Politics, a minor form of show Business ?

Résumé du document

Politics and politicians have an important place on the news and in the newspapers. And not only the core and serious political pieces of news are known, the attention is also focussed on all the politicians private life and scandals. So, politics has become a form of show business or TV show with new episodes, sexual scandal, divorce, and support from Hollywood celebrities. Where does this change come from? Who is responsible? Should the media or the politicians be more responsible and careful on this disturbing trend?

Extraits

[...] By this way, they are hoping to convince reluctant voters by gaining the support of celebrities who have a larger popularity than them. But having the support of famous actors does automatically leads to the victory. In 2004, John Kerry has had, like Obama, the support of almost all Hollywood celebrities and still loose the presidential contest against George W. Bush. (Bestani .2008) Although by insisting more on the personality, on the private life and / or on the celebrities supports of the politicians rather than on their ideas, the political debate has become less concentrated on ideas, programs and projects. [...]

[...] When they will be fed up of politicians replacing their political project by celebrities support, of learning more about their leader's private life than about what is really going on, maybe it will lead to a shift because politicians will have to find a new way to attract voters and media to gain audience. But maybe it will not happen, and politics will become a major form of show business. And according to Jay Leno, “Politics is just show business for ugly people”. [...]

[...] Politics has become a form of show business, and politicians just like actors or rock-stars are present in the media, their life are exposed. television era advantages celebrities because these individuals are adept at using the medium, are photogenic, and are very good at attracting media coverage. As the culture has moved toward the glorification of celebrities and the line between Hollywood and Washington has become blurred.” (West, n.d) That is why they learned to use the media to promote their political projects or even themselves. [...]

[...] For the politicians, the aim is to appear as normal people, just like their electors. They want to proof that they are trustworthy and that they have nothing to hide. So, successfully dealing with the media has become an huge advantage in the political life, for instance John Major, the former prime minister in the United-Kingdom was always criticized by the media : Major was portrayed routinely in all sections of the press as weak, boring, incompetent and shallow. (Beckett, 2008). [...]

[...] In the same way that stock markets have rules to prevent avalanches of panic selling, news organisations should consider creating structural methods of diversifying their coverage even in times of intense political and cultural scandal. These structural provisions [ . ] must come from within media organisations themselves.” (Balkin, 1998) On my opinion, media should be more responsible. And politicians too. Politicians' private life should not be totally hidden, because they are public personalities and it demands a certain transparency. But what is a real threat to the democracy is that more and more attention is focus on their private life instead of on their political decisions. [...]