ABSTRACT
Not only does the news media provide more information than would be directly available from the campaigns themselves, but they should do so more objectively than self-interested candidates and parties. Newspapers were published in America long before the country gained its independence. Technology has played its part. The invention of the telegraph made it possible for an emerging Washington press corps to communicate information about national political issues to the entire country. Television started to become a major source for news reporting in the 1950s. As the number of television sets and the hours that people watched grew quickly, television supplemented radio as a primary source of fast-breaking news. As the 1990s progressed, people turned increasingly to the Internet for up-to-date news, first as a supplement and then as their primary source. Traditional news organizations have developed their own sites and subscription services online to attract readers and advertisers.
