But the platitudes and hand-wringing in corporate media rarely get very far. Even the occasional fine piece of journalism, detailing exactly who gives large checks to presidential hopefuls and what the signers get in return, scarcely makes a dent in the moolah-fueled engines of political commerce and media discourse. The vague ritual of decrying big money in politics has become fashionable. At times, pundits scold the public for being too cynical or apathetic about the campaigns underway. But well before Election Day, the finely meshed screens of big money and media coverage have eliminated almost all the candidates as realistic possibilities to win the White House.
Financial power dominates.
These days, journalists routinely evaluate presidential campaigns as grand performances that must meet high aesthetic standards. The mass-media calculus gives great weight to the production values of the partisan road shows. But in the real world, other values are the ones that count.