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American Politics and the Press: A View from Abroad

Among several peculiarities of the American political system, that of popular participation in the selection of candidates offers a safeguard against, or remedy for, estrangement between the political establishment and the electorate that European countries generally do not enjoy. It also adds length and complexity to the political cam paigns and affects the mode of press coverage. Estrange ment is not rendered impossible, it is made capable of being corrected without an overturning or reconstruction of the entire system. The discovery that such an estrangement had begun to arise led to the recognition of the "Washing ton issue" as an element in the campaign of 1976. In that discovery, the press was impelled to play a part by its realization, beginning in 1968, that the press itself had become dangerously out of touch with the state of mind of a substantial section of the American public. Its attempts to get back in touch led it to identify "Washington" as an issue. The system of attaching political reporters for extended periods to particular campaign beats, a response to the singular characteristics of American political cam paigns, carries dangers of undue dependence on political per sonages, on the one hand, and of avoidable isolation from the general public mind, on the other. A more flexible arrangement is suggested.