Guest Post: Patrick

If you were a gambler by nature, where would you say most Americans get their political and current events information? America is the haven for media outlets. Americans constantly have access to many different types of media such as: newspaper, radio, TV, magazines, internet, and pamphlets, to just name a few. Steven Chaffee, chairman of the Department of Communications at Stanford focused his studies primarily on the role of politics in mass communication and Stacey Franks wrote How Americans Get Political Information: Print Versus Broadcast News. In their research, they question the effectiveness of broadcast news to thoroughly inform the viewer in current events and politics. They argued, “Print media is consulted more often than television by people who are actively seeking information.” This statistic implies that individuals who really want to know the truth and want to get to the bottom of what’s going on and already have a good basis of information are reading their political and current events information via print media. While, “Television reaches groups that tend to lack political information, such as young people, immigrants, and less interested citizens” (Chaffee 48). This means that those who are just mildly interested are turning to the television as their main source of information. 

 I would argue we see this casual turn to the television to learn about politics, because everything is so much easier if you’re watching it on television. A commentator can tell you what you need to know and you don’t have to read it, which we can all agree would take more effort. So it comes down to how bad you want to stay informed to decide where you get your information.