November 28, 1988

Jeff Greenfield, political reporter for the ABC News television program, Nightline, spoke on campus, discussing television coverage of the 1988 presidential election. Greenfield said he doubted that television coverage had caused the “negative campaigning” used by candidates George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis. “Nothing I say,” Greenfield said, “is meant as an excuse or justification for the kind of coverage that was put on this campaign.” But, he declared, “television has changed American politics less than most people think it has… and… television has less to do with who wins than is commonly understood.”

The Miscellany News