Page 253 - Culture Society and the Media

CULTURE, SOCIETY AND THE MEDIA 243
their Independent stances for some form of partisan affiliation. So far at least, as
they age, the new electors are remaining as Independent-minded as they were
when they first acquired voting rights.
It is also important to note that the enlarged group of floating voters can no
longer be regarded as consisting only of people who have opted out of the
political communication market. Rather are they quite often at least as well
informed and politically interested as the typical party loyalist. Some recent
studies have even shown a greater use of media information by those making up
their minds how to vote during an election campaign than by those with stable
preferences throughout a campaign period (Chaffee and Choe, 1980).
There are also indications that more people may be judging political affairs in
ways that cut across party lines. They may think in terms of the issues which
matter to them, or may look to attractive leadership personalities, or simply
respond to political parties with grudging scepticism and mistrust. These increase
the uncertainties with which the parties are confronted during election periods,
and the parties often respond by redoubling their electioneering efforts and by
putting themselves in the hands of public relations and advertising professionals.
In these conditions, the probability that political communication will exert an
influence appears to increase.

Changes in media environment
At the same time that voters were becoming more footloose, developments in the
media were re-shaping the sources of people’s political information and
impressions. The most important of these was the increasing prominence of
television as a medium of political communication.
In terms of the audience, the intervention of television into politics has been
dramatic. There is increasing evidence not only that television has by now
established itself as the prime source of information about political and current
affairs for the majority of the population, but also that reliance on it to follow
political arguments and events is particularly heavy and widespread at election
times. But more important than its overall dominance is how television has
helped to restructure the audience for political communication in ways that are at
odds with the reinforcement thesis. First, television reaches with a regular supply
of political materials a sector of the electorate that was previously less exposed to
these materials. In Katz’s (McQuail, 1972, p. 359) words ‘Large numbers of
people are watching election broadcasts not because they are interested in
politics but because they like viewing television.’ Katz supposed that the forging
of a special relationship between television and the less politically-minded electors
was largely beneficial: Television has “activated” them; they have political
opinions and talk to others about them. It can be demonstrated that they have
learned something—even when their viewing was due more to lack of
alternatives than choice.’ But more important, the less interested and less well-