Scrutiny of politicians near incessant
The availability of mobile phones capable of capturing sound and images, and the immediate means to make these images available to anyone with internet access, are creating a situation in which anyone in the public eye has to be "on" 24/7.
Argument advanced by Joe Trippi, quoted in
The Guardian:
"The game has changed in a way the top needs to understand
It may take a disaster: a leader saying something ridiculous in an unregulated moment, thinking no press are there, and then realising a person in the UK with a video cellphone could destroy you, [with the clip] getting passed through social networks.
Before TV, what mattered was how your voice sounded. Then with TV it matters what your candidate looks like ... Anybody can fake it on TV: all the Joe Trippis and Alastair Campbells get really good at making sure our guy looks great for the eight seconds that are actually going on the news.
We are now moving to a medium where authenticity is king, from what things look like to what's real ... You have to be 'on' 24 hours a day, seven days a week."