Ever
since the early 1900’s we have been obsessed with television, it was September
26, 1960 that a presidential debate between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon was
broadcasted to the whole United States via television. 70 million people turned on their televisions
in 1960 to watch this famous and controversial debate. Prior to televised debates, people would
listen to the debates by radio and read about them in the newspaper. It was not until then that the public could
see their candidates in battle against each other for the presidency. Television has helped educate the world on
politics and some say it has even swayed elections.
Television
happens to be one of the strongest forms of mass media in the world. Television programs span from news programs
to reality television to cartoons amongst many others. Television has been criticized for being non
educational and it is said to make people less intelligent, but is that because
of television or what people are watching?
Yes,
many people enjoy watching reality television shows such as, “Jersey Shore” and
“Real World”, and these shows are not very educational. But the remote is in your hand, you decide
what channel you put on. Just because
many people flock to watch television that can melt your brain does not mean
that television is all that bad.
Television
has actually had a large impact on learning about politics. Studies show that a person will pay attention
to a candidate talking on the television over reading about it because it is
much more interactive (Neuman, Just, Crigler).
In fact, in the Kennedy Nixon debates, Kennedy was largely praised
because of his appearance. Viewers that
watched the debate on television said that they thought Kennedy won while radio
listeners claimed Nixon won the debate. Kennedy
was set up to win the election based on his image over his politics, I am not
saying he was not an accomplished politician, but clearly the television
influenced people right from the beginning.
The biggest point here is that
people pay more attention to what a candidate has to say when it is televised
so they therefore know more about the standpoints of each candidate. The United States political system is reliant
on the voters to choose the president.
The public should know each candidates standpoint on relevant issues so
that they can make an educated vote rather than just pick one because of their
political party affiliation. It is
important in today’s society to focus on politics with all of the domestic and foreign
turmoil that has been going on.
The following link shows some of
the United States’ bright young minds lacking simple political knowledge http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2fHQ9eULzk.
Choosing the right television programs to watch is crucial in this day and age because
there are so many television shows out there that are for pure entertainment. We all need some entertainment sometimes but
if the US was more educated in politics, then it would have a better voter
turnout which would lead to more effective elections as a country. Television is a useful piece of mass media if
it is watched correctly, turn on the news and watch a debate for once if you
haven’t you may be surprised with what you learn.
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1953616
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=94ffb836-f56e-4e67-80d7-0a4ccebeff03%40sessionmgr13&vid=6&hid=12
http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=kennedy-nixon
Television greatly impacts a person's beliefs. Because television is so engaging, it is easy for the speaker on TV to influence the watcher. Because, it is true that people hold the remote and that people can control what they watch, people should watch programs that are educating. They should stop complaining about how TV is hurting them when they can easily change the channel and educate themselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Many of today's technologies, such as the Internet and television have been under scrutiny for possibly impeding education. They have become forms of distraction in the eyes of both parents and children, but many fail to realize the educational benefits that these technologies can bring. As you stated, the television, for example, can now broadcast live presidential debates. This can be a highly informative session, especially since you as a citizen have the ability to judge the candidate's ability to present himself as a leader of America. When comparing the television perspective to the newspaper, or even radio, perspective, there is a great difference in quality. Television gives us a bird's eye view of people and information. If we don't use it for beneficial purposes, then we are missing out on the opportunity of learning not just who the future president may be, but on everything else worthwhile.
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