The Paul Lazarsfeld Award: Best political communication paper presented at the 2002 APSA Annual Meeting

The Committee reviewed the papers from the 2002 APSA Annual Meeting and identified four finalists (in alphabetical order):

1. Matthew Baum, "Making Politics Fun: What Happens when Presidential Candidates Hit the Talk Show Circuit"

2. Michael G. Hagen, Richard Johnston, and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, "Effects of the 2000 Presidential Campaign"

3. Todd M. Schaefer, "Targeted Globally, Covered Locally: Mediated Terrorism in a Comparative Context"

4 . Claes deVries, "The Effects of Strategic News on Political Cynicism, Issue Evaluations, and Policy Support"

It was a difficult choice because these were all very strong papers, but in the end we selected "Making Politics Fun," by Matthew Baum.

Baum imaginatively mines NES and other data to make it clear that talk shows play a significant role in decision making among a key segment of the voting public: the inattentive, less-knowledgeable, and non-partisan citizenry. Baum's results are provocative, showing that talk shows matter because they allow candidate character to emerge through relaxed conversation, free from some of the troubling aspects of journalism (such as a focus on the horse race).

The paper sets an example for research heading where other scholars say Political Communication needs to move: beyond news to other sources of information. One member of the committee characterized it as "a warning signal to all of us." The growing body of work in the field of politics and entertainment media should receive much more attention in the future.

The Paul Lazarsfeld Award for the best paper on political communication presented at the 2002 APSA Annual Meeting goes to Matthew Baum for "Making Politics Fun."

Submitted by Kevin G. Barnhurst

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