Processing Politics

by Graber, Doris A.

• ISBN13: 9780226305769
• ISBN10: 0226305767
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-05-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

How often do we hear that Americans are so ignorant about politics that their civic competence is impaired, and that the media are to blame because they do a dismal job of informing the public? Processing Politics shows that average Americans are far smarter than the critics believe. Integrating a broad range of current research on how people learn (from political science, social psychology, communication, physiology, and artificial intelligence), Doris Graber shows that televised presentations--at their best--actually excel at transmitting information and facilitating learning. She critiques current political offerings in terms of their compatibility with our learning capacities and interests, and she considers the obstacles, both economic and political, that affect the content we receive on the air, on cable, or on the Internet. More and more people rely on information from television and the Internet to make important decisions. Processing Politics offers a sound, well-researched defense of these remarkably versatile media, and challenges us to make them work for us in our democracy.

Author Biography

Doris A. Graber, professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is the recipient of the American Political Science Association Goodnow Distinguished Service Award. She is author or editor of thirteen books, most recently Media Power in Politics and Information Management in the Public Sphere.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
Preface	xi
Political Television: Puzzles and Problems	1	(10)
Political Learning: How Our Brains Process Complex Information	11	(32)
To Know or Not to Know: Questions about Civic Wisdom	43	(26)
Freeing Audiovisual Technologies from the Gutenberg Legacy	69	(29)
The Battles over Audiovisual Content	98	(31)
Making News Selection, Framing, and Formatting More User-Friendly	129	(31)
Peering into the Crystal Ball: What Does the Future Hold?	160	(29)
Appendix: Methods	189	(20)
References	209	(18)
Index	227