Hollywood Reporter Special Section on Politics and the Media

[Beaverhausen]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000684734

Entertainment and politics
Hollywood's proactivity reflects country's passion, polarization

By Cynthia Littleton

Changes afoot for key committees: No matter who takes over the White House or which party wins control of Congress in this election, the key Senate committees that matter most to the entertainment industry will have a different look in the 109th Congress.
The mass media, in all of its infotainment permutations, has hardly been just a messenger in this year's hard-fought battle for the White House. After months of partisan jousting and jabbing on the campaign trail, political scientists and other pundits say it's clear that presidential politics collided with the nation's media and celebrity aristocracy in unprecedented ways during the 2004 campaign. The impact of everything from the surprising boxoffice success of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" polemic to allegations of partisan bias in mainstream TV news coverage to the mobilization of actors and rock stars for candidates and causes won't be fully assessed until long after the votes are counted Nov. 2.

"If there's anything to learn from 2000, it's that small numbers of voters in particular places have a huge impact. And our culture pays attention to celebrities," says Kay Lehman Schlozman, a political science professor at Boston College who has written two books on voter behavior. "Whether people who are interested in Ben Affleck's love life will also be interested in what he and his buddies think about public matters is hard to predict. But no one with any influence in this election is being shy. There's every reason to think that everything that's out there right now will matter."

The war in Iraq and the fear of terrorists striking again at home has Americans more engaged in the presidential race than they have been in decades, numerous polls indicate. This year, many in the entertainment industry have made a concerted effort to encourage Americans -- particularly younger Americans -- to vote.

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