Harper's Magazine: Down the Tube Television, turnout, and the election-industrial complex

As Trevor Potter, the former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, explained to me, “You went from a handful of firms to a vast playing field with people all over the country, with enormous sums of money being spent — and being spent by people who are unsophisticated in the ways of politics.” ...

As Trevor Potter observes, this titanic influx of cash presents a major conflict of interest, since the networks are simultaneously “supposed to be doing news reporting about spending and what’s going on in the world of politics.” 

To read the full article at Harper's Magazine, click here.