International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

Politainment refers to the blending of politics and entertainment into a new type of political communication. The portmanteau word is composed of “politics” and “entertainment,” analogously to the term →  infotainment. As well as infotainment, which is used as a label for a specific television program type, the term “politainment” denotes, in a broader sense, the entangling of political actors, topics, and processes with the entertainment culture. According to Dörner (2001) , two different, though interrelated forms (or levels) of politainment may be distinguished: entertaining politics and political entertainment. Both take advantage of the mass media's potential to attract wide audiences and to create celebrity (→  Celebrity Culture ). Politainment may be seen as resulting from an increasing mediatization and professionalization of politics that characterize modern democracies (→  Mediatization of Politics ; Political Consultant ; Spin Doctor ). Governments, parties, and politicians cope with these developments by adapting to the →  media logic , particularly to the selection criteria and presentation formats of →  Television (→  Television News ; Television News, Visual Components of ). Entertaining politics serves political actors to get media access in order to enhance their public images and to promote political issues. This is quite obvious during election campaigns ... log in or subscribe to read full text