Abstract
The American citizen has evolved as a well-behaved political spectator, keen towards national affairs. The combination of an authoritative presentation style on behalf of the network news organizations and a lack of thorough coverage on citizen activist groups has cultivated a pacified audience that is both content to watch the world turn at a distance and unaware of how capable they are in affecting that world. I believe that this political disengagement is in large part due to (or at least amplified by) the manner in which network news is conferred onto the public and therefore my hypothesis is that as viewers become exposed to more coverage of citizen organizations and activist groups, they will in turn feel and eventually become more involved and active in the realm of politics. The experimental design to test this hypothesis will examine if more coverage of active, ordinary citizens on the evening news will lead to a surge in political engagement.
