Infotainment Case

In the Information Age, the media plays the essential role in shaping the environment for national and international politics. Especially in situations of conflict, there is an inherent contradiction between simplistic and sensationalist infotainment and the complex and lengthy nature of an actual story based on evident facts. The impact of the media on politics is, in my opinion, quite huge. Some questions that we can debate about in class: What is the responsibility of journalists? How should politicians deal with a sensationalist media? Do we, the audience, get the journalism we deserve?

The article of Moy et al. (2005) examines the impact of political 'infotainment' consumption on civic engagement in an attempt to shed light on these issues. They conclude that infotainment-based on political content can help the electorate. With more politicians appearing in the 'soft news' outlets, and with the public appearing to follow such appearances, entertainment programming has enjoyed an elevated status not only in the American electoral arena, but also in political communication research (Moy et al 2005)

Playing up the docudrama and infotainment angles, the TV newsmags skip past politics unless there is a scandal or an attractive personality involved. The focus on dramatic plots is maintained by an aversion to letting facts and footage that do not fit the story get in the way.

On the other side making the news softer through 'infotainment' is a good way to make people aware about political events. Infotainment serves as a system of reporting that allows viewers to get just enough information to be able to take some sort of stand on a given issue. If political information can be made entertaining, it can be tacked onto the material mainly intended for entertainment. In my opinion, there is no extra cost for gaining this information. In the end, consuming soft news does actually raise awareness about political issues in people with low political awareness.

Nowadays people would not even attend to stories if there were not some emotional hook or charge in them. It is not surprising that in this light that the communication strategies employed by warring political factions can turn downright nasty. This often happens in election campaigns. A candidate attacks the opponent and they frequently plant doubts that have little basis in fact. When the battle rages for the emotions of the public, the question of what is true or relevant is often the least of considerations. The questions that I ask myself regarding to this topic are is watching politicians and pundits hurl insults at one another on television merely a harmless pastime, or does it have consequences for how people think about politics and government? In particular, does televised political incivility harm levels of trust in government and politicians?

The key concern in the article of Sobieraj