"George was very upset. The press was getting to him. During the middle of his presidency it had all started with a New York paper declaring that he had 'aristocratical blood.' Partisan journalists all down the east coast began trashing him. He was labeled a 'king' and one critic went so far as to call him 'the debaucher of a nation.' The list went on and on. . .Yes, George Washington had it bad. The media was persistently attacking him. Eventually, he decided against running for a third term, and the media's coverage was definitely one of his reasons." PA

"George Washington stepped into the presidency just as the press was becoming flagrantly partisan. Not long after he won the nation's first presidential election without opposition, Republican papers began pelting him. Most criticism centered around his aristocratic inclinations, which led detractors to believe he had designs on becoming America's first monarch. When all present stood at one of his receptions, for example, he was accused of wanting to be a king.

A cold, reserved man, Washington rarely dealt with the press personally or aired his displeasure publicly. Instead he vented his spleen in conversation and correspondence. At a cabinet meeting one of his officers mentioned a satirical article he had recently read, and Washington let loose a furious speech of abuse." NY

"Franklin Roosevelt was able to show his latest proposals, which the media disliked greatly. With the help of the radio, Roosevelt was able to convey his ideas to the American public before the press was able to shoot down his ideas." NY

"Harry Truman occasionally lost his temper with journalists and told them so. Kennedy, while less angry, was sufficiently annoyed at the New York Herald Tribune to cancel the White House subscription to the paper. Lyndon Johnson was markedly resentful of unfavorable publicity. In the Nixon administration, Vice President Agnew presumably went out of his way to attack the New York Times and other papers deemed hostile to the administration. But not all presidents were so hostile towards the press. Franklin D. Roosevelt had an informal, affectionate, and humorous relationship with the press, and Calvin Coolidge (was) considerate with newspapermen. I believe that the most critical and influential time in which the media affected a campaign was in the 1976 presidential election, between Democrat Jimmy Carter and incumbent Republican Gerald Ford. Ford, by being 'buddy-buddy' with the reporters, took advantage of the media. For example, on September 7, while Jimmy Carter was in New York and Groton and Philadelphia and Scranton, President Ford was in the Rose Garden with reporters, who were watching him sign a disaster bill. On September 9, while Jimmy Carter was in Carbondale and Springfield and Peoria and Chicago and Milwaukee, President Ford was in the White House press briefing room making several statements. He briefed them (the media) on everything from the death of China's Mao Tse-tung to the signing of the New Hampshire-Vermont Interstate Sewage Bill." NE

"Nixon insisted that the media didn't bother him, and he always acted by his own instincts and judgements, no matter what they said. But Nixon and his staff had five rooms in the White House designated just to go over newspapers, watch TV news, and read magazines. Each day a summary of what the news was saying, what newspapers said, what magazines reported, and what columnists commented was sent to Nixon and his White House administration." OR

"People will just have to realize that if they get in the public spotlight, the media will be there from start to finish. If people in the public spotlight think that they won't be able to take the heat from the media, don't get involved ." TX

"We have all seen the press closing in for the kill. It lurks behind the scenes, waiting for the perpetual victim to fall in the trap, and the victims of the election year are the candidates." PA

"A potential candidate realizes that he has the risk of being publicly humiliated by the media. . . . Does the aforementioned risk discourage potential candidates from running for an office? The answer is, most likely, yes." VA

". . . the media does not favor any candidate that is not a front runner, or in other words, a candidate that is not showing signs of having even a slight chance of winning." KS

"Journalists highlight candidates who are exciting on camera or in print. . . politicians realize that like it or not, they have to operate in a world in which political reality for most people is what television, radio, magazines, and newspapers say it is. They are well aware of the media's power to make life difficult for them, but they also know media coverage brings their messages and personalities to far more people than by any other means. Politicians realize that their relationship with the media is always going to be uneasy and quarrelsome, but it's permanent." PA

"I also believe the candidates should not put on a fake 'Good Samaritan' act during election time." PA

". . . it may just be that the candidate has certain interests in common with the reporter or the candidate may have that thing called 'charisma.' Some candidates may simply be better at keeping themselves in the public eye. Regardless of why a candidate receives more attention, the important thing is that his name becomes widely recognized. This may be the most important aspect of a campaign and whether it be an interview on his political views or a home video of him walking his dog, what matters is his name and/or his face is in the news." OH

"Any politician who ran for a major, publicly-elected office, who couldn't advance his aims through mass media wasn't likely to survive the nomination process, much less a grueling, hard-nosed, mud slinging, election campaign. Or a term of office while being constantly critiqued by both political opponents and the press. Therefore, any aspiring candidate's career would hinge on the fickle forces of print, radio, and television." MD

"The candidates are effected more by the means of presentation by the media than by the actual events themselves." OK

"Paul Tsongas may have had a good chance to win the Democratic nomination for President had the press not yelled "cancer" every time he gained more public support. Throughout his campaign he continued to say that he was in remission and healthy, but the issue never died. So as soon as the media decided that his having cancer was the main point of Tsongas' campaign, his election chance was pretty much ruined. Those two examples show the extreme amount of power the press has over the public's opinions and candidates' futures." IL

"If a candidate tries to avoid all media questions he could find himself on the media's bad side. If that happens, then he could consider the election lost." MA

"The candidates profit directly by effectively using the media. The candidates must be successful in playing the game over which the media rules. Politicians frequently become puppets trying to earn the media's favor. It has been demonstrated in countless elections that if a candidate for national office does not use the media, and use it well, he has little chance of gaining office" OK

"The concern is focused on the candidates' histories and not their futures." NY

"Congressman Peter DeFazio feels like he has a positive relationship with the media. He feels that he gets help from the media. . . . Commissioner Marie Frazier has opposite feelings toward the press.. . . She is usually conservative in her views toward issues, but that isn't shared by the media. When doing a story about her, or quoting her, she isn't usually called first. In articles about Marie Frazier, she is quoted in the beginning but her quote is broken up, it brings different meanings to her views." OR

"In 1970, an unknown millionaire named Howard Metzenbaum ran for the Democratic nomination for Senate in Ohio. He was running against one of America's heroes from the space program, John Glenn. Metzenbaum won that nomination by purchasing enough television time to make his name known throughout the state." OH

"(Clinton) appeared on Donahue as a young Arkansas governor. In 1988, he used The Tonight Show to revive his national hopes after bombing at the Democratic convention. He was the first of his baby-boom television generation to run for President. His chief media advisors were not the typical political handlers; instead, they were Harry and Linda Thomason, two of his oldest Arkansas friends, who were now prime-time television sitcom producers. . . When things got rocky in the New York primary, he went on Donahue and answered questions from call-in viewers and the studio audience. Shortly before the Democratic convention, he held a national town meeting and answered call-in questions. On Donahue he held a face-to-face debate with Jerry Brown. This was considered one of the best debates of the year. That's when politics met daytime television and found a new ally. . . (Bush) believed that presidents don't just appear on talk shows. Instead, according to CBS correspondent, Lesley Stahl, Bush had an enemies' list, people he wouldn't conduct interviews with. This list consisted of Dan Rather, Bryant Gumbel, Tim Russert, George Will, and Peter Jennings. This list, in my opinion, had a negative impact on Bush's campaign, because it robbed him of national airtime on programs millions of Americans watch every night, the national news." MA ÿ