Title: 15.7 Media Influence on Laws and Government – Understanding Media and Culture
Headings: 15.7 Media Influence on Laws and Government
15.7 Media Influence on Laws and Government
Learning Objectives
Politics, Broadcast Media, and the Internet
Radio
Television
Nixon–Kennedy Debates of 1960
War and Television
Political News Programming
Online News and Politics
Key Takeaways
Exercises
End-of-Chapter Assessment
Critical Thinking Questions
Career Connection
References

Content: Politics, Broadcast Media, and the Internet
Throughout their respective histories, radio, television, and the Internet have played important roles in politics. As technology developed, citizens began demanding greater levels of information and analysis of media outlets and, in turn, politicians. Here we explore the transformation of politics with the development of media. Radio
As discussed in Chapter 7 “Radio”, radio was the first medium through which up-to-the-minute breaking news could be broadcast, with its popularization during the 1920s. On November 2, 1920, KDKA in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, became the first station to broadcast election results from the Harding-Cox presidential race, “becoming a pioneer in a brand new technology (American History).” Suddenly, information that would previously have been available only later in the newspapers was transmitted directly into American living rooms. The public responded positively, wanting to be more involved in U.S. politics. As radio technology developed, “Americans demanded participation in the political and cultural debates shaping their democratic republic (Jenkins).” Radio provided a way to hold these debates in a public forum; it also provided a venue for politicians to speak directly to the public, a phenomenon that had not been possible on a large scale prior to the invention of the radio.