Date Thesis Awarded
5-2010
Access Type
Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only
Degree Name
Bachelors of Arts (BA)
Department
History
Advisor
Charles McGovern
Committee Members
Hiroshi Kitamura
Melanie Dawson
Abstract
This work examines the historical implications of 24-hour television news on elections and policy in America. In two moments, the 2000 presidential election and the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq, the 24-hour news medium shaped the course of American history. 24-Hour news had such influence because of the psychological power of the television medium combined with its broad audience; it created, spread, and solidified beliefs based on untruths that ultimately interfered with an American election and the implementation of major American foreign policy. The work also explores the most effective counterbalance to 24-hour news: the satirical comedy program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. By highlighting 24-hour news' lack of journalistic integrity in its own medium, The Daily Show helped dilute the strong psychological influences of 24-hour news and expose its economic incentives, pursued in lieu of democratic ones, which guided the vast majority of the networks' reporting. This shifting emphasis by 24-hour news channels away from civic discourse unequivocally influenced American history and presented a dire challenge - yet unsolved - to American democracy.
Recommended Citation
Queen, Thomas W., "The Effect of 24-Hour Television News on American Democracy and The Daily Show as a Counterbalance to 24-Hour News: A History" (2010). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 669.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/669
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Comments
Thesis is part of Honors ETD pilot project, 2008-2013. Migrated from Dspace in 2016.