I will start off by discussing the case of the press, as I believe that this is traditionally where much of the impact on politics has occurred, although I will discuss later how this may be changing. One major area of concern about press reporting of politics is the apparent 'dumbing down" of the coverage, even amongst the broadsheets, and the effect that this may have on politics. In 1993 Labour MP, and current Home Secretary, Jack Straw published a short research report into the press coverage of parliament, ( Negrine, 1998,p1). In doing the report he discovered how Parliamentary issues were now covered to a much lesser degree than in the past, going from between 400-800 lines per day in The Times in 1988, to fewer than 100 lines in 1992. This seemed to show that the broadsheets were following the tabloid example of dumbing down. This has led to the worry that the press is trivialising the political process in the UK. Politics is becoming increasingly personality led, rather than policy led. An event may have political significance or importance, but it will only really be seen as such if the press frames it in a way that makes it interesting and palatable to the reader. It therefore becomes a fact of political life that personalities are more interesting to the majority of the public than policies. This has inevitably led to a change in the political landscape, initiated and perpetuated by the media. There are now several key features to politics in the late twentieth century which were not there before. 'Political marketing", the use of 'negative campaigning" and the introduction of spin doctors have all led to fear of an 'Americanisation" of the political process. .

             As well as the press, TV has played a major role in ushering in the age of the soundbite. The media has opened up a larger, more accessible audience to the politicians, which many of them find hard to resist.