Dumb and dumber: does TV count?

Abstract

Even if television has played a decisive role in determining the outcome of past elections, is that still the case today? Fifty years ago it was clear that campaigns were fought on the streets, at public meetings and in the pages of the national press. From 1959 onwards it was clear that the television studio had muscled its way into the act and had become the major focus of the campaign. But where is that focus today? In an era of channel fragmentation, with more and more people "avoiding" news programmes or buying newspapers, where is that national political conversation taking place? If not on TV, is it on the political websites and web logs, via email or SMS messages? If so, it means that no matter the intensity of the conversation, only the participants know it is taking place. The result is individualised politics, which will fail to give people a sense of taking part in a collective activity for the common good.