8 Ways to Sunday

The major broadcast networks have been scaling back their live coverage of political conventions for some time now, a trend that will continue this year. An Associated Press story published yesterday suggests that their nostalgia for the nomination drama of conventions past may be blinding them to the news value of modern conventions.

The American institution of the political convention originally came about as part of an effort to democratize the selection of each party’s presidential nominees. Early in American History, nominees were chosen in secret back-room caucuses by members of Congress. The advent of the party convention allowed the nominations to be made by delegates chosen by party members at the state or county level. The process would eventually be altered even further, bringing about today’s system of primary elections.

Even with their nominating function stripped away, conventions continued to serve as a hub of debate and deal-making in the effort to unify a party’s political platform. This ended with the era of television: with every floor debate, interruption, and protest beamed directly into millions of American living rooms, the parties could no longer afford the image of disunity and chaos the conventions projected. Modern political conventions are essentially commercials for the party and its nominee, media events streamlined and staged specifically to take the party’s message to voters and promote party pride and unity. The headlining speeches are invariably scheduled for prime-time viewing.

So does anything newsworthy still happen at political conventions? Many old-time news hands like Dan Rather say no, but the AP article cites a differing opinion from some of the younger members of the news media:

Stage-managed or not, the conventions are still a gathering place for the nation’s political leaders and are where parties set the themes that will carry through the fall campaign, [PBS’s Jim Lehrer] said.

The last convention where real news was broken about the nomination process came in 1980, when Ronald Reagan briefly flirted with the idea of taking former President Ford as a running mate, said George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC News’ “This Week.”

Yet Pat Buchanan’s angry speech in 1992 made news and, Stephanopoulos said, Walter Mondale probably sealed his defeat in 1984 when he said during his acceptance speech that he would raise taxes.

“In 1988, when… George Herbert Walker Bush said, ‘Read my lips, no new taxes,’ he pretty much won the 1988 campaign and lost the 1992 campaign with one single speech,” he said.

Amy Goodman, whose “Democracy Now” radio show is producing a two-hour daily TV report about the conventions that will be available by satellite, said the networks aren’t looking beyond what is scripted for them.

I have to agree with this analysis. The conventions continue to have value as a platform from which the major parties and their nominees can articulate their political stances and values to the American voters. Besides, with that many big egos in one place, with so much media attention and such high stakes, you never know what may happen. For those that feel the same and are disheartened by the broadcast networks’ shortage of convention coverage, you can still find extensive live coverage on cable news networks such as C-SPAN, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News.

The Democratic National Convention is being held July 26th thru 29th in Boston. The Republican National Convention is August 30th thru September 2nd in New York City.