Politicians or Celebrities?

by: Shauna Agan

Amongst articles concerning who the Jonas Brothers’ newest love interest is, which celebrities are too thin or increasingly gaining weight, and who wore which outfit best, the latest and hottest celebrity gossip is no longer about movie stars, rock bands, or even porn stars. A new uprising group of celebrities has taken over the celebrity gossip magazines; politicians.

Us Weekly is a celebrity magazine generally covering topics of celebrity news, style, and entertainment. So, it is not a surprise that on usmagazine.com there are videos, articles, and photos of celebs such as Michael Jackson, Ashlee Simpson, reality stars Speidi, and of course Madonna. What is shocking to me though is that eight, I repeat EIGHT of the feature stories on the home page of the website is about the presidential and/or vice presidential candidates. Headlines include “Sarah Palin: Former TV Sports Reporter”, “Sarah Palin’s Mother In Law: Considering Voting for Barack Obama”, “Obama’s Speech Tops Idol; Oscars In Ratings”, the “Obama Family [photo] Album”, “Sarah Pain Didn’t Give Birth to Down’s Syndrome Baby?” an article about why McCain chose Palin, an article about Oprah going to see Obama’s speech, and a poll to see who readers think should run our country next.

The next webpage I came across was people magazine’s website. People magazine is a magazine most commonly known for its celebrity and human interest stories. I was not quite as surprised to find three headlines about the presidential hopefuls here, but I was shocked to see the headlines of RollingStone, a magazine commonly known for music and pop culture, saying “How Bush Destroyed the Republican Party”. Even the website contained articles such as “Obama’s Big Night, and “Five Ways Bush Sunk the Republican Party”.

Ultimately the news and media have made politicians the biggest celebrities around. So, John McCain referring to Barack Obama as “the biggest celebrity out there” in his campaign ad really is not that far-fetched. However, McCain needs to take the initiative to realize that he as well is amongst these celebrities.

Politicians being portrayed as celebrities because of the news is not a brand new phenomenon, but it is the latest hype. What will the future of news be when the personal lives of politicians is the only concern of the media?