Breaking through the noise
Subtitle: presidential leadership, public opinion, and the news media
By: Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha and Jeffrey S. Peake
Contributors: Peake, Jeffrey S., 1970- author
Series: Studies in the modern presidency; Studies in the modern presidency
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Stanford, California
Language: eng
Number of pages: 251
ISBN-13: 9780804777056; 9780804777063
Copyright date: 2011
Subjects: Public relations and politics; Political leadership; Press coverage; Presidents; Communication in politics; Public opinion; Press and politics; Government and the press
Description: "Modern presidents engage in public leadership through national television addresses, routine speechmaking, and by speaking to local audiences. With these strategies, presidents tend to influence the media's agenda. In fact, presidential leadership of the news media provides an important avenue for indirect presidential leadership of the public, the president's ultimate target audience. Although frequently left out of sophisticated treatments of the public presidency, the media are directly incorporated into this book's theoretical approach and analysis. The authors find that when the public expresses real concern about an issue, such as high unemployment, the president tends to be responsive. But when the president gives attention to an issue in which the public does not have a preexisting interest, he can expect, through the news media, to directly influence public opinion. Eshbaugh-Soha and Peake offer key insights on when presidents are likely to have their greatest leadership successes and demonstrate that presidents can indeed 'break through the noise' of news coverage to lead the public agenda."--Publisher's Web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-235) and index.
Table of contents: title: Presidential leadership; title: Theoretical framework and organization; title: A focused strategy of presidential leadership; title: A sustained strategy of presidential leadership; title: Going local as a leadership strategy; title: Leadership and responsiveness in the public presidency.