Lexington Books
Pages: 252
•
Trim: 6½ x 9¼
978-0-7391-9149-1 • Hardback • November 2014 • $142.00 • (£109.00)
978-1-4985-0628-1 • Paperback • February 2017 • $64.99 • (£50.00)
978-0-7391-9150-7 • eBook • November 2014 • $61.50 • (£47.00)
Richard Craig is associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at San Jose State University.
Introduction: The Democratic Process, Television, and Polls
Chapter 1: Presidential Campaigning and the Rise of Mass Media
Chapter 2: Campaigning In the Image-Making Age
Chapter 3: Polling as a Political (and Media) Necessity
Chapter 4: Lesser Expectations: Early TV Network Poll Usage
Chapter 5: Soaring Expectations: You Poll, I Jump
Chapter 6: Splintering Expectations: Poll Overkill and New Media
Chapter 7: Conclusions and Implications for Future Research
While focused on one television network, Richard Craig shows how journalists and commentators in many media use polling data to turn presidential politics into a cage match. Survey results become a narrative device in these 'unreality' shows, activating a cast of characters whose seeming ups and downs distort political reality and all too often drown out other forms of campaign coverage.
— Mark Stencel, former managing editor for digital news, National Public Radio