Page 97 - Historical Dictionary of Political Communication in the United States
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McLEOD, JACK M.
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                 berated  the panelists  with whom he disagreed ("Wronnnnnng!"),  addressed the
                 panelists  in  an  affable  ribbing  manner  (Morton  "Mortahn-Salt-when-it-rains-it-
                 pours"  Kendrake and Eleanor-gee-I-think-you-re-swell" Clift),  and pressed pan-
                 elists  to  assign  numerical  values  to  the  significance  of  political  issues  ("on  a
                 scale  of  zero  to  10, with  10 being  metaphysical  certitude  and  zero being  meta-
                                             r
                 physical  doubt,  how  would  you ate...?").  The  program  was  criticized  for
                 trivializing  political  issues,  emphasizing  entertainment  over  analysis,  and  low-
                 ering  the  level  of  political  discourse.  President  Ronald  Reagan,  a  fan  of  the
                 program, compared  The McLaughlin  Group to the movie Animal House,  adding,
                  "Its nutritional value is somewhere between potato chips and Twinkies." Critics
                 also  claimed  that  the  program  treated  political  issues  in  a  flippant  manner,  as
                 when  McLaughlin  introduced  a  discussion  about  Democratic  presidential  can-
                 didate  Walter  Mondale's  selection  of  Geraldine  Ferraro  as his  vice  presidential
                 choice  with  "It's  a girl!"  McLaughlin,  however,  claimed  that  politics  did  not
                 have  to  be  boring.  The  McLaughlin  Group  traces  its  roots  to  Agronsky  and
                 Company, which went on the air over the CBS television  affiliate  in Washington
                 in  1969.  Unlike  other  public  affairs  programs  at  the  time,  such  as  Meet  the
                 Press,  Issues  and  Answers,  and  Face  the  Nation,  Agronsky  and  Company  did
                 not  include  newsmakers  and  politicians,  only  journalists.  Agronsky  and  Com-
                 pany,  however,  was  fairly  sedate compared  to  The McLaughlin  Group. Another
                 precursor,  in  1970,  60  Minutes,  added  a  "Point/Counterpoint"  segment  that
                 pitted  liberal  Nichola  Von  Hoffman  against  conservative  James  Kilpatrick  on a
                  single  issue  during  each  program.  The  segment  was immensely  popular,  and in
                  1974  Shana  Alexander  replaced  Hoffman.  The  segment's  tendency  to  portray
                 political  discussion  as  verbal  one-upmanship  had  the  undesirable  tendency  that
                 would be  magnified  in  The McLaughlin  Group for journalists  to engage in  spir-
                 ited  personal  attacks  and  put-downs.

                  SOURCES:  Eric  Alterman,  Sound  and  Fury:  The  Washington  Punditocracy  and  the
                  Collapse of American  Politics,  1992; Alan  Hirsch,  Talking Heads: Political  Talk Shows
                  and  Their Star  Pundits,  1991.
                                                                   Michael  B.  Salwen


                  McLEOD,  JACK   M.  (1930-  )  is  Maier-Bascom  Professor  of  Journalism  and
                  Mass  Communication  at the University  of Wisconsin-Madison.  He is a leading
                  authority  on  the role  of  media  in broadening  democratic participation  and com-
                  munity  integration.  He joined  the journalism  faculty  at Wisconsin  in  1962  after
                  earning  a  Ph.D.  in  social  psychology  from  the  University  of  Michigan,  where
                  he also served as assistant study director in the Survey Research Center. McLeod
                  has  served  for  more  than  30  years  as  director  of  the  Mass  Communication
                  Research  Center  at  Wisconsin  and  as  a  mentor  for  countless  graduate  students
                  with concentrations in political communication. He and Steve Chaffee  developed
                  the  co-orientation  concept  in communication.  The International  Communication
                  Association  awarded  him  the  Fisher  Mentorship  Award  in  1991  in  recognition
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