COLLEGE STATION— The relationship between the presidency and the press has
transformed—seemingly overnight—from one where reports and columns were filed, edited, and
deliberated for hours before publication into a brave new world where texts, tweets, and sound bites race
from composition to release within a matter of seconds. This change, which has ultimately made political
journalism both more open and more difficult, brings about many questions, but perhaps the two most
important are these: Are the hard questions still being asked? Are they still being answered?
In Columns to Characters, Stephanie A. Martin and top scholars and journalists offer a fresh perspective
on how the evolution of technology affects the way presidents interact with the public. From Bill
Clinton’s saxophone playing on the Arsenio Hall Show to Barack Obama’s skillful use of YouTube,
Twitter, and Reddit as the first “social media president,” political communication appears to reflect the
increasing fragmentation of the American public.
The accessible essays here explore these implications in a variety of real-world circumstances: the
“narcotizing” numbness of information overload and voter apathy; the concerns over privacy, security,
and civil liberties; new methods of running political campaigns and mobilizing support for programs; and
a future “post-rhetorical presidency” in which the press is all but irrelevant. Each section of the book
concludes with a “reality check,” a short reflection by a working journalist (or, in one case, a former
White House insider) on the presidential beat.
STEPHANIE A. MARTIN is an assistant professor in the department of communication and public
affairs at Southern Methodist University.