In his controversial new book, Thomas Meyer argues that the media
are transforming traditional party democracy into 'media
democracy'. Political elites submit to the mass media's formulas in
the hope of salvaging some influence over their public images. The
media thus colonize politics, and the politicans' self-interest
turns them into accomplices. Politics and the media have formed a
partnership to conduct their main business: adopting well-tested
formulas from the theatre to media productions. The public begins
to respond to politics as an aesthetic phenomenon, losing sight of
the principles that make political action unique and sustain
autonomy and democracy.

Real power in the media is wielded by an iron triangle committed
to the media's logic of up-to-the-minute reportage: media-savvy
political elites, pollsters and media executives. Democratic
politics with its slow-paced processes has traditionally relied on
parties, intermediary actors and the institutions of representative
government, but all have been banished to the periphery
today.

Meyer shows how media democracy has replaced deliberation
- once the lifeblood of democratic public life - with
pseudo-plebiscites. Nevertheless, deliberative procedures could
regain some influence through local civic participation and a
thorough reform of the communicative culture of the mass media.
Meyer argues that the culture of the media should be transformed in
ways that would serve democracy, enabling citizens to deepen their
understanding of political realities.

This powerful critique of media democracy will be of great
interest to students of politics and the media and to anyone
concerned with the impact of the media on public life.