The Sound Bite Society

Richard Nixon hammed it up on "Laugh-In", Bill Clinton hung out on MTV, and talk shows are now regular stops on the campaign trail. Television doesn't just affect politics-it is politics. In The Sound Bite Society , Jeffrey Scheuer argues that the rise of television is responsible for the decline of the American left. Political argument was simplified to quick, telegraphic "sound bites" as it shifted to television, and the more simplistic it became, the more the rules of engagement favoured the right wing. Television's visual and rhetoric conventions are biased towards simplicity, Scheuer claims, making it the perfect vehicle for conservative messages advocating a simpler theory of government that supports personal autonomy, less bureaucracy, and limited regulation.