Remote Control

There's a theory of corporate management that goes like this: Grapevines flourish when traditional channels of communication become clogged — when the boss is inaccessible or when workers, dismayed by what they perceive to be deceptive rhetoric (''Read my lips!''), are starved for information they can believe. The theory continues that the best way to learn what's really what is to bypass the corporate communications types who guard the boss' door and ask the boss what's what directly; the next best way is to get a buddy to do the asking while you listen in on the answer.

You see where this is going. Thanks to the unprecedented reach and range of TV (our electronic grapevine), a nation of buddies frustrated with the state of the union, turned off by traditional presidential politics, and dissatisfied with traditional coverage of the same, are making crucial political decisions this election year by directly talking to, listening to, and watching the candidates on cable shows, syndicated shows, talk shows, morning shows — a whole new platform of discourse. The candidates, looking for fresh ways to communicate with skeptical voters (and, no small incentive, to dodge the kinds of tenacious questions Dan Rather & Co. ask), are largely bypassing the corporate communications guys — in this case, network anchors Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, the whole early-evening network universe — and taking their stories directly to Phil and Arsenio and Larry and Katie. One statistic of the times: The combined rating for network evening news shows is 56 percent of viewers, the lowest in more than 30 years.

The results have profoundly changed the shape of our politics and our political coverage. Morning TV, talk TV, and late-night TV are our new rally sites. And the candidates, it seems, are everywhere, every day, without once packing an overnight bag or making a local stump speech. As Clinton adviser and University of California at San Diego political science professor Samuel Popkin puts it, ''(The new TV campaigning) is like the New Hampshire primary, where the candidates can afford to spend six months having coffee with (voters). This is like having coffee with the candidates.''

So far this year, Democrat Bill Clinton has taken his story to Phil Donahue and Arsenio Hall and a bunch of kids at MTV and all three network a.m. shows. Almost-candidate Ross Perot declared his almost-candidacy on CNN's Larry King Live and talks grandly about his dream of an ''electronic town hall,'' in which, as President, he would bring issues directly to the electorate via interactive TV. Even President Bush, campaigning for a second term, has talked to CNN, Barbara Walters on 20/20, and CBS This Morning. The real, postconvention race hasn't even started, but already media history has been made. Wielding remote controls and asking smart questions about important issues, they — we — have changed the company rules as if we owned the company. Which, of course, we do.