Political Culture, Beck, Stewart and the American Political Process

When running for office a politician always wonders what will influence political culture, what must I do or who must I hire to influence voters to choose me. Family, personal values, stands on certain issues and many other factors are believed to influence our decision to choose one candidate over another. What factor is more important than another when making a decision is dependent on the individual voter. There is no magical factor that helps politicians attract voters. We the voters would like to think that we make our decisions based solely on our beliefs on certain issues or the candidate’s ability to do a great job, but in reality a good majority of us also make our decisions based on that one amazing commercial that sums up a candidate. We often also lose interest in a candidate if the opponent or the media runs an effective smear campaign. This is probably not what our forefathers envisioned for the American political process, and yet somehow this is how our genius system works. Our first impression of a candidate is formed while we watch a clip of her on the nightly news or a perfectly prepared ad that airs during our favorite show. Although we may not believe that TV personalities influence us to make political decisions, political culture is being shaped by the media and the opinionated personalities producers hire; they provide the American voter with that first impression of a candidate and they are the closest to the magical factor that politicians want on their side.

Before exploring how TV personalities influence political culture, political culture itself must be understood. There are three types of political cultures in America according to political scientist Daniel J. Elazar – Moral, Individual and Traditional. There are two that seem to be catered to by the media. Glenn Beck and others like him target traditional political culture. In traditional political culture “government is seen as an actor with a positive role in the community, but the role is largely limited to securing the maintenance of the existing social order.”  In other words, the government’s role is to maintain order so that the country doesn’t go into chaos every time opposing groups don’t agree. The government is expected to protect basic social principles, such as democracy, freedom of speech, etc. Traditional political culture often clashes with individual political culture because they're two differing ideas of government’s influence. Those who are part of the individual political culture believe government has a practical orientation and should be more concerned with private maters than public ones. In addition, “to a significant degree there is cynicism about government” and “dirty politics tend to be accepted as a fact.” For example, they expect actions such as Clintons and Ensign. People who fall under this group are targeted by personalities such as John Stewart.  A study by political scientists Jody Baumgartner and Jonathon Morris of East Carolina University suggests that Stewart makes his viewers cynics, but in reality people who are already cynical about government are attracted to Stewart’s Daily Show. The media does not control what viewers think, it can only influence what will be part of the public discourse.

TV personalities and catchy advertising tunes may convince us to buy ice cream or vote for certain candidate, but it is we the consumers and voters who decide which programs to watch or if it’s time to change the channel. “The media acts as a filter”. An editor will decided what will make the final cut and what will go in the recycle bin with all the rest of the pitched story ideas. However viewers also have their own filters. For instance, a hardcore liberal will refuse to watch FOX News because it is against all he believes in. No matter how hard producers of FOX attempt to get this hardcore liberal to watch its programs it will most likely never happen because that filter has been pre-set by the viewer. Choosing a media outlet is where the viewer holds the power. Once an outlet is chosen the viewer loses power, and the information that will be consumed is in the hands of the media gatekeepers.

We choose our TV personality based on the factors we are said to choose our candidates, family and personal values and stances on issues. Personalities, like Beck and Stewart, are chosen for two reasons. One is the information they provide to their viewers but most importantly for the entertainment they provide. Because of people like them we have the word infotainment. These men are first and foremost entertainers. Radio historian Marc Fisher commented in an issue of Time magazine that “Glenn Beck is a former Top 40 DJ first and foremost an entertainer, who happens to have stumbled into a position of political prominence." These men did not study to become political experts and have never claimed to be public intellectuals, yet their opinion on certain political issues is sometimes taken as expert opinions to the extent that John Stewart was voted as the most trusted news anchor in a 2009 poll by Time magazine. Despite the fact that they do not claim to have all the information, in 2004 the National Annenberg Election Survey at the University of Pennsylvania found that those who watch The Daily Show knew more accurate facts about the 2004 presidential elections than those who got their information from traditional news sources, such as the national network evening newscast and newspapers.

Both John Stewart and Glenn Beck are careful when it come to choosing what current events they will discuss on their nightly shows. They hold the power to tell viewers what they should be thinking about, and they know it. This power is used to promote certain issues of interest to the TV personality or a candidate for instance, when Oprah endorsed Obama during the 2008 campaign. She knew that her endorsement of a candidate would get him lots of media attention that is probably why she never endorsed one before. Oprah may not have convinced all her viewers to vote for Obama, but it did make him a legitimate candidate. It also made him much more of a household name. “The media can influence the public by limiting coverage of certain candidates.” For example, I didn’t know that a Latino candidate was on the 2008 ballot for vice-president until a got the ballot on Election Day. I had heard people discussing the possibility that a Latino was a running-mate but since I didn’t hear anything on the news, political talk shows or other shows, I figured it didn’t go through. I didn’t hear any mention of a Latino vice-presidential candidate because the media didn’t see him as a viable candidate mostly because he was part of a third party. Sometimes the media doesn’t make the most educated decisions. In one case during Clinton’s election campaign Al Gore was misquoted by the media as saying that he “invented the internet”. To this day there are thousands of articles in which Gore is quoted as saying he was the inventor of the internet. One person’s irresponsibility has led to the distribution of the wrong information.

According to Time magazine, there are “record-low levels of public trust of the mainstream media.” In addition, there is a lack of trust of politicians. The distrust for both politicians and the mainstream media has led voters to turn to non-tradition sources, like Beck and Stewart, for information. They may be cynical, over-the-top and at times a bit crazy, but they are at least honest. They don’t promise an unbiased or objective report. They only offer their analysis on the issues that are happening in the States and around the world. Glenn Beck, for example, shares his fears and hopes with his viewers. He cannot be judged on providing facts because that is not his thing. Beck provides opinions.

However, we must step in when these opinions become dangerous. For instance, when there are polls that suggest the assassination of a president. "Criticism from the far right has begun tipping over into delegitimation and creating the same kind of climate that existed in Israel on the eve of the Rabin assassination”, according to New York Times columnists Thomas Friedman. Viewers are confusing criticism of a candidate with unthinkable actions. Beck has openly said that he is not a fan of President Obama but he still wants him too succeed as president. Yet, there are others who wish for him to fail. People like Rush Limbaugh joke about how the President is not from the United States. These ill thought opinions or jokes are dangerous. Although Limbaugh might think it’s a joke, there are Americans who take these accusations seriously and who believe that Obama is not legitimate. The opinionated for the sake of having an opinion have also contributed to the inaction in political reform in this country. “In the healthcare debate, for example, there is a national consensus that we have a broken and bloated system. But instead of replacing it with the kind of single-prayer government-run system adopted by most of the developed countries on the planet, that option is ruled out of order at the start of the debate. As a result, the best we can hope for is modest reform of an inherently flawed and expensive system” (Ellis).

Media doesn’t provide the fair and balanced report it promises, but the internet has stepped in to fill the hole. With the rise of the internet voters have endless options to seek information, yet they continue watching Beck and Stewart’s shows. People like John Stewart and Glenn Beck are not ruining our democracy despite what their critics might think. Instead, they offer a voice for Americans who feel ignored by mainstream media. They do not have the influence to change pre-existing perceptions that viewers have but they can shape the discussions their viewers have or the issues voters should consider important. This doesn’t mean that these personalities don’t have any influence. Beck was able to assemble thousands of people in Washington, DC to express their opinion on various issues the main one being health care. He did not provide them with an opinion to take. However, he did provide them with a medium to express their personal opinion in a platform in which they might be listened to.  Voters may be just as impressionable as kids when it comes to new issues or ideas or if they are undecided, yet if they already have a firm stance on an issue one charismatic individual will not change their mind.

Bibliography
Carville and Matalin. “Carville Calls Anchor ‘Out-and-Out Nuts’.” AOLNews. 5 Oct. 2009

Elazar, Daniel. “Political Culture of the United States.” 3 Oct. 2009

Ellis, Joseph J. “Them versus us; Thomas Jefferson's anti-government vision is part of the American mind-set, but now it's time to think another way.” Los Angeles Times. 9 Aug. 2009: A32

Friedman, Thomas L. “Where Did ‘We’ Go?” New York Times. 30 Sept. 2009: A31

Lane, Laura. “The Influence of the Media in Politics, Campaigns and Elections.” Associted Content. 14 Nov. 2007

McNamara, Melissa. “Bloggers Laugh Over Jon Stewart Study.” 2006 CBS News. 5 Oct. 2009

Von Drehle, David. “Mad Man: Is Glenn Beck Bad for America?” Time. 28 Sept. 2009: 32

Other Sources
Corner, John and Dick Pels. Media and the restyling of politics: consumerism, celebrity and cynicism. California: Sage Publications, 2003.

Jones, Jeffrey P. Entertaining politics: new political television and civic culture. Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.