The Media Dominance of Anthony Weiner
Posted: September 21, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Anthony Weiner, Twitter, Weinergate 4 CommentsOnly in this day and age would a tweet-happy Rep. from New York get more press coverage than the President of the United States.
“Last week 17% of all news coverage was dedicated to Anthony Weiner,” the Project for Excellence in Journalism reports. Thats in comparison to the US economy and conflict in the Middle East, which both earned a paltry 11% each.
Let’s face it–America is a scandal crazed nation. We love to see public figures show themselves for what they really are. OJ Simpson, Anthony Weiner, Rupert Murdoch…it doesn’t matter. For better or for worse, if it turns out you have some skeletons in your closet, (especially if you “accidentally” post these skeletons on Twitter) your going to get grilled.
“This is not a media climate where proportionality is king. And that’s not likely to change anytime soon, no matter how much we deplore it,” the American Journalism Review says.
Now I’m sure there’s some sort of psychology behind why public figures continue to embarrass themselves via the internet, but that’s not what concerns me.
What concerns me is the fact that someone who is foolish enough to post a nude picture of himself online, is in a position that holds some importance in our country. If he can’t figure out how Twitter works, (and I realize it sounds crass), then how in the world is he even relevant at this point?
Public Affairs Journalism 
Though Twitter is a powerful tool — connecting strangers, spreading news and engaging the masses — it’s also a dangerous animal. PR departments are no longer the gatekeeper between the public and the people we follow. Instead, they now find themselves spinning drunken, derogatory and defamatory Tweets their clients sent out without the slightest consideration of backlash. We now demand access to celebrities’ real thoughts, not their prepared statements — and this should be a scary thing for everyone.
First i would like to say that government officials in the spotlight have a responsibility to the tax payers of America to represent the citzens best interests and represent their country. Unfortunately politicians have been in the spotlight for their personal lives and their misdirections. Now, some of the politicians are making a mockery of themselves and the government. These same politicians are the spotlight of twitter, facebook, and other social media outlets. All of the attention that is spotlighed towards these ridiculous people is taken away from important issues conerning their government, etc. Its disconcerting to see what important issues are missed by people reading these crazed politicians’ view of things.
While I personally do not care about Weiner’s wiener, it is pretty scary that he can receive more attention than the President of the United States. Like you said though, there is an attraction to scandals and things of that nature that keep our attention diverted to what are more important issues. It’s a problem with the media though, the only reason he is relevant is because the outlets continue to keep him relevant. Then again, the same can be said with Eliot Spitzer, who had his own CNN show after resigning for his whole prostitute scandal.
It is just sad that something like that recieves more coverage than out own president. Especially now with everything going on with government and politics. However, I think it is even worse that people watch and read so much about a story like this over and over again giving the media reason to continue covering these types of scandal stories.