The Mediated Presidency

Television News and Presidential Governance

By (author) Stephen J. Farnsworth, Robert S. Lichter

Not available to order

Publication date:

18 August 2005

Length of book:

236 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781461644798

Including late-breaking data from the Iraq occupation and the disastrous CBS News reports on Bush's Vietnam-era National Guard Service, acclaimed media scholars Stephen J. Farnsworth and S. Robert Lichter examine news coverage of military policy, economic policy, and scandals from the last four U.S. presidencies, including the current controversial administration. Using a quarter-century of content analysis data, the authors demonstrate how the White House dominates Capitol Hill on every dimension of news coverage, undermining Congress's attempt to compete as an equal branch before the public. At the same time, they show how the networks are steadily losing ground to new media outlets and suggest future paths our media mania may take.
At last we have a book that details how the news media cover the presidency and how that coverage changes with the White House occupant and national conditions. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the presidency or the media. For that matter, it's a must-read for anyone who seeks to understand contemporary American politics.