Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Sept. 29, 1988, edition 1 / Page 12
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4OmnibusThursday, September 29, 1988 The Chapel Hill Season begins Saturday, Oct. 22 8 pm, Memorial Hall UNC-Chapel Hill with World-renowned pianist Barry Douglas 8 P V 3 Under the direction of Gerhardt Zimmermann, Barry Douglas will perform: Brahms: concerto No. 2 in B-flat major for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 83 Hanlon: On an Expanding Universe World Premiere. Dvorak: Slavonic Dances, Opus 46 Season Subscriptions Season tickets for Chapel Hill's five concerts are now on sale through Oct. 22.. 5 " i m Gil Moigenstern Violinist Nov. 19 Jaime Laredo Cole Porter. Violinist April 16 Celebration cy wir.-STonp.iiOYD - Staff Writer Televised presidential debates have come a long way since Kennedy-Nixon In i960. Then the issues were overlooked, and a bad makeup job and a strate gically placed camera made Nixon look like a pasty white shifter. Of course, he may have been a shifty character, but there is no reason to come across like one on TV. Directors know better than that. Today we focus more on the Issues. Yeah, right! in their first debate, the issue . that won the night for Mondale in 1984 was that Reagan came across as old. Big issue. The next time a Reagan adviser fiddled with the lights and Walter, eyes in shadow, looked like a raccoon. So all the president had to do was Andre Watts Pianist Feb. 23 i r. . Eric Knight Conducting April 28 To order subscriptions or single tickets For subscriptions call Rebecca Ballcntine at 929-1771. Single tickets can be ordered at The Village Bank; WCHL Radio; The Intimate Bookshop & Record Bar both locations. Tickets also are available at the door. not act senile T wont make an issue out of my opponent's youth and inexperience," or something like that became the sound-bite of the season. in 1988 we are no better. The debate over the debate lasted . for months. Everyone worried how his candidate would look on TV. Dukakis had the immediate advantage coming in. He was elevated to equal with the vice president of the United States. He was also literally elevated with a lower podium and a small "riser." - Who won? The analysts are saying it was Dukakis. But "who looked better on TV?" is more the question than who actually won. Television as a medium is unique because it is often only a distrac tion for its viewers. Therefore a long detailed explanation by a candidate can be lost on an Inattentive audience, and the other candidate can make the same charge which was rebutted earlier with equal affect For example, Vice President Bush explained that Panamanian drug-runner General Manuel Noriega had been involved with seven previous administrations and it was Reagan's who indicted him. Yet, knowing television's inability to relay detailed infor mation to most of its viewers, Dukakis was able to assert later that Reagan-Bush deait with a Panamanian drug-trafficker, with equal audience response. it Is the nature of television not to be issue-oriented. The viewers must be entertained, and a detailed discussion of how a deficit Is created wont do it in the past Dukakis has been hampered by his proclivity for corns Hallmark & Party Shop TX-t-vm C iJhJi oc- fnrr A 77 frm Helium Balloons Leis Stationery Gifts ' Cards Bring in ad forFBEE gift with purchase! (limit one gift per visit) CORA'S HALLMARK 15-501 and West Franklin St at Eastgate Shopping Center Chapel Hill, N.C. 968-1413 discussing obscure policies, and the entertaining sound-bites of Bush have propelled him into the lead. This desire to be entertained caused the candidates to coor dinate their decisions with TV in mind. Knowing that nothing earth-shattering was going to happen at the Republican National Convention, Bush waited until then to choose his running mate. Having no news to entertain their viewers, the networks took the Dan Quayle National Guard issue, and ran withit But that is the nature of television. Whether you do it by pursuing Gary Hart or by hoping the United States will win a lot of gold medals, you have to entertain. And Sunday night the entertainment was slim for non politicos. People saw two stereo types on TV. The non-leading second-in-command and the diminutive unknown, who also wants to be president is this bad? Not necessarily. If a candidate can break a stereo type, than that should show considerable power. Our presi dents leadership with the rest of the world will be via television, and the better he handles him self in this" medium, the better he should look to the world, look at Mikhail Gorbachev. He looks like a nice, honest guy on TV, and we cant even speak Russian. He is currently giving a more positive image to Europeans than is our president You know, the "Great Communicator" Ronald Reagan. So, even though issues are the main thing, dont underestimate the importance of doing well on television. ClVvr? C f SHOP HI VJSk mi PLRTY ; i (jMi gtffijlttLgj:
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Sept. 29, 1988, edition 1
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