Mass Media, Elections, and Public Policies

Mass media have been providing people with information about the men and women who govern them for decades and centuries even. One of the earliest examples was in the 16th century when the printing press served to propagate the ideas of the Reformation. Among other things, the reformers argued against the selfish behavior of bishops, priests, monks and other clerics who often rather strove to live a pleasant life instead of attending to their duties (Barzun 2001, pp. 4-11). Later, the printing press provided the basis for the establishment of a mass medium that has ever since been considered to play a vital role in holding government accountable: the newspaper. Thomas Jefferson, for example, wrote in the late 18th century: ".were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." -Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787. Papers 11:48-49 More recently, political scientist Doris A. Graber (2001, p.1) wrote that it would be "as American as apple pie to regard the press as the chief tool of public political enlightenment" and the results from a survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project (Horrigan 2004) confirm that the modern press is the most important provider of political information: When American voters were asked about their dominant sources of political news and information, television was on top with 74% of respondents calling it a primary source, followed by radio (54%) and newspapers (51%)1.