Embarrassing media coverage erodes support for popular leaders.

Evidence

None of this would be possible without the specific ways in which mass media in tandem with social media depicted politicians, found Clarke and his cowriters. Large publications, now owned by profit-maximizing private firms, cultivated very specific (and very demanding) expectations of politicians as individuals. These men and women (in the past, mostly men) used to only appear in the public eye when discussing policy and addressing the public. Now there was the possibility of a twenty-four-hour performance of humanity and professionalism. Making a gaffe by demonstrating the lack of any of the above could easily be caught by the media. Meanwhile, less visible, but deeply important, structural issues moved into the background. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 598 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Press placement revealed political realities better than front-page coverage. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 4572; Media priming can alter the foundations of presidential support; News revelations shift political support by spotlighting some issues while suppressing others — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1605 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Media shifts made politician scrutiny constant and pushed structural issues to the background #complicates (0.74) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 598