ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the impact of the media, especially television, on elections and politics in general. American politics without television is unthinkable. Not only do voters gain most of their knowledge about politics from television, but candidates gear their campaigns almost entirely to the demands of this particular medium. Moreover, presidents regard the media as a critical element in the art of political persuasion. Unsurprisingly, then, great controversy surrounds the power of the media in politics.
