The Presidency in the Era of 24-Hour News

by Cohen, Jeffrey E.

• ISBN13: 9780691137179
• ISBN10: 069113717X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-03-03
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

The Presidency in the Era of 24-Hour Newsexamines how changes in the news media since the golden age of television--when three major networks held a near monopoly on the news people saw in the United States--have altered the way presidents communicate with the public and garner popular support. How did Bill Clinton manage to maintain high approval ratings during the Monica Lewinsky scandal? Why has the Iraq war mired George Bush in the lowest approval ratings of his presidency? Jeffrey Cohen reveals how the decline of government regulation and the growth of Internet and cable news outlets have made news organizations more competitive, resulting in decreased coverage of the president in the traditional news media and an increasingly negative tone in the coverage that does occur. He traces the dwindling of public trust in the news and shows how people pay less attention to it than they once did. Cohen argues that the news media's influence over public opinion has decreased considerably as a result, and so has the president's ability to influence the public through the news media. This has prompted a sea change in presidential leadership style. Engaging the public less to mobilize broad support, presidents increasingly cultivate special-interest groups that often already back the White House's agenda. This book carries far-reaching implications for the future of presidential governance and American democracy in the era of new media.

Author Biography

Jeffrey E. Cohen is professor of political science at Fordham University. He is the author of Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. vii
List of Tables	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
The Growing Disconnect between Presidential News Coverage and Public Opinion	p. 1
The Presidential News System during the Golden Age of Presidential Television	p. 18
The New Media Age and the Decline in Presidential News	p. 49
Change in Presidential News over the Long Haul: The New York Times Historical Series, 1857-1998	p. 71
The Increasing Negativity in Presidential News in the Age of New Media	p. 89
Sources of Negativity in Presidential News during the Age of New Media	p. 107
The Declining Audience for News and the New Media Age	p. 135
Declining Trust in the News Media and the New Media Age	p. 160
The Implications of the New Media on the Presidential News System and Presidential Leadership	p. 175
Conclusions: The New Media, the Presidency, and American Politics	p. 201
Notes	p. 209
Bibliography	p. 233
Index	p. 251
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