To what extent is politics “mediatized”? In recent decades the media have become a powerful and complex mechanism, which is one of the dominant parts of a growing promotional culture. His influence has become evident throughout the world. This mechanism can influence almost every single human decision on a conscious and/or unconscious level, and it does not matter whether it concerns cultural, social, economic or political fields. It is believed that "the media is the most powerful entity on earth." <...> Because they control the minds of the masses.' (Keeble,2010:99) However, this paper will focus on the analysis of only one specific area, namely politics, and its interaction within the media. The topic of this essay is politics, its connection and cooperation with the media in the contemporary capitalist Western world. This paper will define to what extent politics is mediatized and how "institutional politics has been influenced by promotional needs". (Davis,2013:11) Therefore, it will be examined how the media and politics work together and what impact the rise of promotional culture has, which according to Aeron Davis, "directs media and public attention towards public figures" . (Davis,2013:202) To provide a complete picture, the concepts of 'promotional culture' and 'mediatization' will be explained and the connection between media and politics will be defined. One will ask whether the media and politics influence each other, or whether politicians run the media, or perhaps the media control politics in contemporary promotional culture. Accordingly, three main aspects demonstrating that politics is fully mediatized, an example of a well-known Lithuanian celebrity and the 2008 gubernatorial elections will be presented and analyzed. To make sure that... the center of the paper... culture media and promotional is a very important issue, they converge. For this convergence to occur "requires responsive changes on the part of not only the promotional industries, but also the media in which their promotional messages are positioned." (Powell,2013:4) Furthermore, according to Dwyer, media convergence is briefly described as “the process by which new technologies are adapted to existing media and communications industries and cultures”. (Dwyer,2010:2) Similarly, Helen Powell in her book 'Promotional Culture and Convergence: Markets, Methods, Media' highlighted that: 'Convergence centers on the flow of media across national borders, across platforms and across the bridge between producers and consumers, and is accomplished physically through a plethora of technological devices and mentally through our thought processes.' (Powell,2013:8)
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