ABSTRACT
Until the early 1970s the power of the media, especially the press and video media, was still not fully understood. Certainly politicians were already using the media in their campaigns, which required raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for advertising, but that was just an advanced version of handing out political Àyers. There was a slight indication of what was to come in the video media industry in the ¿rst ever televised presidential candidate debates in 1959, when John Kennedy debated Richard Nixon. Kennedy came across as being photogenic and quick witted, while Nixon came across as awkward and stumbling. These debates were generally considered quite signi¿cant in the victory of John Kennedy. At that time, and for several years thereafter, politicians still did not have a complete grasp of what the media meant to politics, namely how important it was for shaping reality.
