Presidents and Media

Breaking Through the Noise: Presidential Leadership, Public Opinion and the News Media (Stanford University Press) discusses how modern presidents use media strategies, ranging from national television addresses to local news coverage of their domestic travel, to influence the media's agenda and, through it, the public.

Authors Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha, UNT associate professor of political science, and Jeffrey S. Peake, professor of political science at Clemson University, offer a new look at presidential leadership of the media and the public.

They argue that presidents may primarily communicate their policy priorities through news coverage, attempting to "break through the noise" not to change public opinion but to change what issues the public considers important.

They also consider how the public and the media affect the president in return.

 

 

 

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