ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates that political television is an incredibly flexible category, one that encompasses a wide variety of genres and viewpoints. Ultimately, questions about the role of political television in shaping mediated citizenship will continue to be debated for some time. Finally, all of these questions are being addressed in a political environment in which wealthy individuals can donate hundreds of millions of dollars to the candidates they support or pay for advocacy ads to promote policies that support their economic interests. But even while political donors spend millions on their chosen candidates, activists, many of them informed by satirical news stories on The Colbert Report and Last Week Tonight, have worked to turn public opinion against unlimited campaign spending. The character of our political culture remains hotly contesteda debate that goes well beyond red versus blue, Republican versus Democrat but instead focuses on questions of political power and inclusiveness.
