Citizens in a modern form of democracy are able to access more political information than ever; this information has fused with their established political knowledge and attitudes, which reflects the overall political view on the political world. Thus media has built an interactive communication approach between the government and society. This interactive communication approach can be seen in two ways, these two ways are the motions in which information flows. Firstly, there is an upwards flowing motion, so information goes up from citizens to the government. This means that politicians are aware of issues which related to citizens, the other information flow is, from the government to citizens about how decisions are made and what the results will be. As political issues are being reported in news with greater frequency, politicians have realized this trend and are trying to affect public opinions via traditional media and social media. This essay will start with reviewing the changes that have occurred in media in general, which can be briefly introduced as ‘tabloidization’. Then, it will discuss the impact of celebrity culture on political communication; firstly by pointing out how celebrity culture shaped the present forms of political communication and politician’s public images. After, by analyzing the role of celebrity culture in politics, the essay will focus on two main areas: voting and democracy in the critique and defense of celebrity culture.
Generally speaking, the media environment has experienced a ‘dumbing down’, as Barnett (1998) pointed out that we are facing a more accessible and less elitist approach to communication. First of all, emphasis of media has changed from serious issues to entertainment, scandals and show business. This dumbing down can be seen through the front pages of newspapers that are in circulation which will