Popular Politics

Popular Politics

Media and Politics

That media popularity has become an important aspect of the life of a politician is an undeniable fact. In a world where status is first priority and everything else comes second, this is also the case in politics I mean, how could it not be?
If you want the votes of the population, especially the younger part, it is highly recommended that you try to get their attention through some sort of media.
As the appearance in the media become more and more crucial any errors are equally devastating, even small ones. Even a tiny thing like one politician briefly looking at another politician’s ass can be turned into a big deal by the media and applied many meanings. Suddenly the poor politician is accused of all kinds of stuff. During an election campaign this could prove to be the key that turns the tide resulting in defeat. Knowing this you can’t really blame politicians for hiring consultants known as spin doctors. For those of you who don’t know the purpose of these people it is to advise (find the verb) the minister on how to come out trustworthy, overall just to appeal to the public and, most importantly, to avoid standing out in a negative way.

2 Spin Doctors Per Minister

According to an article on politiken.dk the top ministers will henceforth be allowed to have 2 spin doctors paid by the state, in other words, paid by the individual citizen. One might ask oneself; is that really what you want your tax money to fund? Couldn’t this money be used much more effectively elsewhere in terms of helping Denmark as a nation? 23 high salaries, that’s a lot of money. Furthermore, why is it even necessary for a politician to have more than one person focusing all his attention on the media appearance of this one politician?
One fulltime job dedicated to this line of work should be enough in my opinion. Hiring another is unprofessional, irresponsible and disrespectful to the citizens of Denmark.

Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen – a Worrying Example

In the parliamentary election 2011 in Denmark, a party called Enhedslisten experienced great progress. The party went from 2.2 % of the votes at the previous election to 5.7% at the latest election, an increase of more than 100%, which is rarely seen. One might argue if this was caused by more people actually agreeing with the party’s ideology or it was a mere case of popularity based on media appearance.
One member of the party, Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen was becoming more and more popular during the election campaign due to her convenient appearances on television, where she did very well. This might lead one to believe that the overwhelming and surprising increase in supporters was not just the result of an ideology becoming more widespread but, more so, the result of Johanne gaining status through the media.
Imagine youngsters having doubts in whom to support. Assuming they are the least bit interested they would try to dig deeper into the politics of the parties. They would watch television and inevitably come across Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen, as she was all over the media during this particular campaign. It would appear to the youngster that this person is pretty cool, well-spoken and what do you know, she’s also conveniently good looking. Suddenly the mind of the youngster is made up. Certainly, supporting a cool human being such as her can’t be wrong.

This is where my worries begin. Things as looks and status shouldn’t play a role in deciding the future of Denmark, however, it’s not the people that are wrong. It’s the media, which have so much power that we, as normal citizens, don’t even realize it. Obviously the media is about making money, but along with power comes responsibility. The media has too much power. It’s threatening the nation of Denmark.