Media & Elections

For the second move, I decided it would only make sense to cover the next real evolution of media technology, which happened to be television. Unlike radio, television is likely something everyone uses today for obtaining news or information about elections including ads. In this move, I focused on the 1960 presidential election as it held the first televised debate. The effects of television were undeniably profound with this election as "surveys asked people that watched the debate on TV and those that listened to it on radio who they thought won, and viewers who watched it on TV thought Kennedy won, where those who listened in on the radio thought Nixon won." TV added the visual dimension for viewers, something a sickly Nixon was not prepared for when stacked against a younger candidate. It is more than likely the reason we had Kennedy as our president before Nixon did, and truelly highlights why I think my capstone topic intrigues me the most.