Politics and Media

         Mass media in today's society has become almost like a branch of the government in a sense.  There are the presidential debates, press conferences, public announcements, etc, which are essentially pseudo events.  They happen in the sense that they physically take place, but are fake in that they try to portray a certain reality that is not realistic.  For example, the presidential debates that are televised are real to the point that people are actually at the televised location, but the debate is not true to what a debate really it about and lacks the time needed to do so.  This example in particular puts the focus on the candidate's ability to look good physically and verbally, but does not put much emphasis the intellectual content or the real issues that are important to helping the country.  This led to John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama getting elected.  These political events allow those in politics to have a direct link to the public and control to some degree the information what reaches the masses in the United States.
        The interaction of the politics and media has another side.  That is the side of regulation, which involves mass media and the FCC (Federal Communications Commission).  This involves the big media giants all the way down to those individuals who make their own media available to the public.  The FCC regulates specifically the radio, television, wire, satelite and cable, which with technology of today creates a very grey or hazy area in which the two "dance".  The issues of today that deal with politics and media in relation to regulation are the ownership consolidations that are happening and the other is the question of what is best action to take when dealing with the public interest.  This "dance" is fluid because it is constantly changing.
          Now the final point I am looking to cover is this idea of gatekeepers for politicians having to go on television shows that not just news, but comedy based.  For example, during the 2008 presidential campaigning of the candidates there were several appearances on Saturday Night Live.  These appearances included, Obama, Clinton, Palin, McCain, where they went with the flow of the normal satire of the program.  In the presidential election, there was no such media gate keeper that had such a dramatic affect.  This is clear because soon after Palin's appearance on SNL, her popularity plummeted and vice versa Obama's appearance gave him greater popularity.  What is interesting now that Obama has been elected, comedians seem mixed about him because they now have months of which he has been in office.  Though his actions have not been prolific as he proposed in his campaigning.  In the spirit of politics and media coming together, here is a video.