Television in Politics

Presidents on TV
The other day in one of my classes, we talked about how much television can help a presidential candidate as we watched the first ever televised debate between Kennedy and Nixon in the 50's. We discussed how much of an influence a candidate has on his audience if he looks good in front of a camera. We cam to the conclusion that Kennedy won the audience over because he was suave in front of the camera. Radio listeners believed that Nixon was the better debater. Watching the Video, it did show that Nixon was sitting kind of funny, and his complexion was pail-like because the lack of makeup which was his decision.

In my opinion, yes, television is the absolute biggest influence in a presidential election today. In today's society, it is all about image. The people of this country want a president who can stand up tall in front of millions of people and deliver the perfect speech with a camera right in his or HER face. And why not? Don't we want someone who can laugh in the face of adversity? Whether it is right or wrong, whoever looks best on camera and in front of a microphone will win the election. It is wrong in a sense that people care more about image than what is right for a country, and right in a sense that we the people want someone who look like they could actually lead our nation.