What If ‘Journalism’ Is the Problem?: Entertainment and the ‘De-mediatization’ of Politics

Abstract

The ‘lines’ between news and entertainment have been blurring for many decades now. Many have bemoaned their interplay, citing the ‘trivialization’ of modern political discourse as a clear negative effect. Others have been more optimistic, although typically tend to posit ‘traditional’ journalism as a preferential mode of analysis. In this chapter, however, I argue that journalism’s homogeneity, its dedication to objectivity, timeliness, brevity and dependency on ‘access’ to political actors, have left it highly vulnerable to exploitation by political strategists. Factual entertainment which breaks from the journalistic mould can, therefore, do a much better job of scrutinizing political power than it is typically given credit for.