Public Opinion During the Watergate Crisis

Mass media are considered by many observers as the major distinguishing feature of modern society. Individuals who live in media-rich environments can expect to be increasingly de-pendent on media; and the more successful media, in turn, can expect to become increasingly efficient, at providing content geared to their audiences. In terms of such a process, the mass audience would tend rather slowly to have their basic political beliefs and attitudes shaped as a result of exposure to single stories or messages in the mass media, but would probably shift in line with long-range themes or meta-messages resulting from repeated media political coverage. Thus, only now can we begin to grasp what may be the important long-term impacts of television on political life in America-the shifting of interest away from local affairs to national affairs-the conveying of a skeptical-if not cynical-portrayal of the political process, and