Decline and Fall At the White House

Abstract

To isolate the long-range effects of Watergate media exposure per se, regression analysis was used to control for the pre-Watergate levels of political effect variables and usual levels of communication behavior. Data were obtained from a longitudinal study of younger and older voters measured during the political campaigns of 1972 and 1974 and in the midst of the Senate Watergate (Ervin Committee) hearings in 1973. The results show little effect of the amount of attention to the broadcast hearings. In contrast, the reading of the accounts of these early hearings in the print media had substantial impact In addition, print exposure and discussion of the Senate hearings had more effect on the young voters, while usual levels of public affairs newspaper reading and the motivations for using the media appear to have had greater consequences for the older voters.