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Television. In 1960 the first televised debates occured, revolutionizing
the way that politics was done in the United States. The television
has been, for 40 years, the focal point of advertising, fundraising,
and communicating. Now it's the year 2000. Enter the world wide web.
Could this be the "television" of the TRENDS IN TELEVISION TECHNOLOGY 1960 - 2000 Since the sixties, television has become one of the most dominant technologies in both the private and public spheres of American society. Rampant TV ownership began, primarily in 1956 when 73% of Americans owned sets in their home, doubling the number of owners from1952 (47, 24). The number of sets owned continues to increase. Television grew to become the dominant medium for political communication, broadcasting speeches, debates, ads, etc... TELEVISION AND POLITICS 1960 - 2000 The Debates The Commercials
The Loss of Control WORLD WIDE WEB: THE NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR POLITICS 2004? Giving back the control In addition to designing basic web pages, such web tools as message boards, chat rooms, and news groups allow people to give information back to their retrieval source by conversing with others outside of their regular social circles. This tool has even resulted in the powerful vote-swapping phenomenon, which has caused an uproar in some states. The web has essentially allowed voters of a certain mindset to swap votes for candidates so that certain candidates can get their government funding in the next election, and other candidates get a better chance of winning in a close state. Moreover, like the Americans who wrote letters to their political leaders more frequently in the sixties, increasing numbers of modern-day Americans are beginning to send such letters via pre-composed e-letters which require only minor textual changes, a name entry, and a home and email address. All the short comings that a uni-directional technology like television has can be solved with the world wide web, which in itself is not even yet fully developed. The possibilities seem nearly endless. Bibliography 1. America's Watching; Public Attitudes toward Television, Roper Organization,
Jan 1993
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future? In other words, could the web revolutionize the way politics
are handled? Consider that the base audience available on the web is
growing everyday, that the web is a highly interactive medium, and that
is very inexpensive. It's advantages are enormous. It is our contention
that the phenomenon surrounding the effect television had on politics
in 1960 is occuring again. The world wide web is the new front for political
battles, and whoever learns to take advantage of the technology may
have a distinct advantage in the future. 
believed
Perot ran the most informative commercials, followed by Clinton at 20%
and Bush at a trailing 8% (41). Yet beginning with the 1996 election
between Clinton and Bob Dole, opinion polls have since reported a growing
dissatisfaction with these commercials. During this election, the majority
of Americans believed that labor unions and corporations were in the
wrong for endorsing presidential candidates on TV (3). In the 2000 election,
this negative sentiment has persisted. 65% of registered voters surveyed
would have preferred a series of structured presidential debates in
lieu of the frequent campaign commercials (4), and half of another surveyed
population of voters attested to being at least somewhat bothered by
these TV ads (38). Yet the American TV viewing population does not represent
the only group that remains bothered by the ads. During the 2000 election,
campaign spending, including TV ad spending, reached an excessive peak
for both the Democratic and Republican parties. As a result, special
interest groups and other lobbying organizations have pressed more strongly
for campaign finance reform. Moreover, these reform efforts have spread
even among bi-partisan lines, with the Democrats, Republicans and more
notably the Green Party all making reform a at least somewhat of a plank
in their platforms. The web may allow groups to eliminate much of this
by making commericals an optional stop on a tour of their web site,
along with a host of other possibilities.
1952.
From the word "internet" springs "interactive," which denotes
a mutual or reciprocal relationship between two or more parties. Whereas
TV provides simply a uni-directional form of communication technology,
the internet and the world wide web not only allow individuals to receive
information, but also to engage in the retrieval of this information.
A TV news station may dispense information only according to the producers'
will, but the web remains open for individuals to search more broadly
through varied sources of information, and consequently, to add to this
plethora of information often referred to as an "information highway."
Currently, internet use in America continues to increase, from a mere
9% of Americans accessing the web regularly in 1996 to a striking 83%
in 2000 (31), and it also continues to expand among demographics, include
greater numbers of minorities who are beginning to access the web regularly
(44). As we've demonstrated elsewhere on the site, while the internet
itself is not yet as used among minorities, more minorities do use the
web for powerful purposes, like obtaining their news and political information.
Entire sites devoted to the minority perspective gives them a chance
to see things in a way not available on traditional media