Post-election survey research indicated that the first televised debate
was the one which influenced the majority of voters. Televised debates
have now been part of the political process. Three Presidential debates
have been scheduled before the election and in addition there will be
one Vice Presidential debate.
Talk-radio came into its own following deregulation in 1987. A
talk-radio show appeared at the 1988 conventions but there were few
national broadcasts. By 1992 talk-radio came on its own. Dozens and
dozens of local and national talk-radio shows broadcast from the
conventions. This year the number of local and national radio talk-shows
broadcasting from the national conventions nearly doubled. It is almost
expected that talk-radio stations will broadcast from the national
conventions, cover the debates with commentaries and offer special
election coverage.
Now cable television is playing an increasing role as well. Fox News
Network built a huge pavilion at both conventions. It brought 400
employees to Denver and 500 to St. Paul. A similar number was brought by
CNN. MSNBC brought a smaller number. CSPAN was the only network to
broadcast all proceedings as they were. The total cable viewership
exceeded 30 million. The three regular broadcast networks confined
their coverage to one hour each night in addition to originating their
regular news programs from the conventions.
This is the year that the Internet came into its own. There were rows of
bloggers voicing their views, left, right and center. The number of
bloggers was almost comparable to the number of talk-radio outlets. If
the left were to succeed in shutting down talk-radio at least
temporarily there would be no way that the Internet could be shut down
without violating the Constitution.
Basically it will be possible to turn the Internet into television. From
the time that the telegraph first brought national news to local papers,
communication has become easier and more abundant. The left may think
that it will be able to suppress information by killing talk-radio. Even
were the Supreme Court to uphold the so-called Fairness Doctrine should
the Doctrine be re-imposed, which is highly doubtful, it would take a
complete perversion of the Constitution to kill the Internet. And so
long as free people have access to real information there will be some
hope for the survival of this Republic.