In 1982, Iyengar, Peters, and Kinder performed a series of experiments on how political agendas in television news casts affect viewers and which viewers were affected most. Their work produced expected yet disturbing results; the more attention an item was given, the more importance viewers placed upon it. Additionally, those who were the least informed from outside sources were less apt to argue against the news presentation and more likely to be vulnerable to agenda setting as a result. While they noted that they did not intend their work to be used to show that news was being manipulated for political gain, the last election's events have raised suspicion among the voters of America and the question has certainly be asked. One event in this year's election proceedings stands out as something that could have been designed to re-test the group's theory.
The surprising results of the Iowa Caucus were in and Howard Dean had no choice but to go out and rally his supporters and volunteers. He needed to thank them for a job well done and give them hope for the upcoming primaries. As the crowd grew louder and more boisterous with support for their candidate, Dean was forced to speak louder to be heard and joined his supporters in a shout of enthusiasm. In the room, Dean's voice became one with his volunteers but on the TV sets of Americans across the country his voice was isolated by the microphone and it sounded like a lone scream at random. That outburst was the beginning of the end for the Dean campaign.
Enthusiasm is contagious. After a loss, it is important to regroup and regain confidence in your cause and regain the confidence of your supporters, especially when the loss comes as such a shock. Likewise, knowing your supporters still support you after your loss is a rush. You haven't come out unscathed, but you're not out of the game, either. Not joining the crowed in their cheering distances a candidate from his supporters, which was an approach consistently avoided by the Dean campaign. The key to building Dean's volunteer network was that people felt like they were making a difference with their involvement and were part of the larger picture. Their candidate was not some anonymous old Washington insider, but someone who knew how to use their technology and cared about their issues. He was part of the crowd and Dean consistently exploited this at meet-ups and rallies. It has been shown by Marcus and MacKuen that, "enthusiasm increases campaign involvement" (Marcus & MacKuen, 1993, p. 173) which was certainly what Dean pushed for throughout his campaign.
Someone joining a crowd in screaming isn't suspect, but an isolated scream that seems to have no provocation is. While the few thousand supporters in the room may have heard what the transcripts recorded, an enthusiastic, "Yes!" (Morrison, 2004, ¶5) , the millions more viewers at home and in the days to follow heard a lone, "Yeeeeeeeearrrrrrhhhhh!" (Morrison, 2004, ¶5). To add fuel to the fire, not only was the scream replayed over 700 times on news networks in the days to follow, but loaded words and phrases like, "shriek" (Morrison, 2004, ¶4)and, "the 'I Have a Scream' speech" (Morrison, 2004, ¶1) were also used in reference to the event. When writing on our society, Fromm notes, "To be 'emotional' has become synonymous with being unsound or unhinged" (Fromm, 1941, p. 244). Dean's scream wasn't seen as the crowd-fueling event it was intended to be, but as the outcry of an upset man who couldn't handle the loss.
Television news is in a unique position of being able to re-play a scene so the potential voter can feel like they were there and have a chance to respond to the actual event themselves, instead of processing a textual analysis or recounting of the event via newspaper or magazine. Consumers also rely on television news to highlight what is important. Lesser events are delegated to a spot on the headlines bar scrolling across the bottom of the screen while more relevant news is given commentary and video time. According to Iyengar, Peters, and Kinder, "... by ignoring some problems and attending to others, television news programs profoundly affect which problems viewers take seriously... Problems prominently positioned in television broadcasts loom large in the evaluations of presidential performance" (Iyengar, Peters, & Kinder, 1982, pp. 145-146). While Dean was certainly not yet President, it is without question that prospective candidates are under constant scrutiny with regards to their capacity to be "presidential" in every aspect of their behavior. Dean was also victim to the weeks of negative exposure that followed. The video was widely available on the Internet for months following the rally and musical remixes of the scream were distributed via web sites and peer-to-peer networks, highlighting and magnifying the outburst out of proportion. Even after the three days which were jam packed with re-broadcasts of the scream, the event was followed up on the news and every subsequent article about Dean contained a reference to the rally. Iyengar et al. go on to say that, "When news presentations develop priorities, even if rather subtle ones as in our experiments, viewers' beliefs are affected" (Iyengar et al., 1982, p. 146) The news never abandoned mention of Dean's outburst and continued to follow it up with loaded commentary on how the campaign was in trouble after the Iowa campaign. They suggested that Dean demonstrated that he knew it with that speech.
Television news channels in this country hold far more power over the fate of an election than most voters realize. Informed voting is often idealized, but the information available and its presentation is what really counts. Iyengar et al.'s work showed that those who are the least informed about political events are the most susceptible to being influenced by a news cast's agenda. In an age where most voters depend on the television for the political facts and can rarely be bothered to look further, agenda setting in news broadcasts has become a threat to the democratic process. While Iyengar et al.'s results don't address why the presentation of the scream was so damaging to the campaign or why Dean screamed to begin with, both Fromm's and Marcus and MacKuen's work touch on this. The unbiased news report has become a myth. Oftentimes, it is not even a goal. Overexposure of the scream with slanted commentary certainly added to the killing power of the speech, but it was the portrayal of an overly emotional candidate in turmoil that drove the nail into the heart of the campaign. While a leader who is passionate about his cause is someone we can respect, we also demand someone who is stable and capable of remaining calm in moments of crisis. Television news reporting delivered in excess the image of a disturbed man and the result was fatal for the Dean campaign.
Sources:
ABC News/abc12. (2004). The Dean Scream: The version of reality that we didn't see on TV. Retrieved September 4, 2004, from ABC12.com, from http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/news/012904_NW_r2_group_deanscream.html.
BBC News World Edition. (2004) 'Dean scream' becomes online hit. Retrieved September 4, 2004, from BBC News, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3422809.stm.
Fromm, E. (1941). Escape from Freedom. New York: Owl Books.
Iyengar, S., Peters, M. & Kinder, D. (1982). Experimental Demonstrations of the "No-So-Minimal" Consequences of Television News Programs. In J. Jost & J. Sidanius (Eds.), Political Psychology (pp. 139-149). New York: Psychology Press.
Marcus, G. & MacKuen, M. (1993). Anxiety, Enthusiasm, and the Vote: The Emotional Underpinnings of Learning and Involvement During Presidential Campaigns. In J. Jost & J. Sidanius (Eds.), Political Psychology (pp. 163-176). New York: Psychology Press.
Morrison, B. (2004). Dean scream gaining cult-like status on Web. Retrieved September 4, 2004, from USA TODAY, from http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/2004-01-22-dean-usat_x.htm.
A first attempt at noding my homework. |
