Politics on Demand

Book excerpt: This riveting book provides a nonpartisan examination of how the technological changes and financial imperatives of the media have led to an entertainment-driven news system poorly suited to report on American politics. Taking on today's brave new world of political reporting, Politics on Demand: The Effects of 24-Hour News on American Politics examines how the technological changes and financial imperatives of the American media have led to an entertainment-driven news system that cannot meet the needs of a democracy. Free of partisan slant and easily accessible to all readers, Politics on Demand explains the evolving media system, showing how politicians use the media to sell themselves and how the media uses politicians to its own advantage. The book demonstrates that, with vast amounts of programming time to fill, the spotlight has shifted away from substantive information to opinion, which, in turn, has helped perpetuate partisan politics. Politicians now have to contort themselves to fit within media confines, and political discourse has become extreme and over-simplified. Combining insider interviews with facts, statistics, anecdotes, and analysis, the author, herself a former C-SPAN producer, argues that the American media has become harmful for our nation and a detriment to our political system.