1st Edition

Congress, the Media, and the Public Who Reveals What, When, and How?

By Stephen E. Frantzich Copyright 2016
222 Pages 33 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

222 Pages 33 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

222 Pages 33 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

From the beginning of the Republic, members of Congress have been in the media spotlight. In recent years, the expansion of media venues has provided both challenges and opportunities to Representatives and Senators, the public, and even the media itself. Legacy media such as newspapers and broadcast television each carry with them their own needs and accepted usages affecting the kind and volume... Read more

CONTENTS: Chapter 1: The Media and Representative Government: The Necessary Evil?  Chapter 2: The Love/Hate Relationship: The Media Approaches Congress  Chapter 3: The Congressional P.R. Machine: Selling a Single Product  Chapter 4 : Catch Me If You Can: News Hooks and Nobodies  Chapter 5: From Props to First Responders: Congress and the State of the Union MessageChapter 6: Mr. Chair and My Loyal Fans: Celebrity Testimony on Capitol Hill  Chapter 7: Bombasters and Buffoons: Making Congress an Easy Target  Chapter 8: Congress, the Houses of Ill Repute: Cartoonists Take on the House and Senate  Chapter 9: Congress and Popular Culture: Dissing Congress on a Grand Scale  Chapter 10: C-SPAN: A Window on Congress  Chapter 11: Congress and the New Media: Challenges and Opportunities  Chapter 12: Congress and the Media: The Continuing Odyssey

Biography

Stephen E. Frantzich is Professor of Political Science at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he was selected as outstanding civilian professor in 1990. He is the author of over two dozen books and has served as a consultant to the U.S. Congress, Dirksen Center, C-SPAN, and a variety of foreign parliaments. He was one of the pioneers in the study of the impact of information technology on American politics. In his spare time, he run Books for International Goodwill (www.big-books.org), which has distributed over 7 million books to underserved populations around the world.

"Frantzich offers the media and students of the US Congress an up-to-date account of the interactions, machinations, and interdependencies between the legislative branch and the Fourth Estate. Frantzich’s book comes at a time when both institutions are challenged by new ways in which the public consumes journalism.  This timely study provides readers with a well-rounded exploration of how Congressional members use the media to advance agendas, promote policies, and increase name recognition, and how news media cover the activities of Congress as well as its individual members. Throughout, Frantzich provides insightful, grounded, empirically supported critiques regarding the role of modern media in a representative democracy...Summing Up: Recommended." - J. C. Davis, University of Arkansas at Monticello, CHOICE Review