For decades American politics has been trapped in a cycle that benefits no one except the media companies that own TV stations: Politicians felt they had to advertise on TV to get elected (generally they were right). Politicians had to raise enormous sums of money to pay for those TV ads. The money went from contributor’s pockets directly into media coffers, with only a brief stop-off in campaign warchests. Politicians ended up beholden to contributors and devoting much of their energy to fundraising; the electorate got fed worthless “attack ads” and 30-second soundbites; only the TV station owners profited.
Today’s New York Times reports that, glory be, the era of TV political advertising may be beginning to fade:
| The once-overwhelming influence of television advertising on political campaigns is declining, Democratic and Republican leaders say, leading them to embrace aggressively old- fashioned campaign tools like telephone calls and door-knocking in this year’s Congressional elections. While candidates continue to devote most of their resources to television, they say the power of commercials to affect an election’s outcome is being diluted by the glut of cable television stations, the popularity of such commercial-free premium networks as HBO and the anesthetizing frequency and similarity of political advertisements. |
If this trend story proves accurate, it could be the best news in a long, long time.
Postscript: In comments a couple of people are saying, “Hey, phone calls, knocks on my door? That doesn’t sound like an improvement.” I disagree. Politics, real politics, is about getting out and talking to people — neighbors talking to neighbors, politicians actually facing the human beings they represent, supporters of candidates trying to persuade voters. This is retail politics, and I’ll take it any day over the wholesale game of TV ads.
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