Television and local elections: a descriptive study of selected 1970 Fresno County, California, campaigns

The purpose of the study was to describe the content of the television material used in the campaigns, the method of securing and scheduling television time, efforts to attract "free" news coverage, and overall campaign strategy, 'while empirical judgment of the effectiveness of the campaign or individual messages cannot be made, the opinions of candidates and their advisors are offered as indications of the effectiveness of the television campaigns. A review of previously published material relating to the study will be discussed in Chapter 2, as well as the extent of television use in 1970 California Assembly and State Senate general election campaigns. Subsequent chapters will deal with the methodology employed in gathering information for the study, and descriptions of, and conclusions about, television use in the selected campaigns. As a preface to this study, a brief examination of the development of American political broadcasting serves as a means of establishing the relationship between the electronic media and the political process.