Preface

The modern presidential campaign is essentially a television event. The campaign reaches nearly all voters through television, and it reaches some of them exclusively through television; for them, the television campaign is the campaign. As the political writer Michael Barone observes, a political rally today consists of three people sitting around a television set.

By that standard, one of the biggest rallies of all occurs when the presidential nominees debate. Only once prior to 1976 did nominees debate; now they have done so in five campaigns in a row, enlightening voters and sometimes changing election outcomes. But almost invariably, these debates have been preceded by fierce sniping over the timing, format, and sometimes the inclusion of independent candidates.

Can we eliminate the bickering and retain (or even improve) the debates? In hopes of finding out, The Annenberg Washington Program in Communications Policy Studies of Northwestern University and the Joan Shorenstein Barone Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government jointly sponsored a conference on "Presidential Debates and National Issues" in February 1993. Campaign officials, debate sponsors, network executives, journalists, political scientists, historians, and a former presidential candidate analyzed what happened in 1992 and discussed potential reforms for 1996 and thereafter. The participants grappled with all the tough issues, including debate formats, press coverage of debates, and the role of third-party candidates.

For both The Annenberg Washington Program and the Shorenstein Barone Center at Harvard, this project grew out of longstanding commitments to improve the links between communications and politics. The Shorenstein Barone Center's publications include the report "Nine Sundays: A Proposal for Better Presidential Campaign Coverage," "Campaign Lessons for '92, Restoring the Bond: Connecting Campaign Coverage to Voters," and "A Report on the Presidential News Conference." The Annenberg Washington Program has published two books on political communications, Media Technology and the Vote: Source Book and New Communications Technologies in Politics. In addition, our two organizations collaborated on a presidential debates conference in 1989.

From the 1952 "Eisenhower Answers America" commercials to President Clinton's 1993 town hall meetings to sell his economic program, television has transformed American politics. Can we hope for better? Edward R. Murrow thought so. Nearly thirty years ago, he said: "This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box." As 1996 approaches, we will continue to try to illuminate the complex, crucial relationships between candidates, the electorate, and television.

Newton N. Minow
Director
The Annenberg Washington Program

Marvin Kalb
Director
Joan Shorenstein Barone Center
Harvard University