Mass Media and Politics have a mutual dependency on each other. Mass media began as a provider of important governmental issues in a non-partisan way, but has now shifted into providing entertainment news in the form of scandals. These scandals date back to the days of JFK and Marilyn Monroe, and have only gotten more extreme and numerous from then on. Watergate was a true scandal worth reporting at its time; it was a real scandal that resulted in real consequences (the resignation of Nixon). Today, it seems as if there is a new scandal every week, and these stories can make or break a political career. Being in the digital age, we are obsessed with getting up to the minute news and we want every detail (of the entertainment news, at least) possible. People can't wait to hear how many vacation days the President has taken, or what kind of dog will the First Family adopt. Unfortunately, this is what the news media has come to, and it is nothing but a distraction from the real issues going on in government. This new form of entertainment news has put even more of a spotlight on politicians and candidates, and is forcing them to take a responsive approach during their campaigns and time in office. During Bill Clinton's time in office, the digital age was just beginning, and he felt the full effect of its power with the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The public craved information on the scandal, and the news media was pretty much forced to air this information or they would lose viewers to a station that would. Scandals have become the norm in the news media, and like I said earlier, it is taking away from real issues that are going on. On a side note, I was switching back and forth between CNN and Fox News this past week, and all they were talking about was Miley Cyrus' performance at the VMA's. Based on watching the news, you would never know that we were almost $15 trillion in debt or that we are on the verge of intervening in Syria.
As I said, the news media can make or break a political career. Regardless whether the information is true or not, if the media talks about it, people will believe what they hear without doing their own research. A perfect example of information ruining a political career was during the 2012 Republican Presidential primaries, with candidate Herman Cain. The news media flooded the airwaves with a scandalous story that Cain had multiple affairs on his wife. Cain denied all allegations and it got to be too much for him and his family that he withdrew from the race. Eventually, Cain came out and said the affair was true, and that his wife knew nothing of the 13 year relationship until the media came out with it. Whether you supported Cain or not, this kind of event is unfortunate because it could be taking away good politicians from holding office. This is a prime example of the media fishing for a scandal story. Here is a link to the timeline of events for the Cain scandal: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2068817/Herman-Cain-admits-DID-cash-affair-woman-Ginger-White.html . On the other hand, some politicians are ignorant enough to feed the media a story. In 2011, Congressman Anthony Weiner tweeted a picture of his "manhood" to a woman he was seeing on the side. At first, Weiner denied that it was his picture and said his account got hacked, until multiple women came forward with stories and evidence of Weiner sending them inappropriate pictures and messages. When a politician is stupid enough to make his private life public, he cannot expect the media to do anything less. He was forced to resign from office in 2011. Recently, Weiner tried to get back into the political arena by putting his name on the mayoral ticket of New York City. The media has had a field day with bringing up Weiner's past scandals during this election. Weiner came out with statements that bashed the media for their actions towards him. You can read his remarks here: http://news.yahoo.com/weiner-trashes-the-media-for-focusing-on-his-sexting-scandal-000943506.html . He has no one to blame but himself, and he knows that, but he wants the media to focus on his political platform rather than his personal life. While I couldn't agree more because I think we should focus our attention on what a candidate stands for on issues, he made the story public by tweeting pictures. If a candidate is going to do these kinds of scandalous activities, he should do it in a private manner rather than over a social media site. This is another great example of the media taking a story and ending a political career.
The intersection between the news media and politics has never been more prevalent. With the advancements made in technology during the digital age, stories can be broken to the public in a matter of minutes. And unfortunately, the media cares mostly about viewership numbers, and the best stories that receive the most attention are scandal stories.
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