BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : SEPTEMBER 11, 2000 ISSUE
BOOKS Unsound Bites EVERYTHING YOU THINK YOU KNOW ABOUT POLITICS...AND WHY YOU'RE WRONG By Kathleen Hall Jamieson Basic Books -- 287pp -- $15 That great American philosopher Will Rogers once observed of a contemporary: ''It's not what he doesn't know that bothers me, it's what he knows for sure that just ain't so.'' Well, University of Pennsylvania communications professor Kathleen Hall Jamieson bears little resemblance to Rogers, but her handbook of political fallacies, fables, and fictions punctures lots of conventional wisdom that just ain't so. Everything You Think You Know About Politics...And Why You're Wrong is a well-researched and persuasive assault on many of the widely held beliefs of media pundits. Among the common perceptions exposed as falsehoods: Elected officials don't keep most of their campaign promises. Candidates lie to voters regularly. Campaign debates are worthless. There's less substantive coverage of campaigns on television than there used to be. Negative advertising depresses voter turnout. Attack ads are used because they work. Voter turnout is lower than ever. In each of these cases--and in more than a dozen more--Jamieson documents how prevailing wisdom is misleading or worse. A couple of Jamieson's chapters are gems. She's particularly effective on the myth that pols don't follow through on campaign promises. Citing historical research, and her own work, she proves that recent American Presidents, including the disgraced Richard M. Nixon, kept a majority of their pledges. Indeed, President Clinton--maligned by foes as a congenital liar--topped the list of promise-keepers, at 69%. But because most political analysts have focused on his broken ones, only 37% of Americans actually believe Clinton was as good as his word. According to the author, Clinton and John F. Kennedy were at the top of this category, while Ronald Reagan was at the bottom. That's certainly not a widespread public perception. Jamieson also disproves the perception that TV's reliance on sound bites from candidates has debased political coverage. Studies indicate that, over the past three decades, network news has in fact trimmed the length of such sound bites. But Jamieson persuasively argues that there is more substantive coverage of politics than ever on the tube. Instead of relying on the evening news, which has been fading in the ratings, voters instead turn to programs such as the Sunday morning interview shows, ABC News' Nightline, and PBS's The News Hour with Jim Lehrer for in-depth and issue-oriented coverage. What's more, 24-hour cable news has made politics more visible on TV than ever before. While Everything You Think You Know is a valuable resource for political junkies, it's not always an easy read. The writing is uneven, perhaps due to Jamieson's use of about a dozen collaborators to co-author some of the sections. Some chapters are laden with academic jargon. Others veer off on tangents only vaguely related to politics (one example: a fascinating study of the racial element in crime coverage by local TV news in Philadelphia). Occasionally, Jamieson's conclusions are debatable or overstated, like when she insists that ''economic conditions will inevitably be central to voter choice.'' Still, in an era in which political coverage is often cynical and jaded, Jamieson's optimistic and idealistic tone is refreshing. If more pundits followed her evidence--rather than their own biases--political coverage in the U.S. would be vastly better. BY RICHARD S. DUNHAM _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS Unsound Bites PHOTO: Cover, ``Everything You Think You Know about Politics...And Why You're Wrong'' INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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