The Research Group of the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center

About the author: The Freedom Forum is a nonpartisan organization in Arlington, Virginia, that promotes freedom of speech and of the press. Its Media Studies Center, located at Columbia University in New York City, is an institute for the advanced study of mass communication and technological change. The Research Group was formed to study the 1992 presidential campaign.

In the 1992 presidential election, candidates and voters seemed to favor "new media" such as talk shows and MTV over traditional media such as newspapers and network news. Journalists and scholars disagree as to why the new media played such a prominent role in the election and whether this will be a feature of future campaigns. According to some, the new media...