ABSTRACT
The eight years of the Bill Clinton presidency encompass several mass media transitions. When Clinton took office in 1993, network television newscasts continued to dominate the political discourse, as they had for decades. During Clinton's two terms, the number of national news sources grew, with important roles emerging for political talk on cable news, talk radio, online media, and the late night comics. Even within the television environment itself, changes were under way. During the 1980s, an upstart news outlet, the Cable News Network (CNN), began broadcasting news at all hours. The growing relevance of CNN was one major media development under way as Clinton campaigned for and won the White House. Clinton's time in office corresponded with the rise of highly sophisticated public opinion strategies employed in the pursuit of presidential popularity and legislative success, where even the words and phrases a candidate might use are pre-tested for maximum impact.
