American Politics - Essay Example

American Politics The increase in the independence and deregulation of media has resulted in both challenges and benefits for the politics of United States. Media plays several roles for the American political system including the role of a vehicle as it assists politicians in connecting them with the common population and in the presentation of an image of the politicians in the minds of the citizens (Stephenson 412). It even acts as gatekeepers as they provide information to the general public regarding different political activities and candidates of different political parties.

They act as spotlights when they highlight a particular issue that is being advocated by different political parties and their members. Lastly, they perform the role of talent scouts as they publicize the private as well as the public lives of politicians. The most commonly and overplayed function of media is the role of being spotlights as they tend to highlight different issues in order to gain public attention. This can be both good and bad for the American government and the political system.

This role becomes challenging for the government because due to this role, the public gains awareness about different issues and some of these issues might not have been made public or the government may want those issues to remain hidden from the public. Since issues are spotlighted by the media, certain fractions of the government try to gain public backing for these issues in order to force the government to tackle these issues. For example: the issue of gay marriage has been highly highlighted by the media and this has provided certain political fractions and public members to gain support from the public for the acceptance of gay marriages as a legal form of marriage.

Works CitedStephenson, D. Grier, Robert J. Bresler, Robert J. Friedrich, and Joseph J. Karlesky. American government. 2nd ed. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1992. Print.