InfotainmentFrom Key Concepts in Political Communication
Infotainment describes the way in which the modern mass audience largely receives political communication. It is argued that, with the disengagement of the public from ‘hard’ news due to the fragmentation of mass media, politicians will communicate in more entertaining, media-friendly, ways, while the news media will make news more entertaining and reflective of popular culture. As Maurice Edelman (1995: 1) argues, political communication becomes situated in frames that belong to other popular genres like ‘novels, paintings, stories, films, dramas, television sitcoms, striking rumours, even memorable jokes’.