Political Scandals and the Media

INTRODUCTION

Political scandals are as old as politics itself, they often go hand-in-hand with power, money and cronyism, which is why many politicians don't follow the correct and moral behavior.

Some scandals are merely personal while others involve an abuse of power and financial wrongdoings at the highest level which are often revealed in public. These types of scandals can cripple even the most promising careers. The Greeks had a word for it: hubris. It means the arrogance that leads to ruin. Thinking they are above the law or immune from any consequences, politicians sometimes take actions that prove to be self-destructive.

Political scandals are recurrent phenomena in modern democracies. A growing body of literature shows that there is much to learn about the function of democracy, and the changing relations between media and politics, by analyzing the characteristics of different types of political scandals. The intervention of mass media, and more precisely the development of investigative journalism, has played an important role in making scandals a significant part of the political culture in Western democracies.

Some even believe that media in general and journalism in particular are a driving force when it comes to examination and publishing of political wrongdoings which usually happen in secrecy, hid from the public eye. However, a scandal published in the media is not only about disclosure (and investigative reporting), but is also about dramatization, storytelling and attractions. Political scandals fit perfectly into a news and media culture because offering shocking, spectacular, sensational and abnormal news is the best strategy for attracting a broad audience.

TYPES OF POLITICAL SCANDALS

It is important to distinguish scandalous behavior from a scandal. There is no scandal unless people/readers citizens learn about it, are amused by it and have an ongoing interest in the story while the press tries to figure out how to give the story new information.

Political theorists have identified three types of the political scandals: sex scandals, financial scandals and power scandals. Sex scandals often capture more media and public attention than allegations of financial impropriety or abuses of power because detailed explanations of the actual transgression are generally not required. Sex scandals are interesting for everybody, even those who are usually not interested in politics. What people like about the stories behind sex scandals is the that they can relate to the themes of broken hearts, broken families and broken marriages which mimic soaps but on the other hand they enable a moral reflection on a larger social issues unlike the financial scandals which are often very complicated for an average media consumer to understand.

Political observers often describe sex scandals as trivial distractions, they represent deeper political conflicts about sexual morality. Some say that political sex scandals have more to do with revelations of a private life that contradicts the public persona of a certain politician. While money and power scandals can also contradict this persona, they tend to strengthen the negative stereotypes of politicians who are believed to be only interested in personal gain. It is expected that sex scandals will be the most damaging.

It is also very interesting to see that female politicians are often scrutinized more and judged more harshly than their male counterparts. Women are not very common in politics, therefore they are often faced with high expectations and then criticized when they don't accomplish them.

Female politicians are vulnerable to particular types of the scandals, especially sex scandals. Some researches show that female politicians were judged differently based on the type of scandal. Therefore it is expected that female politicians will be judged particularly harshly when involved in the sex scandal as this particular scandal could also evoke stereotypes of gender roles in society and what is and is not acceptable sexual behavior for males and females.

After the scandal has been revealed in the media, the politicians usually give their statements to the press. This os how the politicians try to mitigate, or perhaps even avoid, political damage. Political theorists have identified four types of accounting strategies: concessions (admissions of wrongdoing or apologies and remorse), excuses (acknowledgement of wrongdoing but denial of personal responsibility or blaming others or circumstances), justifications (accepting responsibility but redefining the act or its consequences as less serious), and refusals (denials).

Anger is associated more closely with excuses and refusals while sadness can come through concessions. Some argue that justifications