Survey results revealed a curious paradox: people who saw both the debates between local candidates and the presidential debates were more influenced by the local debates and perceived the local debates as more informative; however, they also saw the presidential debates as more interesting and influential. (PD)

Reports that, for Dutch viewers, the televised debates between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter helped develop a presidential preference, regardless of the viewers' own political orientations, and that the debates may have benefited Carter. (GW)

Studies focusing on televised presidential primary debates include four prespectives. From a historical perspective, televised presidential primary debates have increased slowly from 1956 through 1980. With the 1975 Federal Communications Commission ruling that independently sponsored campaign debates were news events exempt from "equal…

A study analyzed the visual content of the 1984 New Hampshire and California Democratic candidate debates to determine how Jesse Jackson was portrayed by television. The New Hampshire debate was chosen because it offered the first opportunity for Jackson to be heard and compared to the other, more media-prominent candidates. The California debate…

Recognizes the Kennedy-Nixon debate (in which alleged viewer disagreement was unsupported) as the seminal element in support of the position that television may distort the substance of political communications. Argues that although visual cues undoubtedly have potential to influence the perception of candidates, the nature of that influence…

Noting that television debates have become a regular feature of the media politics by which candidates seek office, this annotated bibliography is particularly intended to assist teachers and researchers of debate, argumentation, and political communication. The 40 citations are limited to the television era of American politics and categorized as…