ABSTRACT
A confluence of developments changed electoral politics in the United States during the final two decades of the twentieth century. As television reinforced its primacy as a communication medium, news coverage emphasized character issues surrounding candidates. Meanwhile, the U.S. population became more ethnically and racially diverse, and political parties devoted increasing attention and resources to reaching specific segments of the electorate. Although most discussion of character issues by media pundits and academic experts has focused on the credibility, and therefore the electability of candidates for public office, this chapter broadens the concept in arguing that character is a multifaceted construction, and that the media, especially television, act as key arbiters in the negotiation of character perceptions among groups engaged in politics. Character issues are treated in two ways on the following pages: as conduits to evaluate representations of the trustworthiness of Latinos as a voting bloc during three presidential elections, and to compare Englishand Spanish-language television news coverage of a potentially volatile inter-ethnic news story. A number of problems emerge which are likely to transform U.S. electoral politics and political communication in the twenty-first century.
