ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the role that contemporary cable news serves in making sense of political culture. Broadcasters were required to provide equal time to parties on all sides of an important political or social issue. The post-network era has been characterized by instability and flux, several key characteristics of political news can be identified. Election coverage focuses on the role of the political media in imposing rules of decorum about how elections should be conducted and what types of language should be used when talking about rival candidates and, more broadly, Washington's political culture. News coverage of black political protests has a long history, one that frequently cast protesters into stereotypical roles. While cable news has been associated with the processes of political polarization, it is also part of a larger commercial television. Therefore, the political branding strategies that guide partisan media are never final, and commercially unsuccessful branding strategies are subject to change.
