媒体文化时代美国总统政治的嬗变

Transmutation of American Presidential Politics in the Age of Media Culture

伴随信息传播技术的革新以及方兴未艾的媒体文化,在美国政治生活中人们听到的不是“民主进步”的喜讯,相反,振聋发聩的却是“富媒体,穷民主”、“没有公民的民主”的批评之声。传媒技术的革新和发展并没有推动美国民主政治的进程,相反,声色犬马的媒体文化却正在侵蚀传统的民主精神。美国的政治生活中已失去了大量的公民,但美国政治生活中却不能失去总统。由此,美国总统政治在缺少公民参与的情况下,必然走向媒介化、职业化、市场化的轨道。同美国的媒体文化一样,美国的总统政治的确也是“看上去很美”,所以能在世界上其他很多国家受到青睐。

The revolution of telecommunication technologies has not brought about praises of the progress of democracy in the United States, on the contrary, the critical buzzwords of American politics are “rich media, poor democracy” and “democracy without citizens . As a result of media culture, the US presidential politics is losing more and more citizens; hence presidents have to resort to professionalism and commercialism for better presidential performance. The risk is that such mediated American politics or democracy is being reproduced globally due to its seemingly attraction or advantage.