| This thesis is a two-part project. The primary component, the film (see video online), Votermentary, explores how voters engaged in the 2008 presidential election by retelling stories, gaffes and sharing memories of the presidential primaries, the news coverage and the general election from their perspective. The secondary component, this paper, supplements the qualitative nature of the film with a quantitative analysis of voters' news information consumption habits regarding the 2008 presidential election as a measure of their political engagement. The film illustrates that the 2008 presidential election was a true, long media event and, instead of dissuading participation, all of the hype, candidates, twists and turns enticed voters to stay engaged and wanting more. This was, in large part, due to the relatively easy accessibility to election news information through a variety of media sources (Internet, TV, Radio, friends, Newspapers, etc) by voters. Given the easy access to multi-media platforms and, in particular, news information about the election, the American public seemed to become addicted to the 2008 election in a multi-media fashion and that was hopefully captured in Votermentary.;Key Words: 2008 Presidential Election, political engagement, voting, news media. |
