it was quickly overcome by a concern about image rather than the issues at hand. Television has allowed presidential candidates to not only win votes through ideas and addressing issues, but also through creating an image for themselves that would appeal to the public. Initially, the use of media to relay news was a good idea: television has restored the nations feeling of direct contact, the people have once more become the nation (Source A). Television has allowed for thousands of people to be involved with current events. At first people were drawn to this idea of being able to follow the presidential elections on television; between the 1960's and the 1980's the number of homes watching the presidential debates drastically increased from 28.1 million to 45.8 million (Source D). This early promise America had seemed to be fulfilling (Source A) soon began to fall through the cracks. After the initial interest of the people began to die down, the media had trouble keeping the ratings up. No matter what approach they attempted, it was unsuccessful. Even those aiming low [back then were] failing, more often than not, to get good ratings (Source F). This lack of success was apparent in the plummeting presidential debate ratings due to Americas disinterest. The ratings dropped from 80.6 million viewers in 1980 to 65.1 million viewers in 1984. This drop in numbers continued through the most recent data of 1996 (Source D). Due to America's decreasing interest in televised politics, presidential candidates have begun to take on a new approach of creating an image that appeals to the public and ul...