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This article argues that television has reduced the burdens of citizenship for the average American and that that reduction is dangerous. Television does all of this by overwhelming viewers with the sights and sounds of governmental life and by supersaturating them with political information. All too often, however, this tumult creates in viewers a sense of activity rather than genuine civic involvement. In addition, television constantly tells the story of specific persons in specific situations, thereby producing a kind of highly individuated, cameo politics that distracts viewers from common problems and public possibilities. Television does this work, and much more, in a highly entertaining fashion and is often genuinely informative. But television also produces an overwhelming passivity in viewers even while making them feel politically involved. The article argues that the American polity needs real, not hypothetical, involvement if it is to meet its civic obligations.

Argues that TV has dangerously reduced the burdens of citizenship for the average American by overwhelming viewers with the sights & sounds of governmental life & by supersaturating them with political information. It is contended that this creates in viewers a sense of activity rather than genuine civic involvement. Further, TV constantly tells the story of specific persons in specific situations, producing a highly individuated, cameo politics that distracts viewers from common problems & public possibilities. Although TV does this in a highly entertaining fashion & is often genuinely informative, it also produces a passivity in viewers even while making them feel politically involved. Such hypothetical involvement, it is suggested, will not help the US polity meet its civic obligations. Adapted from the source document.

Content analysis of 412 Time magazine articles, 1945-85.

This article describes the people's voice in American politics by contrasting it to those of the nation's leaders and the working press. Based on a content analysis of all three actors (with letters to the editor serving as a stand‐in for the citizenry), we find the people situated midway between politicians and the press. Citizen‐writers show greater rhetorical optimism than media operatives but not as much as White House aspirants. Citizens also complain about politics, but it is the management of their buoyancy that makes them special. By understanding the people's voice, the roles of politicians and the press become eminently clearer.