Just about every major development in the current presidential campaign started as a television event.
When Kamala Harris “introduces” herself to the American public with her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention tonight, most of the people who catch her remarks will do so via television—just as they did when John F. Kennedy accepted the party nomination in 1960. TV may not be the omnipresent force that it was before the rise of the internet, but it is still the most important medium in American politics.
Pundits and wise men have been predicting the fall of television, and particularly television news, for decades. In 2002, The New York Times forecast “the coming disappearance” of nightly network newscasts. No less an authority than Roger Ailes, the founder of Fox News, averred that once “dinosaurs” such as Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, and Peter Jennings left their anchor chairs, the traditional 30-minute newscast would face “extinction.” More recently, it was cable TV and cable news that were supposed to be heading for the boneyard, given the ominous trend of cord-cutting and the stampede to streaming. (Confession: I’ve written that take myself.)
These eulogies were premature. Television is no longer the only game in town, but it still sets the game’s agenda. Just about every major development in the current presidential campaign started as a television event. Video clips suggesting that Joe Biden had lost more than a step circulated on social media throughout his presidency, but only after more than 51 million people saw his disastrous June debate appearance did the pressure to drop out of the race become insurmountable. Tim Walz was all but unknown outside Minnesota until his run of folksy cable-news interviews helped propel him onto the Democratic ticket. Similarly, J. D. Vance would probably never have been a contender on the Republican side without the help of his regular Fox News appearances, in which he honed his craft as arch-Trumpist attack dog. As for this week’s convention, it has been scheduled, staged, and choreographed to fit the rhythms of TV, just as dozens were before it.
No one would suggest that we still live in the age of Walter Cronkite. Americans now get political news and information through dozens of platforms and tens of thousands of sources—YouTube and TikTok videos, Facebook and X posts, Substack newsletters and podcasts.
