Politics OnLine

by Mike Eberts
associate professor of mass communications
Glendale Community College

This is an edited version of my notes from an Oct. 24 lecture at Glendale Community College. Although some of the resources that I used in the lecture are not available through the web, these notes nevertheless contain a decent set of links.

Politics and the Media: Historical View

American political movements and candidates have seemingly always used whatever mass media were available at the time.

1. Written and printed word
   • Postal Mail: committees of correspondence in the years leading to the American Revolution
   • Newspapers: Declaration of Independence and Federalist Papers, among others

2. Broadcasted words and images
   • Telegraph: spread messasges quickly over long distances
   • Telephone: phone banks became a form of electronic door-knocking
   • Radio: mastered by Franklin Delano Roosevelt
   • Moving pictures and newsreels
   • Television
     • "I Like Ike" animated campaign commercial, 1952
     • Kennedy-Nixon debates, 1960
     • Ronald Reagan, the Great Communicator

3. Politics and The Emerging Online Media
   • The Internet: Early Steps
     • Jimmy Carter's campaign reportedly used an early form of e-mail, 1976
     • Locally-based political bulletin boards, 1980s
     • USENET news groups (this is a link to a database of newsgroups)
     • E-mail mailing lists (this is a large directory of mailing lists)
     • Gopher became a vehicle for political information in the early 1990s (example: The Activist Tool Kit)

   • The World Wide Web
     • It's popular, colorful, interactive and hyperlinked : example Conservative Generation X
       • Spray a message on the CGX griffiti wall
       • For more orderly debate, there's the CGX Senate
       • In the works is the CGX Cafe, where people will be able to chat live through their keyboards

     • The biggest, slickest and richest political campaigns are on the web: example Clinton/Gore '96
       • An unlimited supply of virtual campaign goodies
       • A source for recruiting activists

     • The political parties are making a major commitment to the web: example Republican National Committee
       • School building: the Republican slant on issues and more
       • The RNC Cafe offers a chance to interact and even balance the budget

     • There is room for political parodies and fun
       • Example 1: Hillary's Hair
       • Example 2: Richard Stands and the N.E.T. Party
         • Send a post card
       • Example 3: Political Babble Generator

     • We may soon see online campaign dirty tricks; this is the Aug. 16, 1996 hack job on the U.S. Department of Justice Home Page

     • The media (both giants and upstarts) are covering politics through the web
       • Example 1 Random House Election '96
       • Example 2 Politics Now
         • Parallel Lives: Biographies of Bill Clinton and Bob Dole
       • Example 3: George (edited by JFK, Jr.)

     • There's a lot of polling on the web, with some interesting results
       • Example 1: AllPolitics Polls Page
       • Example 2: Cyberstraw Poll

     • Voter registration and information are also out there
       • Example 1: Vote Smart Web elected official finder
       • Example 2: Rock the Vote absentee voter information

     • Even the Washington Bureaucracy is online for campaign 96: example Federal Election Commission
       • Find out contributions to congressional candidates

Visit my Election '96 page for more links