ELON COLLEGE – Issues related to media coverage of politics are explored in two policy guidebooks recently edited by Laura Roselle Helvey, assistant professor of political science at Elon College.
The books, “Democracy on the Air” and “Television & Elections,” were published in November by the DeWitt Wallace Center for Communications at the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University. The books feature a foreword by President Jimmy Carter.
“The guidebooks are designed to examine the advantages and disadvantages of diverse policy options and to provide examples of how these policies have worked in practice in a number of different countries,” Carter wrote. “It would be difficult to overestimate the important impact television and radio have on the democratic process”
“Democracy on Air” consolidates three previous guidebooks, Helvey said. “The book relates experiences of different societies in several countries,” Helvey said. The book is divided into three sections: television autonomy and the state, television and elections and television/radio news and minorities.
The second guidebook, “Television & Elections” is an update and examines television coverage of elections in the 1990s. “It looks at countries in transition and how television was used during elections in those countries.” It also explores the issue of free time for candidates, paid political advertising, debates and regulations.
Helvey said the books are used worldwide by political and media decision-makers. They have been translated into several languages.
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