Julian Zelizer: Is America Tuning Out Capitol Hill?
[Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of "Arsenal of Democracy: The Politics of National Security -- From World War II to the War on Terrorism" and of a book on former President Carter, to be published next fall by Times Books.]
At my local gym Thursday, one of the television sets showed the live CNN broadcast of Rep. Henry Waxman questioning BP CEO Tony Hayward about how so much could have gone wrong.
The problem was, most people at the gym weren't watching. Some of them were tuned in to the other television sets on the wall that broadcast the World Cup. Yet others had their eyes glued to the music video stations that play continuously throughout the day near the Nautilus machines.
The runners on the treadmills had their eyes on the small television monitors on their equipment, each set on the particular show that interested them -- in most cases, not news channels. Near the coffee bar, two men spoke to each other as each stared down at their Blackberries, oblivious to the hearings showing right over their head....
In 1966, Sen. William Fulbright of Arkansas, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, dragged members of President Lyndon Johnson's administration before his committee to expose some of the weaknesses that were only starting to become apparent in the administration's Vietnam policies.
Although the networks were hesitant to give up lucrative commercial space, the head of CBS News, Fred Friendly, concluded the public should see the debate. On one day when a prominent official testified before the panel, Friendly canceled profitable sitcom reruns of "I Love Lucy," "The McCoys" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show" in the morning and daytime soap operas and game shows in the afternoon. And if people didn't see the hearings, they certainly saw a clip on the evening newscasts.
The hearings were a turning point in the Vietnam War. Criticism about the war, which had been confined to college campuses, started to spread into middle-class, suburban homes....
Read entire article at CNN.com
At my local gym Thursday, one of the television sets showed the live CNN broadcast of Rep. Henry Waxman questioning BP CEO Tony Hayward about how so much could have gone wrong.
The problem was, most people at the gym weren't watching. Some of them were tuned in to the other television sets on the wall that broadcast the World Cup. Yet others had their eyes glued to the music video stations that play continuously throughout the day near the Nautilus machines.
The runners on the treadmills had their eyes on the small television monitors on their equipment, each set on the particular show that interested them -- in most cases, not news channels. Near the coffee bar, two men spoke to each other as each stared down at their Blackberries, oblivious to the hearings showing right over their head....
In 1966, Sen. William Fulbright of Arkansas, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, dragged members of President Lyndon Johnson's administration before his committee to expose some of the weaknesses that were only starting to become apparent in the administration's Vietnam policies.
Although the networks were hesitant to give up lucrative commercial space, the head of CBS News, Fred Friendly, concluded the public should see the debate. On one day when a prominent official testified before the panel, Friendly canceled profitable sitcom reruns of "I Love Lucy," "The McCoys" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show" in the morning and daytime soap operas and game shows in the afternoon. And if people didn't see the hearings, they certainly saw a clip on the evening newscasts.
The hearings were a turning point in the Vietnam War. Criticism about the war, which had been confined to college campuses, started to spread into middle-class, suburban homes....