Edited for Television: CNN, ABC, and the 1992 Presidential Campaign

Sleep-deprived reporters. Spin doctors. Deadlines. All constants in the world of television election reporting. But do they alone explain why television coverage of the 1992 presidential campaign looked the same night after night across the broadcast/cable media divide? Matthew Robert Kerbel says no, pointing instead to the shared interests and perspectives of news workers that bridge network differences. Edited for Television explores those common orientations as it tells the story of the 1992 election in the voice of a one-time television newswriter and the media personnel he skillfully interviews. One of the first studies to compare cable news with its broadcast counterparts, Edited for Television is loaded with new insights into what gets covered and what gets left out as well as why and to what effect. At once a large-scale media election study and an examination of forces shaping television news, this book answers a host of provocative questions: Under what conditions will television pay more attention to the issues than to the horserace ? What happened to coverage when Ross Perot redefined how a campaign is conducted? Why is it that cable and broadcast television devote so much air time to the interests and concerns of cable and broadcast television? For everyone concerned with the effect of the visual media on citizens and the political process, Edited for Television is a lively, informative account of how America’s most recent bout with democracy appeared on the screen and behind the camera. Original data and election research are combined with engaging interviews of ABC and CNN personnel to produce a work of both scholarly and general interest.