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PERSPECTIVES
ON P O LI T I C A L
COMMUNICATION
IN AFRICA

EDITED BY
BRUCE MUTSVAIRO
BESCHARA KARAM
Perspectives on Political Communication in Africa
Bruce Mutsvairo · Beschara Karam
Editors

Perspectives
on Political
Communication
in Africa
Editors
Bruce Mutsvairo Beschara Karam
School of Communication Department of Communication
University of Technology Sydney Science
Sydney, Australia University of South Africa
Pretoria, South Africa

ISBN 978-3-319-62056-5 ISBN 978-3-319-62057-2 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62057-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017950711

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights
of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction
on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and
information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication.
Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied,
with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have
been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published
maps and institutional affiliations.

Cover illustration: Peter Adams

Printed on acid-free paper

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature

The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 I should like to dedicate this book to the residents of Imbali
(Pietermaritzburg, circa 1988–1992), and especially the Imbali Support
Group, who, during the height of apartheid and the violent civil war in
Natal, and under the most atrocious conditions, showed me enormous
kindness and taught me that true humanity transcends colour, race,
culture, and even politics. I am forever in their debt.
Beschara Karam
 Acknowledgements

Special thanks to our reviewers (in alphabetical order) for taking their
time to peer-review these chapters for us:

Kelvin Chikonzo
Ronesh Dhawraj
David Katiambo
Mark Kirby-Hirst
Rofhiwa Mukhudwana
Musawenkosi Ndlovu
Julie Reid
Babalwa Sibango
Tendayi Sithole
Stefan Sonderling

vii
 Contents

Part I Conceptualising Political Communication

in the Digital Age

1 Key Developments in Political Communication in Africa 3

Bruce Mutsvairo and Beschara Karam

2 Theorising Political Communication in Africa 27

Beschara Karam

3 Split: Missing the Master Signifier in the Role of the

Media in a Democracy: The Tension between the ANC’s
President Jacob Zuma and the Media in South Africa 45
Glenda Daniels

4 Hashtags: #RhodesMustFall, #FeesMustFall

and the Temporalities of a Meme Event 61
Pier Paolo Frassinelli

ix
x    Contents

Part II Emergent Narratives: Complex and Contradictory

Attitudes between Media and Politics

5 Determinants of Participation in Political

Communication in Uganda’s Broadcast Media:
Implications for Women 79
Emilly Comfort Maractho

6 Mapping Zambia’s Press Freedom Trajectory:

A Longitudinal Study Examining Parliamentarians’
Perceptions of the Media 95
Twange Kasoma and Gregory Pitts

7 At War: Government and Media Tensions

in Contemporary Kenya and the Implications
for Public Interest 113
Sam Kamau

8 Communicating Politics and National Identity:

The Case of Mozambique 129
Gisela Gonçalves and Stélia Neta João Mboene Mapanzene

Part III Online and Offline Mapping of Interactive Politics

and Media

9 Digital Media and Political Citizenship: Facebook

and Politics in South Africa 145
Tanja Bosch

10 Framing the Debate on ‘Kagame III’ in Rwanda’s

Print Media 159
Margaret Jjuuko

11 ‘Us’ versus ‘Them’: Exploring Ethno-Regional

Contestations in Nigerian Political Communication 173
Mercy Ette
 Contents    xi

12 Romancing the Media: A Critical Interrogation

of Political Communication in Presidential Elections
in Kenya 189
George Nyabuga and Wilson Ugangu

13 Fake It till You Make It: The Role, Impact

and Consequences of Fake News 203
Ylva Rodny-Gumede

Part IV Local Politics in a Globalised World

14 Political Communication in a Regressed Democracy:

An Analysis of Political Party Advertising Campaigns
in Zimbabwe’s 2008 Harmonised Election 223
Tendai Chari

15 Interviews with Ivorian Political Journalists:

Examining the Political Role of Local and Foreign
Journalists during Ivory Coast’s 2010–2011
Electoral Crisis 239
Jeslyn Lemke

16 Political Communication in Ghana: Exploring

Evolving Trends and Their Implications
for National Development 255
Africanus Lewil Diedong

Index 269
 Editors and Contributors

About the Editors

Bruce Mutsvairo is an Associate Professor of Journalism Innovation at

the University of Technology Sydney. His previous books with Palgrave
Macmillan are Palgrave Handbook of Media and Communication
Research in Africa (2018), Digital Activism in the Social Media Era:
Critical Reflections on Emerging Trends in Sub-Saharan Africa (2016)
and Perspectives on Participatory Politics and Citizen Journalism in a
Networked Africa: A Connected Continent (2016). He holds a PhD from
Leiden University, The Netherlands.
Beschara Karam is an Associate Professor in the Department of
Communication Science, at the University of South Africa (UNISA)
and teaches political communication and film studies. Beschara co-
wrote the White Paper on Film in 1996, which served as the basis for
the conceptualisation and implementation for the National Film and
Video Foundation. She has published on censorship and film, represen-
tation and the media, gender and the media, trauma, counter-memory,
post-memory and the artist William Kentridge. Beschara is on the edito-
rial board of the accredited journal Image/Text. She is the co-founder
of the community engagement project Landscapes of Cinema: Hearing
Our Voices, Screening Our Cultures, which screens and presents seminars
about African trauma, memory and post-colonialism. Beschara was an
anti-apartheid activist in Imbali, Pietermaritzburg and its surroundings

xiii
xiv    Editors and Contributors

at the height of the state of emergency, in the middle of the civil war
in KwaZulu-Natal (then Natal). She also served on the Executive
Committee of the Black Sash during that time. Beschara also wrote and
introduced the first South African undergraduate political communica-
tion module in 2001.

Contributors

Tanja Bosch completed her undergraduate studies in English and

History (BA, Hons) at the University of Cape Town, before working in
the local film and community radio sectors. She is currently working as
Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town. Tanja completed her
MA in International Affairs with a specialisation in Communication and
Development Studies while a Fulbright Scholar at Ohio University, where
she also graduated with a PhD in Telecommunications. Her PhD dis-
sertation was awarded the US-based Broadcast Educational Association
(BEA) Outstanding Dissertation Award in 2004. Tanja is former
Programme Manager and Station Manager of the local community radio
station Bush Radio. She has also worked as a consultant for UNESCO
community radio stations in Jamaica and Trinidad, and as consultant and
trainer for various South African community radio stations and NGOs.
She currently serves on the board of Fine Music Radio 101.3 FM, where
she also presents a World Music programme. Tanja conducts research
and has published in the following areas: community radio, talk radio
and citizenship, health communication, youth and mobile media, iden-
tity and social networking. She holds a C National Research Foundation
(NRF) rating and is currently involved in several collaborative interna-
tional research projects, including the EU-funded Media, Conflict and
Democratisation project (http://www.mecodem.eu/).
Tendai Chari is a lecturer at the University of Venda, South Africa.
Tendai holds a PhD from Wits University, South Africa. Previously, he
lectured at the University of Zimbabwe (where he was Coordinator of
the Media Programme in the English Department), Zimbabwe Open
University (ZOU), National University of Science and Technology
(NUST) (Zimbabwe) and Fort Hare University (South Africa). He
is widely published in the field of media studies and specialises in
political communication, media ethics, and new media and poli-
tics. His publications have appeared in the Journal of African Media
 Editors and Contributors    xv

Studies, African Identities, Communicatio: South African Journal for

Communication Theory and Research, Ecquid Novi: Journal of African
Media Studies and the Journal on Media and Communications. He
co-edited the book African Football, Identity Politics and Global
Media Narratives: The Legacy of the FIFA 2010 World Cup. He served
as Chairman of Zimbabwe Television (ZTV), as a board member of
Zimbabwe Broadcast Holdings (ZBH) as well as a member of the Media
Commission (MIC) in Zimbabwe.
Glenda Daniels is an Associate Professor in Media and Democracy at
the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Glenda has been a
journalist in the print industry for over two decades, having worked for
most of the big print media companies, starting off her career as a trainee
in 1990 at the Weekly Mail. Prior to that she was an anti-apartheid activ-
ist and student leader serving in the executive of the Black Student
Society at Wits University in the late 1980s. Her last stint in the news-
room was at the Mail & Guardian, as amaBhungane’s first advocacy co-
ordinator in 2011–2012. She served on the Right2Know’s first national
working group in 2011–2012. She joined Wits Journalism as co-ordina-
tor/author of State of the Newsroom in 2012. In 2015 she joined Media
Studies. Glenda is commissioning editor at Fesmedia on media freedom,
freedom of expression and access to information issues. She is also chair
of the South African National Editors’ Forum’s (Sanef) Diversity and
Ethics committee.
Africanus Lewil Diedong holds a PhD in Social Communication
from the Gregorian University in Rome, Italy. Africanus is an alumnus
of the Ghana Institute of Journalism. At present, he is a senior lecturer
at the University for Development Studies and the Editor of the Ghana
Journal of Development Studies. He is a member of the International
Association for Media and Communication Research, a former fel-
low of the International Study Commission on Media, Religion and
Culture as well as a recipient of an International Award for Excellence
in Communication. His areas of research include: media and democracy,
media ethics and journalism education, development communication,
media–religion–culture, community radio broadcasting, media education
and pastoral communication. He is the author of the book: Responsible
Journalism and Quest for Professional Standards in Ghana (2016). Dr
Diedong has authored several papers and chapters in peer-reviewed jour-
nals, books, newspapers and magazines in Ghana and overseas.
xvi    Editors and Contributors

Mercy Ette is a senior lecturer in Journalism and Media at the

University of Huddersfield, UK. Mercy holds a PhD in Communication
Studies from the University of Leeds. She worked as a journalist in vari-
ous positions for several years in Nigeria and in the United Kingdom.
Her research focuses on media and democracy, news framing, gendered
mediation and political communication.
Pier Paolo Frassinelli is Associate Professor and PhD coordina-
tor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of
Johannesburg. Pier Paolo has lived in Italy, England, Ireland and, since
2003, South Africa, where he first came to take up a position as Andrew
W. Mellon post-doctoral fellow at the University of the Witwatersrand.
His publications and teaching cut across traditional disciplinary bound-
aries. They span critical theory, post-colonial and de-colonial studies,
translation, and culture, communication and the common. He is Book
and Film Reviews editor of Journal of African Cinemas.
Gisela Gonçalves (PhD in Communication Sciences) is Professor and
Head of the Department of Communication and Arts at the University
of Beira Interior (UBI, Covilhã, Portugal). Gisela develops her research
activity at LabCom.IFP—a Communication, Philosophy and Humanities
research centre. In 2014 she was elected vice-chair of the Organisational
and Strategic Communication section of European Communication
Research and Education Association (ECREA). Her current research
interests are public relations theories, communication ethics and govern-
ment communication. Her work has been published in a wide range of
public relations and communication management journals and in various
edited collections.
Margaret Jjuuko is affiliated to the School of Journalism and
Communication, University of Rwanda, where she teaches Journalism,
Media and Communication studies. Margaret holds a PhD and MA in
Journalism and Media Studies from Rhodes University, South Africa and
a BA of Mass Communication from Makerere University, Uganda. Her
current research interests are in media textual production and audience
reception analyses; gender, environmental social justice, political and cor-
porate communications in African contexts.
Sam Kamau is a Media and Communications scholar at the Aga Khan
University, Graduate School of Media and Communications, with
over nine years’ experience in academia. Sam previously taught at the
 Editors and Contributors    xvii

University of Nairobi’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication

for eight years. His teaching and research interests include political com-
munication, digital journalism, communication research and theory,
new media technologies, social media and blogging, among others. He
has experience and expertise in curriculum development, research, stu-
dent mentorship, teaching and corporate training. He has also served as
a research consultant for several organisations, besides conducting com-
munication training programmes for different groups and clients. As a
researcher specialising in new media technologies, Sam has researched
extensively on youth, social media and political participation and the
impact of digital technologies on journalism. His research has been well
received in local and international conferences. Sam is also a regular con-
ference speaker and a media critic offering commentary and analysis on
different contemporary topics in the local media.
Twange Kasoma is a professor in the School of Communication
at Radford University in Virginia, USA. Twange teaches a variety of
courses in media and communication studies, which include news writ-
ing and reporting, specialised journalism and communication theory.
Prior to joining Radford, she taught at Emory & Henry College (also
in Virginia), where her legacy included establishing a successful study
abroad programme. This involved taking her students to Zambia and set-
ting them up with internships with Zambian media. Her research inter-
ests include media and politics, professionalism and ethics among African
journalists, and the role of the media in African society.
Jeslyn Lemke is a doctoral candidate in the School of Journalism and
Communication at the University of Oregon. Jeslyn has taught inter-
personal communication and public speaking at Eastern Washington
University. She worked as a freelance journalist for several newspa-
pers in eastern Washington including the Spokesman Review, the
Inlander and the Lewiston Tribune, and as a full-time general assign-
ment reporter for the Whitman County Gazette in Colfax, WA. In 2008
Jeslyn worked as an intern journalist for the International Mission
Board in Ivory Coast and, in 2005, lived for six months on the coast of
Senegal studying French and writing articles for her college newspaper.
Her areas of interest include development communication, community
journalism, participatory action and social media use in Third World
nations.
xviii    Editors and Contributors

Stélia Neta João Mboene Mapanzene has worked in the Public

Relations department of the Ministry of Economy and Finances of
Mozambique since 2006 and in 2015 Stélia was appointed National
Director for Institutional Coordination and Image. She has a degree
in journalism (Coimbra University, Portugal) and an MA in Strategic
Communication (University of Beira Interior, Portugal). She has
just finished her PhD in Communication Sciences on the theme of
Mozambique political communication and Guebuza’s open presidency,
at the University of Beira Interior.
Emilly Comfort Maractho holds a BA (Hons) in Development Studies
from Makerere University; an MA in Development Studies from Uganda
Martyrs University; an MA in Communication and Media Studies from
Daystar University, Kenya. Emilly is a PhD Candidate at the University
of KwaZulu-Natal, Centre for Communication, Media and Society
(CCMS). She has been a lecturer at Makerere University since 2005
and has also taught at Uganda Christian University. Maractho’s research
interest is communication, gender and development with specific focus
on institutional, legal and policy frameworks within the governance
agenda. She teaches development policy science, media law and policy,
and governance and development, in addition to research methods.
Her doctoral thesis is titled Media, women and public life in Uganda:
Interrogating representation, interaction, and engagement. Maractho
is part of the College of Instructors on Advanced Research Methods
offered by the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research
(PASGR) in conjunction with the Institute of Development Studies
(IDS), University of Sussex, Brighton (UK). Her latest publication is
‘Local governments and primary education in Uganda’, IDS Bulletin,
48(2), March 2017.
George Nyabuga is currently a senior lecturer at the School of
Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Nairobi. Prior to join-
ing the University of Nairobi, George was the managing editor in charge
of weekend editions and media convergence at The Standard Group
in Kenya. He is the author of, among other works, Click on Democracy:
Uses and effects of the Internet on Kenyan Politics (2009) and co-edited
with Wambui Kiai The Media in Kenya: Evolutions, Effects and Challenges
(2011). Nyabuga’s research interests include the sociology of journalism,
new media, journalism and media theory, and comparative media systems.
He has a PhD in Media, Politics and History from Coventry University.
 Editors and Contributors    xix

Gregory Pitts is a professor and director of the ACEJMC accredited

School of Journalism at Middle Tennessee State University. Prior to
this, he chaired the Department of Communications at the University
of North Alabama, where he achieved the programme’s initial accredi-
tation by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and
Mass Communication (ACEJMC). Gregory is the past recipient of two
Fulbright appointments and two Fulbright Specialist appointments. He
is Director of Faculty and Student Programs for the National Association
of Television Program Executives (NATPE). Active memberships include
the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
(AEJMC) and the Broadcast Education Association (BEA).
Ylva Rodny-Gumede is Professor in the Department of Journalism,
Film and Television at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa,
and a Senior Associate Researcher with the Stanhope Centre for
International Communications Policy Research at the London School
of Economics. Ylva holds a PhD from the School of Oriental and
African Studies, London University as well as an MA degree in Politics
from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and an MA in
Journalism from Cardiff University in the UK. As a former journalist, her
research mainly focusses on investigating journalism practices, particu-
larly with regard to the role and functions of the news media in the post-
colony.
Wilson Ugangu is currently senior lecturer in Media Studies at
Multimedia University in Kenya, where he also holds the administrative
position of Associate Dean, Faculty of Media & Communication Studies.
He has written and researched extensively on Kenya’s and Africa’s media
and attendant issues of policy, democracy and participation, training and
research. His research focus includes media and communication policy
in developing societies, media and culture, international communication,
comparative media studies and media theory. Wilson has undertaken var-
ious consultancies in the broad area of communication for various organ-
isations such as UNESCO, UNIFEM (United Nations Development
Fund for Women), IDRC (International Development Research
Centre), ASARECA (Association for Strengthening Agricultural
Research in Eastern and Central Africa), the Friedrich Ebert Foundation
and the Media Council of Kenya, among others. He has received per-
sonal Institute of International Education (IIE) grants from the Ford
Foundation to research various issues, including studying media trends
xx    Editors and Contributors

in Kenya and Uganda and an assessment of media reportage of Kenya’s

elections in 2013. In 2012 Wilson led an initiative for the Climate
Change Agriculture and Food Security programme (CCAFS) that uti-
lised local language radio as a tool for enhancing knowledge and dia-
logue in communities coping with climate change. He received a DLitt
et Phil in Communication Science at the University of South Africa in
2013.
 List of Figures

Fig. 4.1 The statue of Cecil John Rhodes is readied to be removed

from the upper campus of the University of Cape Town
(April 2015) 66
Fig. 4.2 Word cloud referring to a data set of 3180 tweets
from @RhodesMustFall 70
Fig. 4.3 Word cloud referring to a data set of 1332 tweets
from @WitsFMF 71
Fig. 5.1 Representation by gender 84
Fig. 5.2 Sources of news by gender adapted from the Uganda
Radio Network (URN) 84
Fig. 6.1 Support for media regulation via a press council in 2015 103
Fig. 6.2 Support for media regulation via a press council in 1997 104
Fig. 6.3 Support for media regulation via a press council in 2005 105
Fig. 6.4 Percentage of members of parliament supporting increased
press freedom in 2015 106
Fig. 6.5 Support for increasing press freedom in 1997 107
Fig. 6.6 Support for increasing press freedom in 2005 108
Fig. 6.7 Do parliamentarians agree that news coverage by various
media outlets is fair and balanced (n = 74; numbers
do not add up to 100%)? 109

xxi
 List of Tables

Table 9.1 Political parties in parliament and their Facebook popularity 150
Table 9.2 Top 4 political parties by Facebook popularity 151

xxiii
 PART I

Conceptualising Political
Communication in the Digital Age
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
“YOU WASN’T HERE AND YOU KNOW THEM AS WELL AS I
DO.”
 THEY NOMINATED EVERYBODY BUT
THE FOUR HORSEMEN
As I pen you these few lines, the Democratic National Convention is
still going on; going on to where, nobody knows. But it has to end
some time for even a Delegate can only stand just so much Oratory.
All the first week was taken up with seconding the nomination of
McAdoo and Al Smith.
It looked like they were going to run out of people to do it, and they
would have to second each other.
I wish you could have been there and heard what great men we
have in this Country. We started out with 16 men for President. Here
is what each one of them was.—“The only Man who can carry the
Democratic Party to a Glorious Victory in November. Whose every
act has been an inspiration to his fellow men. Not only loved in his
Home State but in every State.” Well, there was six continuous days
of that.
Then the Ku Klux Klan argument come along, and really it was
welcome even in New York. Just to get people’s mind off that
continuous, “The Man I am about to name to you.”
One day and up to two thirty in the Night they fought and argued the
Klan. It was the most exciting and Dramatic night I ever saw in my
life.
After 11 hundred Delegates voted and recounted and voted the thing
stood only about one vote apart, in fact a fraction of a vote, due to
North Carolina, instead of having an election and naming 24
Delegates, just letting the whole State come as Delegates and giving
each one the usual Volstead Ratio, Half of one percent of a Vote.
Alaska voted one Klu Klux away up there. Can you imagine a man in
all that Snow and Cold with nothing on but a thin white Sheet and
Pillow Slip?
My old Friend W. J. Bryan made one of his characteristic speeches.
He said that if they split the Democratic Party with this Klan issue
that another great Party would arise to take its place. Some guy up
in the Gallery started Booing him. He just stopped and waited a
minute until the heckler quit, then he said: “But no great leader of
any Party has ever come from the Gallery.” After that they laid off
him.
Ex-Secretary of War Baker made a Speech on the League of
Nations and spoke of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse, meaning I
suppose, Borah, La Follette, Johnson and Brookhart.
I arrived late one morning, well only about 15 minutes late, and they
had nominated five men for president already. I asked a Man in the
Press stand who they were and he said, “You wasn’t here and you
know them as well as I do.”
I had a friend who wanted to be nominated but all the nominating
speakers were so given out that he had to let it go until next Election,
that is in case they ever have another one.
If the one who is nominated can only swing the votes of the ones
who were defeated he will give Mr. Coolidge a tight race.
Talk about Presidential Timber. Why, man, they had whole Lumber
yards of it here.
There was so many being Nominated that some of the Men making
the nominating Speeches had never even met the man they were
nominating.
I know they had not from the way they talked about them.
Every time the speaker nominated somebody, why the Band would
strike up what they thought was an appropriate tune. The bird
nominated Gov. Brown of New Hampshire kept talking and referring
to “The Old Granite State. That Glorious old Granite State.” When he
finished the Band played “Rock of Ages”. There was granite for you.
They nominated from a list of all Democrats. They drew them out the
night before the convention.
Some Man named Stuart from Illinois got up to nominate somebody,
and we knew we would hear something about Lincoln being born in
Illinois, and sure enough we did. He kept quoting Lincoln’s famous
remark about, “God must have loved the common people because
he made so many of them.” Well this Bird kept talking about his man
being for the common people, and he flopped terribly. You are not
going to get people’s votes nowadays by calling them common.
Lincoln might have said it but I bet you it was not until after he was
elected.
The fellow that nominated Charley Bryan from Nebraska was the
only truthful one. He said, “I am going to nominate a Politician,” You
know nobody at these things dare mention Politician. Matchless
leader or successor to Jefferson are about as low as they ever
mention. This fellow told how Bryan had lowered the price of
Gasoline in Nebraska. And a crowd of people was seen to leave the
hall. I think it was John D. Rockefeller and his Bible Class.
In the Charley Bryan demonstration staged by Nebraska, Florida
joined in out of brotherly love.
When Bryan was presented the Band played “Way down Yonder in
the Corn Field.”
When Jimmy Cox was Nominated the band played, “Should Old
Acquaintance Be Forgot.” Jimmy Cox is a mighty fine man, But I
don’t know of any quicker way in the World to be forgotten in this
Country than to be defeated for President. A Man can leave the
Country and people will always remember that he went some place.
But if he is defeated for President they can’t remember that he ever
did anything.
Smith’s Demonstration lasted one hour and a Half. McAdoo’s almost
as long. But most of them just managed to last through a verse and
one chorus by the Band.
Matthews of New Jersey nominated Gov. Silzer also of New Jersey.
He made a plea for him on the ground that he came from the same
state that President Wilson did. That don’t mean anything. Look I
come from the same state that Harry Sinclair did. Yet I couldn’t find
an Oil Well without a search warrant.
His principal plea for Silzer was on the Highways of New Jersey. So
if people west of the Mississippi and down south want a President
who will keep the Roads of New Jersey up in good shape you can’t
do better than have him.
A guy from Utah talked so long and loud that all of us couldn’t see
how it could be anybody in the world he was nominating but Brigham
Young that Matchless Father. But at the finish he crossed by saying
he was seconding McAdoo’s nomination.
You could never tell until one got through who he was going to
name. They would pull the name last. That would be the only
surprise they had.
Quinn of Minnesota throwed the biggest scare into the Convention.
He praised his man so high that everybody in the hall knew it
couldn’t be anybody but La Follette but he fooled us all by seconding
Smith. In his talk he never spoke of anything east of St. Paul and in
Smith’s travels he has never been west of Syracuse. So you see for
yourself how hard it was to follow who they were going to name.
IN THE MIDST OF A 7 YEAR HITCH
WELL, I GUESS YOU HEARD ABOUT MY PRESIDENTIAL
BOOM.
 IN THE MIDST OF A 7 YEAR HITCH
Well, I guess you heard about my Presidential Boom. You know
every calamity in the World befell the Democrats while they were
here in session the last couple of years. First they started in
nominating. The entire first week was taken up with that. They
nominated so many Democrats that if it had kept up another day
they would have had to go over into the Republican Column. They
talked their Delegates and audience to death the first week. No
wonder they couldn’t agree there was no two Delegates that could
remember the same Candidate.
Well, it ran along week after week and the longer it ran the more
confused the Delegates got. They began to get this Convention
mixed up with the San Francisco one, because it had been so long
since they left home, why, both Conventions seemed about the same
distance off. One Delegation got to voting for Cox thinking it was
’Frisco. The Chairman had no more than got that straightened out
and explained to them that this was an entirely different year when
what does my Native State of Oklahoma do! They woke up the
Chairman of their Delegation right quick one day to answer Roll Call
and he blurts out, “Oklahoma votes 20 for Robert L. Owen.” Well, the
chairman had to explain to them that this was not 1920, and that Mr.
Owen was not a Candidate, he was only a Delegate. The Missouri
Delegation, when they could not get any two to agree, voted for two
days for Champ Clark, until Telegrams commenced to pour in telling
them of his demise.
Nebraska voted for Bryan, and got sore when the rest of the
Convention thought it was W. J. They said it was a Son or a Brother
or something of his. Mississippi and Louisiana started voting for my
old friend Pat Harrison and Pat’s Bottle run out, and they found an
old Hoffman House Hotel Register, and from that on they just voted
for the names on it.
Alabama was the only State that you could absolutely depend on. It
seems that years ago Alabama sent a Delegation to some
Convention instructed for a Candidate and that when they got there
they sold out and voted for another. So they have passed a Law that
any time they send a troup away again that they were going to vote
for the man they told them to until the Candidate’s body had been
duly pronounced dead by the Home Coroner. Well, that knocked any
chance of profit out of this trip as far as Alabama was concerned.
La Follette, out in Cleveland, wrote a Platform, held a Convention,
nominated himself, and went home. All this happened during the
time they were polling the Illinois Delegation here at this Convention.
Women Delegates started in with Bobbed Hair and wound up by
being able to sit on it. One Woman sent back home for her washing
machine. The Arkansas Delegation started in whittling up the Board
floor and whittled their way from the Back of the Hall up to the
Speaker’s Platform. There was so many shavings under their Chairs
that if a fire had ever broken out in the building, between these
shavings and the long Whiskers, why, there would never in the World
have been a way to stop it. There was one old long bearded Man
from Utah, that when the voting on the Klan got close shook 4
Delegates with half a vote each out from under his Whiskers and
decided the issue right there.
All the members of the National Committees had Gold Badges to
start in with. The thing had only gone along a few weeks when they
commenced to turn green and finally you couldn’t tell whether it was
a Badge or a Shamrock.
It’s too bad because all the Delegates here will lose their votes when
they go home this Fall. The law plainly states that you must have
been a resident of the State for the last 6 months. If they were not
thoughtful to register when they come to New York, they will lose
their votes entirely.
Lots of the Delegates also had Wives who were Delegates, and this
has been the longest time they ever spent together in their lives. I
bet you will never see another Man go on a Delegation to a
Democratic Convention when his Wife is on one. South Carolina has
no Divorces, so of course this Convention gave all their members a
chance to get out of the State, claim a residence of 6 months, and be
divorced before they get home.
Now, mind you, as I pen these lines this thing is still going on. It’s
Monday morning of the third week. I don’t know now who they will
nominate. In fact people have lost interest. If they ever do nominate
somebody some of the Papers may carry it and you may know it by
the time you read this, but I doubt if he will even be nominated by
then. If he is, it will be too late to get his name on the Ballot by
November, as the racing Forms have already gone to press for the
November Classic. I am certainly glad that La Follette entered. That
will give Coolidge somebody to run against, anyway.
 THE DEATHS FROM OLD AGE AMONG THE DELEGATES IS
ABOUT OFFSET BY THE BIRTHRATE.
If they don’t hurry up they will be the only Party in the World that ever
nominated a Candidate and got him defeated on the same day.
In number of Population the Convention is holding its own. The
deaths from old age among the Delegates is about offset by the
Birthrate. Personally I think that the Candidates who will finally be
nominated will be born in this Convention.
I have been writing a daily account for the Papers for this seven
years’ Hitch. I took it for so much for the job. If I had signed by the
word I would be able now to walk by and hiss Rockefeller.
In 1860, the Almanac says, a Democratic Convention was moved
from Charleston to Baltimore. There is nobody here in this
Convention to verify it, so I doubt if it ever happened. But, anyway,
they talked for two Days about moving this one, on account of it
being held here in New York where one of the Candidates lives.
Well, they got to figuring and there was no Town they could take it to
that didn’t have a Candidate who lived there.
Of course their thoughts naturally turned to Claremore, Oklahoma,
the best Town between Foyil and Catoosa in Oklahoma. Then when
Arizona showed such splendid judgment in putting me in nomination,
why of course we couldn’t go there on account of the Galleries there
being biased in favor of my nomination. Then they figured they might
just as well stay here. Everybody had got used to the place, and if
they moved them they would just have to get used to sleeping in
strange chairs again, and maybe by a different seating arrangement
they might be sleeping next to some one they didn’t even know. It
meant really a lot of trouble, anyway, opening up new credit
accounts and getting used to a different Climate.
I want the Democrats to just pass this election by without getting
beat and then center all their forces on 1928. Cal. will be ineligible
then, unless they may pass a Constitutional amendment to elect a
President for life—and he is so lucky they are just liable to do it. But
if he is out, the Republicans will have to get a new man too. Then it
will be an even break.
But go ahead with this Convention and pick him now. In fact I would
pick out three or four to run in rotation in 1928, ’32, ’36, and so on,
because you will never get Democratic Delegates to give up the best
part of their lives by attending another one of these things. If they are
wise today down there they will pick Jackie Coogan, for President
and Baby Peggy for Vice President.
 “WILL ROGERS JR.” REPORTS THE
CONVENTION FOR HIS FATHER,
WORN OUT BY LONG SERVICE
(Mr. Rogers’ articles on the Convention attracted more attention than
perhaps any other humorous political articles. This one, in particular,
brought him comments from all over the country.—The Publishers.)
 “WILL ROGERS JR.” REPORTS THE
CONVENTION FOR HIS FATHER,
WORN OUT BY LONG SERVICE
Will Rogers Jr. attended the convention to take up the
duties of reporter to replace his venerable old father.
By WILL ROGERS JR.
Papa called us all in last night and made his last will and testament,
he called it. He said he had carried his work on just as long as he
could and he realized that he was unable, on account of his old age,
to go further with it. He put in the will that I being the oldest was to
take up his life’s work, that of reporting the Democratic National
Convention.
He herded us all and told us of how he had given all the best years
of his life to this and out of respect to his name and memory that we
children should carry on. And that our children were to do likewise
and that we should raise them to always know that their mission
through life would be to keep reporting the progress of the
Democratic National Convention at New York. And it was in the will
that if we didn’t we would forfeit any claim to any royalties that might
still be coming due from books that he had written on the early life of
the convention.
Mama wants to send him to the Old Men and Old Women’s Home for
Survivors of this Convention, but he won’t go. Poor Mama is worried
about him. He won’t talk rational. He just keeps saying, “Alabama”
and “for what purpose does the gentleman arise,” and “if we can’t
elect our candidate we will see that you don’t get yours” and “unfit”
and “release.” We don’t know what it all means.
Now, Mr. Editor, I am only a little boy and I am not much of a
reporter, but Papa told us we didn’t have to be very good; that all we
must practice was endurance. But you will, Mr. Editor, please take
my story, won’t you for Mama’s sake, for she knew how poor Papa
hated to give up and how proud he will be if I can only keep his life’s
work going?
Mama got our Dad’s old press badge and patched it up so it would
stick together and I went down today. The hall was full of all those
feeble people and it looked kinder like a church; everybody was
sleeping. All but one man, who was standing and reading aloud out
of a geography the names of States that are situated in the Western
Hemisphere and that don’t belong to Canada.
Papa had given me an old worn and torn paper with a list on it that
he had used to mark off the numbers on when this convention
started. He told me to always keep it for comparisons. Also that a
museum had tried to buy it from him. I go to school and our teacher
had told us what a wonderful country this is we live in, and how it
had stuck so well together and, sure enough, when this man kept
reading these names and figures, why, on Dad’s old paper were a lot
of the same ones.
I kept waiting for him to call out the name “Wisconsin” that Dad had,
but this fellow didn’t have it on his, and according to Dad’s old paper
we at that time had California and anybody knows that Japan has
owned California for years. On Dad’s old paper they still had the
Philippine Islands, which is now Japan’s Naval Base. But as for the
candidates, the names were just the same. None of them had
dropped out. Their sons were carrying on their father’s life work too,
trying to hold what votes they had. Saulsbury Jr. had six. Underwood
Jr. had a few more than what was on Dad’s paper, as the State of
Alabama had more population and had naturally increased its
number of delegates.
An old man sat by me and I got to talking to him and he seemed to
want to be friendly and talk of his early life. He said his name was
Coogan. “Jackie Coogan,” I think he said, and that he used to be in
some old fashioned things called moving pictures, and that he could
remember as a child when this started that men used to be wakened
up and have to call out the numbers when their States were called.
But now they have little phonographs and every time a State is
called, why the phonograph says “Two and nine eighths for Smith Jr.
and one and sixty-five fifths for McAdoo Jr.” and so on.
A man has a hammer and he couldn’t keep them awake with it any
longer so they adjourned, and the attendants wheeled them all out. It
was only about three o’clock in the afternoon and they were to be
back again at nine. I went home to tell Pop what had happened and
to write my story. He said, “It’s looking better, son; they are
adjourning earlier and starting later. Maybe the miracle will happen,”
and his old eyes began to gleam as he seemed to vision the end of
his glorious dream.
Then I told him very enthusiastically, “Oh, yes, Pop, it looks great
because a man with a family name of Brennan got up, and one
named Cramer, and said they would adjourn and hold a conference
of leaders and would have something to report by tonight.”
Well, I wish you could have seen my poor old Dad. He went into
spasms. He pulled his hair. He raved. None of us could do anything
with him. He had been all right before I had mentioned this leader
and conference business. He then said:
“Son, those same men’s fathers started holding those conferences
forty years ago. Going to report something to the convention tonight?
That is exactly what is the matter with this convention now, it’s those
conferences. If they had let the delegates confer instead of the
leaders, why, your poor old father could have spent a life of
usefulness instead of one listening to a man read off numbers, which
we all knew better than he did.
“Son, if it’s the Taggarts and Rockwells and Macks and Cramers and
all of them that are conferring, you will die, like your poor old father,
right at your post, listening for something to happen.”
So please, Mr. Editor, take this story, and tomorrow, when I come
home to dear old Dad, I will make him feel good. I won’t tell him they
are going to hold another conference.
ROPING A CRITIC
 ROPING A CRITIC
Prologue—These critics have been interviewing Actors (and us other
people that appear on the stage) for years. And none of the
interviews have ever been right, cause they never told the truth.
Course they couldn’t tell the truth about a lot of us, if they had he
would have put us out of business. But they tried to be so kind to us
and tell all the noble deeds that at the finish we had lost more friends
than we had gained by the interview.
Now there is nothing interesting in an Actor but his act and you can
get it at the box office price. This season you won’t even have to
form in line. If you can get a party of three to go with you you can get
a rate.
But I figured there was something interesting about a Critic. Why,
there are scientists that spend a life time studying a Toad.
Now, I might not find out as much as these Toad experts but I am
going to look one of these Critics over at short range for about an
hour—as Actors have got plenty of time—we are not bowing much
nowadays.
So I picked out the Male of the Species as they are not as venomous
as the females. I picked out Ashton Stevens, principally on account
of him being frail of statue and because I had seen his name one
time on an Ash Can for endorsing a Wintergarden Show.
Act I. DRESSING ROOM COLONIAL THEATER.—Enter Stevens
made up as Critic. Gray suit, leather buttons, Black Felt Hat on
upside down (same one Dick Little used to wear), middle finger of
each hand calloused from knocking Actors. Smoking Pipe which is
against all Theater rules, but on account of being critic managers
can’t say anything. The smoking really wasn’t as bad as the
Tobacco.
I started in to interview him and he started in like an Actor by lying.
So I stopped him right there and said: “Say, this is not a theatrical
interview. I am representing the Public and I want the real dope on
Critics.”
Q—Where were you born? Even a Critic has to be born.
A—I was born in San Francisco in 18—.
Q—Never mind when you were born—the reading public can tell by
your jokes how old you are. Why were you born?
A—No answer.
Q—Well, if you can’t think of a reason neither can I, so we will let
that question go. Did Frisco ever find out that you were born there?
A—Yes.
Q—Is that why you left there?
A—No answer.
Q—When did you first show symptoms of becoming a Critic?
A—When I had lost my job at everything else.
Q—Didn’t you tell your folks and didn’t they have anything done for
you to cure this?
A—I was afraid to tell them.
Q—Who gave you your first job Criticing?
A—William Randolph Hearst.
Q—Why did he give it to you?
A—He heard me play the Banjo.
Q—He heard you play the Banjo and gave you a job as a Critic. I
suppose if he saw me throw a rope he would make me a Society
Editor?
A—Oh, but it is not for my Banjoing that he keeps me now, its for my
writings.
Q—Oh, he has forgot that you taught him to play the Banjo—that’s
why you still work for him?
A—No, its my writings. You see he took me from Frisco to New York
and put me on the New York Journal.
Q—Now you say he took you there as Critic. Don’t you really think
he might have been getting a little rusty on the Banjo and needed it
tuned?
A—No, I stayed there 4 years.
Q—What happened at the end of 4 years, did you all run out of
Tunes, or did you break the Banjo or what?
A—No; then he promoted me to Chicago.
Q—You felt that you had taught him all you knew. Did you bring the
Banjo out here with you?
A—Oh, yes I have it; I will bring it over now and Show you how I
play.
Q—Never mind bringing it over now or any other time. We will drop
the Banjo until some time you feel you want a change of jobs. You
can take it over to Medill McCormicks and teach him. He could at
least amuse the other Senators with it and perhaps make you Editor
of the Tribune. Now to get back to Criticing. What makes a Dramatic
Critic?
A—Two Free Seats a Night on the Isle.
Q—Is it true that it is the only business in the World with absolutely
no qualifications?
A—Yes; next to being a comedian with a Ziegfeld Show its the only
thing that requires no training.
Q—Is it true that Dyspepsia is necessary to being a Critic?
A—Yes; its more prevalent now since the Movies come in.
Q—Don’t you think that Prohibition has lowered the Standard of
Dramatic Criticism?