The New World of Electoral Politics and What it Means: an Introductory Essay

• Citation: Vol. 4 No. 0
• Publication year: 2017

The New World of Electoral Politics and What It Means: An Introductory Essay

Reuben Guttman

Paul J. Zwier
Emory University School of Law

THE NEW WORLD OF ELECTORAL POLITICS AND WHAT IT MEANS

An Introductory Essay

It has been sixty-six years since the election of 1960 ushered in television as a controlling medium in presidential races, while opening the era of the sound bite. Somewhere along the way, or so it seems, the sound bite became more important to journalists and voters alike than the rigorous analysis of issues typically found in the printed words of newspapers and magazines.

Fast forward to the 2016 election, and innovation has changed the landscape of electoral politics once again. The Internet, the sixty-six-character tweet, and YouTube are now the controlling mediums; we have entered an era where everyone is a journalist. Just as George Eastman's mass marketing of the first Kodak camera in 1888 turned millions of consumers into photographers, pocket phones have turned the masses into reporters. Anyone can post/tweet a message, photo, or video across the globe. Events are recorded and reported in real time.

Amateur journalists have documented the joys of life and brought attention to the dark underbelly of society with harsh videos, revealing the sometimes violent and discriminatory treatment of...