Sunday, February 12, 2012

THE MADE FOR TV PRESIDENT - ELECTION NIGHT COVERAGE - NBC NEWS - CIRCA NOV.8, 1960



If you ever have wondered how the ballot you cast,behind the curtain of a voting booth in your hometown, winds up as one digit among millions on a television network's, election night,graphic display, I suggest that you click on the video posted below.While it details the process of gathering election night data circa 1960, the premise has not changed , even if the protocols have evolved for news in the digital age.

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I posted that video, from MSNBC, as a way to help bring the conventions of election coverage into sharp, if monochromatic, focus.

The 1960 race for the Presidency of the United States was a Templar of the challenges we faced as America entered a new and hopeful decade, that was viewed my most to be filled with promise and fraught with problems.

Two young candidates , Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon, representing almost diametrically opposed visions for this country's future, would engage in ground-breaking debates. These contentious confrontations were not distinguished by the eloquence of the exchange or the substance of the ideas advances, but because it all unfolded on LIVE television for the first time in history.

On election night, two accomplished and aggressive, television news divisions faced-off in a high voltage, high intensity battle for the hearts and minds of American TV viewers.

It took until the morning of Wednesday, November 9th to determine that John Kennedy , son of an affluent Massachusetts family and war hero, would serve as the 35th President of the United States.We now know that his time in office, referred to by many as Camelot,would end in the angry retort of gunfire on a November day in Dallas, Texas, 3 years later.

NBC NEWS won a mandate from the television audience on election night, as well. A virtual, ratings landslide set the course for NBC NEWS to dominate political coverage for years to come.


Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, NBC's weeknight anchor team, head the election night team. Supported by the latest television technology that NBC's parent company, RCA could supply and an incredible team of correspondents, producers and technicians, NBC's smart, engaging and literate coverage stands as the model for election night production to this day.

From the DAVIDVONPIEN1 YOU TUBE site, enjoy NBC NEWS coverage of Election Night 1960!!

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