UC San Diego

Only recently have a small vanguard of news and cultural studies scholars begun to challenge the idea (prevalent in news, communications and political communication scholarship) that serious news provides a kind of ne plus ultra form of democratic communication, while all other nonfiction forms provide a lesser, and many would argue, politically deleterious form of information to the public. To date, few scholars have taken up the study of media texts that fall into unfamiliar new categories that have been dubbed "nonfiction entertainment" or "popular journalism." Yet Pew Center research surveys released in 2000 and 2004 demonstrate that these nonfiction entertainment forms are a campaign information source for an increasing number of Americans, particularly the young. This dissertation examines the TV talk show interviews with the presidential candidates in the 2000 election to consider them as modes of democratic communication, to identify what kind of content is discussed and how the interviews differ from one another in intent, method and outcome. I discuss the interviews with Gore and Bush conducted by Oprah, Queen Latifah, Rosie O'Donnell and Regis, as well as the interviews conducted by David Letterman and Jay Leno. While the interviews differ enormously one from another, it is clear that these interviews not only merit attention because they are being used by American voters, but because some of them provide useful forums through which to view the candidates and a challenge to the notion that professional journalism is the preferred way to present political information to the public