Key Reading on U.S. Political Campaigns & the Media

Brader, Ted.  Campaigning for hearts and minds: how emotional appeals in political ads work.  Chicago, 2006.  280p bibl index afp ISBN 0226069893  pbk, $24.00.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2006may CHOICE.
43-5558  JA74  2005-9159 CIP 

The use of emotional appeals through television advertisements appears to be a staple in high-profile electoral campaigns. However, Brader (Univ. of Michigan) argues that a great gulf exists between the art of political advertising and the study of this art by political scientists. Brader guides the reader through the study of political advertising and makes the case that although many studies have been done, few have systematically analyzed the role of emotion in political campaigns. The author seeks to close this gap through content analysis of more than 1,400 political ads and an experimental investigation of the effect different types of ads have upon citizens. His work is both timely and original. The findings suggest that negatively charged ads cause citizens to conduct more research on their own. Enthusiastic appeals work to motivate committed voters to political action on behalf of their candidate. Brader notes at the outset that he has written his book to be accessible beyond an academic audience. He manages to accomplish this feat and retain the rigor of a strong scholar. This book should be read by those interested in the art of political campaigning. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers, lower-division undergraduates through practitioners. — R. M. Alexander, Ohio Northern University

Buell, Emmett H. Jr. Attack politics: negativity in presidential campaigns since 1960, by Emmett H. Buell Jr. and Lee Sigelman. University Press of Kansas, 2008. 354p index afp ISBN 9780700615612, $34.95.  Reviewed in 2008oct CHOICE.
46-1156  JK524 CIP
 
Buell (Denison Univ.) and Sigelman (George Washington Univ.) address negative presidential campaigns since 1960.  Politics in the US has a rich tradition of nasty presidential elections, beginning in 1800 when John Adams and Thomas Jefferson tangled; however, the focus here is on the modern era.  Negativity has not increased in the last dozen elections evaluated, assert Buell and Sigelman; indeed, in 1960 John F. Kennedy was worst of all, and no one since has approached his record of villainy.  This will be news to many who believe the 2004 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (surrogates apparently unbeknownst to the GOP and candidate Bush) reached a new low in despicable campaigning.  Nonetheless, the authors have gathered an impressive array of statistics and data to bolster their case: negativity has not increased.  Research abounds with impressive charts, graphs, and tables aplenty and with The New York Times as the primary source of press coverage.  The authors compare their findings with previously published accounts of the campaigns, with each chapter featuring “echoes” of the invective exchanged by embattled rivals.  A useful book that will interest political mavens of any stripe.  Summing Up: Recommended.  Upper-division undergraduates and up. — S. L. Harrison,  University of Miami
 
Campaign advertising and American democracy, by Michael M. Franz et al.  Temple University, 2008.  197p bibl index afp; ISBN 9781592134557, $74.50; ISBN 9781592134564  pbk, $24.95. Reviewed in 2008jul CHOICE.
45-6440  JK2281  2007-22655 CIP 
 
The Wisconsin Advertising Project has been cataloging political ads since 2000. It knows where and when the ads have been run, the subject matter discussed, the tone, and which candidates and groups ran the ads. It can tell, for example, that seven in ten ads aired in the 2004 presidential race were at least partially geared toward attacking an opponent. Or that their estimates suggest a 40-year-old woman in St. Louis saw more political ads in 2000 than anyone else in the country. Armed with this unique and capacious data set, the authors take aim at the notion that 30-second ads are some kind of bogeyman of democracy. Instead, the authors assert that political ads are the equivalent of vitamins, a useful information supplement for a political diet. The bottom line for political ads, they find, is that they increase viewers’ information about candidates and interest in the election. The essence of this argument has been advanced before (e.g., Patterson and McClure’s The Unseeing Eye, 1976) but never with nearly this depth and quality of data. The book is required reading for scholars interested in political campaigns. Summing Up: Essential. Graduate and research collections. — D. Niven, Ohio State University 

Falk, Erika.  Women for president: media bias in eight campaigns.  Illinois, 2008.  171p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780252033117, $65.00; ISBN 9780252075117 pbk, $19.95. Reviewed in 2008aug CHOICE.
45-6585  HQ1391  2007-30326 CIP 
 
This study could not be more timely. Falk (communication, Johns Hopkins Univ.) examines media coverage of female candidates for the presidency of the US over a 130-year period. Drawing from The New York Times and the largest circulating newspaper in the home state of the candidate, the author studied coverage of the candidate from the day she entered the race to the last day of her candidacy–more than 1,240 articles in all. The results of Falk’s content analysis will not surprise anyone: compared to female candidates, male candidates received more than twice the coverage, their policies were examined more and their dress and physical appearance less, their candidacy was considered more viable, and so on. Falk concludes that little has changed over 130 years, and the 2008 presidential race has borne her out: the media have treated Hillary Clinton’s ambition, knowledge, experience, firmness, and lack of emotion as weaknesses but have reported the same traits in male candidates as strengths. This volume joins Kathleen Hall Jamieson’s Beyond the Double Bind: Women and Leadership (1995), a more sweeping scholarly examination of prejudices against women at all political levels. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; graduate students; general readers. — R. Cathcart, emeritus, CUNY Queens College 

Foot, Kirsten A.  Web campaigning, by Kirsten A. Foot and Steven M. Schneider.  MIT, 2006.  263p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780262562201, $28.00. Reviewed in 2007apr CHOICE.
44-4718  JK2281  2006-44927 CIP 
 
The authors have written a timely, comprehensive examination of what promises to be one of the transforming technologies of this era. Based on analyses of hundreds of Web sites during the 2000, 2002, and 2004 elections, this study is currently the most comprehensive available of campaign Web practices, and includes a trove of archived campaign Web sites and other political Web resources. Although many campaign managers use the new technology to achieve an age-old end (informing), others are increasingly exploiting its potential as a means of identifying, connecting, and mobilizing prospective supporters. However, the decentralized nature of the Web adds a novel x-factor into a campaign’s calculation: viewers actuated by its Web content are able to connect in ways not controlled–by the campaign itself. Nevertheless, the most pressing constraint upon the technology, at this incipient stage, is the unfamiliarity of many campaign professionals with the wider potentialities of this new form of campaigning. Producers of campaign Web sites frequently complain that Web possibilities available to the campaign are underutilized.. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. — M. C. Price, Texas A&M University–Kingsville 

Geer, John G.  In defense of negativity: attack ads in presidential campaigns.  Chicago, 2006.  201p bibl index afp ISBN 0-226-28498-0, $47.50; ISBN 0226284999  pbk, $19.00. Reviewed in 2006nov CHOICE.
44-1797  JK2281  2005-15164 CIP 
 
Geer (Vanderbilt Univ.) presents a cogent contrarian argument, making the case that negative political ads are good, indeed necessary, for democracy. With data, logic, and some personal opinions, the author argues that negative ads, unlike positive ads, are typically well-documented assertions that help voters see the contrasting records of candidates. Geer highlights trends but also deconstructs notable ads, rising in defense of the famous “Daisy” ad used by LBJ against Barry Goldwater. While the ad is remembered for its devastatingly negative message, Geer reminds the reader that the ad was based on Goldwater’s words and focused on the most important issue of the time: nuclear war. In a chapter on the 1988 campaign, Geer argues that it is remembered for excessive negativity based largely on media hype rather than reality. While one can quibble with his interpretations of the fairness of ads, especially coming decades after they aired, Geer offers persuasive data that negative ads are generally not without foundation and relevance. The author’s perspective is especially notable, given that there is no shortage of scholarship in recent decades equating negative ads with collective political doom. For another view, see Ansolabhere and Iyengan’s Going Negative: How Political Ads Shrink and Polarize the Electorate (CH, May’96, 33-5375) or Jamieson’s Dirty Politics: Deception, Distraction, and Democracy (CH, Jan’93, 30-2952). Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students through practitioners. — D. Niven, Ohio University 

Graff, Garrett M. The first campaign: globalization, the Web, and the race for the White House.  Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007.  323p index afp ISBN 0-374-15503-8, $25.00; ISBN 9780374155032, $25.00. Reviewed in 2008jul CHOICE.
45-6445  JK526  2007-35966 CIP 
 
Graff (editor at large, Washingtonian magazine) has impressive credentials: 2004 presidential candidate Howard Dean’s first Webmaster, adjunct professor of new media for Georgetown University, and founding editor of FishbowlDC http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowldc/. His book contends that new technology will transform the 2008 race for the presidency. According to his introduction, there are “five technologies that are coming of age in 2008 that are transforming politics: small-dollar online fundraising, blogging, cell phones, online video, and social networking sites.” Graff fervently argues through ten chapters that the 2008 election will be a new experience; perhaps he is correct, but so far, it is the same old experience. A lot more people may participate electronically, but statistics fail to disclose this group actually votes in sufficient numbers to affect the outcome of an election. Traditional media–newspapers and television–are earning record-breaking fees even as more people pay attention to and comment in the blogospheres. But do more people actually vote? Surely, the information era that Graff envisions will emerge, but is unlikely for the 2008 presidential campaign. Financial support is evident; but will it motivate the voter to turn out in numbers that affect the outcome? Summing Up: Recommended. General readers and all students. — S. L. Harrison, University of Miami 

The History of televised debates.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2005mar CHOICE.
42-3863
http://www.museum.tv/debateweb/html/index.htm 

[Visited Dec’04] This interactive Web site, which serves as a preview for the grand opening of the Museum of Broadcast Communication (MBC) in 2006 in downtown Chicago, could not be more relevant. Showing off the depth and breadth of the archival radio and television footage that the MBC has accumulated over the years, the Web site is divided into four categories. The first segment explores the now-famous first televised debate between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, which was broadcast from the studios of WBBM-TV in Chicago. A documentary, narrated by Bill Kurtis, includes an exchange between the two candidates in the studio several hours before the debate. As the production crew buzzed around the two candidates, Kennedy and Nixon engaged in some friendly banter about their campaign schedules, the sort of intimacy one has come to expect from today’s productions on C-SPAN. The second segment is the meat and potatoes of the Web site, containing links to excerpts of film footage, still photos, newspaper and magazine reactions for each televised debate from 1960 to 2000, and related “memos and spin” from the candidates and their campaign managers. While these memos are extremely valuable, average viewers might lack the necessary context to understand their importance. The third segment includes a grab bag of essays, interviews, and other data, such as voter turnout statistics and television ratings for each of the televised debates. The fourth and final section is called “Curriculum Resources.” Teachers will find this section invaluable, as it contains scores of lesson plans and activities. Real Player is required to view the footage of the debate, the documentary, and other features of this Web site. Summing Up: Recommended. Useful for scholars, educators, and anyone with an interest in the US presidency and the media, all levels. — B. Miller, University of Cincinnati 
 
Mark, David.  Going dirty: the art of negative campaigning.  Rowman & Littlefield, 2006.  267p bibl index afp ISBN 0-7425-4500-8, $24.95; ISBN 9780742545007, $24.95. Reviewed in 2006oct CHOICE.
44-1221  JK2281  2005-28278 CIP 
 
Mark is the former editor in chief of Campaigns & Elections magazine, a trade publication for political consultants. He is therefore in a good position to provide a detailed, and frankly sympathetic, history of negative campaigning at all levels of government in the US. He begins his analysis with a definition of negative campaigning and outlines why candidates use negative tactics. In chapter 2, Mark reviews negative campaigning “from the Late Eighteenth Century through the Dawn of the Cold War.” The bulk of the book presents exemplars of negative campaigns since the 1950s, including famous negative tactics that backfired on candidates. Just about every notable development in negative campaign tactics is described in this work, from early negative television advertisements (the famous “Daisy” ad used by the Lyndon Johnson in 1964) to the application of concerns about the War on Terror in a post-9/11 US. The author also reviews the role of written communication as part of a negative strategy and discusses the relatively new use of the Internet. Mark finds negative campaigning to be a complete strategy larger than a few well-placed television commercials, and defends “going negative” as part of a robust democratic process. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels. — J. D. Rausch, West Texas A&M University

Minow, Newton N. Inside the presidential debates: their improbable past and promising future, by Newton N. Minow and Craig L. LaMay. Chicago, 2008. 219p index afp ISBN 9780226530413, $22.50.  Reviewed in 2008oct CHOICE.
46-1167   JK524 CIP

Minow and LaMay (both, Northwestern Univ.) have provided an insightful look at America’s televised presidential debates.  The authors present the story in a book destined to become a classic.  The modern presidential debates began with the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debates, and Minow was there at the creation.  National debates did not resume until 1976–earlier candidates opposed a face-to-face confrontation for one reason or another.  The debates have continued ever since, however, and are an integral ingredient of every presidential election.  Indeed, the “debates” (granted, not really debates) now include primary campaigns and glut the airways.  The authors relate the story of the televised national debates with anecdotal and institutional information in a book that is a delight to read; rarely does one encounter scholarly exploration expressed in prose lucid, enlightened, and laced with wit.  Aspects–good and ill–of the debates are reviewed, and the authors present a useful formula for improving future debates.  The public expects them, and candidates can no longer ignore them.  This book is for all thoughtful readers.  Summing Up: Highly recommended.  All readership levels. — S. L. Harrison,  University of Miami

Pfau, Michael.  Mediating the vote: the changing media landscape in U.S. presidential campaigns, by Michael Pfau, J. Brian Houston, and Shane M. Semmler.  Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.  178p bibl index afp ISBN 0-7425-4143-6, $75.00; ISBN 0742541444 pbk, $27.95; ISBN 9780742541436, $75.00; ISBN 9780742541443 pbk, $27.95. Reviewed in 2007jun CHOICE.
44-5918  JK2281  2006-14124 CIP

The authors (all, Univ. of Oklahoma) address an important question: “Given the precipitous decline in American’s use of newspapers and network television news, where are people now turning for information about politics?” To answer this question, they analyzed two national telephone surveys conducted by the University of Oklahoma Public Opinion Learning Laboratory during the 2004 presidential campaign. In addition to measuring political effects from exposure to traditional print and electronic media, more than a dozen other communication forms such as political talk radio, television entertainment, the Internet, and other newer sources also were studied. Among the major findings is evidence that Democratic and Republican Party identifiers are drawn to different media sources that reinforce their partisan preferences. By contrast, the politically indifferent avoid political news altogether or are inadvertently exposed to political information via conventional political ads. The volume includes comprehensive footnotes and bibliography. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. — E. C. Dreyer, emeritus, University of Tulsa 

Prior, Markus.  Post-broadcast democracy: how media choice increases inequality in political involvement and polarizes elections.  Cambridge, 2007.  315p bibl index; ISBN 9780521858724, $80.00; ISBN 9780521675338 pbk, $27.99.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2007nov CHOICE.
45-1733  P95  2006-25608 CIP 
 
This account of the effects of media environment on politics is important, well argued, and clearly documented. Prior (Princeton) argues that the shift from a low-choice environment of broadcast television dominance to the world of cable and Internet choices has changed the behavior of the electorate. While “news junkies” can consume more news, fans of entertainment turn increasingly to other options. While this point is not new, Prior’s analysis of the consequences is both new and noteworthy. He argues that because entertainment fans follow news less frequently now, they will vote less frequently. Furthermore, since those most likely to vote are news followers rather than entertainment viewers, voters are more partisan and polarized, although the pool of potential voters remains largely the same. Prior’s “inequality by choice” argument contrasts with the “digital divide” argument based on skills and resources. It would be interesting to see more discussion of the changing content of news. The growth of “soft news” may mean lower levels of political news consumption than Prior describes, even among fans of what passes as news in today’s environment. Those interested in media or broader issues of American political behavior will find much to ponder here. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. — J. Heyrman, Berea College 

Rewiring politics: presidential nominating conventions in the media age, ed. by Costas Panagopoulos.  Louisiana State, 2007.  212p bibl afp ISBN 0-8071-3206-3,  $40.00; ISBN 9780807132067, $40.00. Reviewed in 2007aug CHOICE.
44-7120  JK2255  2006-14073 CIP 
 
The essays in this collection are of uniformly high quality. Each explores some facet of national nominating conventions, from their history to effects on nominees. But the most interesting essays deal with the changes in the media. From the advent of television coverage of conventions in the 1950s to today, coverage has changed dramatically as cable channels have shouldered an ever-larger part of the burden. The concluding essay ties the topics together in noting that conventions these days and into the foreseeable future are “political rituals.” As the various authors note, the media have been the ringleaders in the many changes that have altered the national conventions. The changing role of conventions is noted in Gerald Pomper’s concluding essay: “Once decisive in the choice of party leadership, conventions are now most prominent as political rites of passage. Still, they remain important.” For those wanting to know what conventions were once like and what they were about, as well as those wanting to understand today’s national nominating conventions, this is an excellent source of food for thought. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers, lower- and upper-division undergraduates. — W. K. Hall, Bradley University 

Skewes, Elizabeth A.  Message control: how news is made on the presidential campaign trail.  Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.  195p bibl index afp ISBN 0-7425-5461-9, $75.00; ISBN 9780742554610, $75.00.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2007nov CHOICE.
45-1736  JK528  2006-101222 CIP 
 
Many political observers agree that how reporters construct the news is key to understanding American politics today. Despite the consensus that reporters are important, the public knows surprisingly little about how journalists go about their jobs or how they negotiate with politicians to produce news. Much of what is known is drawn from Tim Crouse’s seminal 1973 work, The Boys on the Bus. In this book, Skewes (communications and journalism, Univ. of Colorado at Boulder) updates and expands Crouse’s book with an academic’s analytical eye and a former journalist’s experience and effortless prose. The result is an informative, much needed book about how journalists and politicians make news on the presidential campaign trail. Based on dozens of interviews with key reporters, this book is well researched yet remarkably easy to read. Some of Skewes’ observations about the role of voters could be enhanced through a more thorough review of the political science literature on voter decision making, but the book succeeds in uncovering the daily machinations of news making on the campaign trail. It should be required reading for anyone interested in the relationship between politicians and the media. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels. — C. A. Cooper, Western Carolina University 

Squires, Catherine R.  Dispatches from the color line: the press and multiracial America.  State University of New York, 2007.  259p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780791471005 pbk, $28.95. Reviewed in 2008jan CHOICE.
45-2443  PN4888  2006-21549 CIP 
 
With Barack Obama a major candidate for president at the time of its publication, this study of how news media deal with multiracial people and issues is timely. Squires (Univ. of Michigan) divides the book into two parts. In the first she presents three case studies of media treatment of a specific interracial issue and demonstrates that in each case news reports focused on the issue of black or white rather than coming to grips with realities of interracial identity. She finds this pattern in stories in both the black and the white press. In the second section, she analyzes general interracial news stories prior to and then after the 2000 census, a census that had the potential to change the way people reported their racial identity. Post 2000, she notes some differences in reporting on racial identity in the Asian, black, and white presses. She also calls attention to how the growth of interracial identification has fueled neoconservative attacks on affirmative action. The extensive endnotes offer substantive information as well as sources; the bibliography is lengthy; and the index includes both names and topics. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty, professionals, and general readers.. — P. E. Kane, emeritus, SUNY College at Brockport 

© American Library Association. Contact [email protected] for permission to reproduce or redistribute.