The media’s celebrity obsession is killing our democracy

The same will-he-or-won't-he hysteria around Stephen A. Smith running for president is what got us into this mess to begin with.

Stephen A. Smith (Eugene Powers/Shutterstock.com)

Much of the federal government is in tatters. Crucial, life-saving programs are being defunded. A completely nonsensical trade war is roiling the global markets. Yet the legacy media seems clueless about how all of this happened. Sure, they may realize it’s President Donald Trump’s doing, but I mean the really big picture: How the hell did we get to this point?

The answer, in no small part, is the media’s obsession with celebrity.

When he first rode down that escalator to announce a presidential run in 2015, Trump had one—really, only one—thing going for him: fame. His every move became the talk of the media. As then-CBS CEO Leslie Moonves put it in early 2016, the presidential race “may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.” He added, “It’s a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going.”

The news media let Trump set the agenda, focusing coverage on his daily outrages while fixating on Hillary Clinton’s emails and ignoring policy issues. None of this would have been possible if the media weren’t caught up in celebrity nonsense.

So it’s significant–and pathetic–that ABC’s This Week recently decided one of the top political stories in the country is the possibility that a celebrity might maybe, possibly, someday, run for president. “Will he or won’t he?” the network teased, setting up its “exclusive” interview with sports analyst Stephen A. Smith, who just happens to work for the same company (ESPN, part of Disney).

Don’t get me wrong—I’m not saying Smith is like Trump. And, to his credit, he, not ABC News, pointed out how ridiculous it is that his name is being floated.

Here’s an idea: How about the media instead uses its power and reach to educate Americans about what the U.S. presidency is: the ultimate temporary job. One that involves running the economy in a way that should work for everyone and keeping the nation safe. Overseeing operations that we pay for with our tax dollars.

And what if the media—far-fetched, I know—focused on the knowledge and skills needed? This Week didn’t ask Smith about any of that. Journalists at big media outlets rarely do. They’re invested in boosting celebrities’ profiles, partly because it helps their corporate parents, and partly because they themselves want to feel like celebrities, or at least celebrity-adjacent. That's how we get the madness of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which longtime NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw once described this way: “What we're doing with that dinner… is saying, ‘We're Versailles. The rest of you eat cake.’”

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I saw the celebrity fixation during my years at CNN. An actor or athlete might run for president? Quick, let’s bang out a package and a headline! That trend has not slowed. “Blasting into a presidential election in which polls say many voters don't like either main candidate, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, actor, wrestler, superstar is hinting at a run,” CNN reported in 2023. Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, and other celebrities also get floated in these discussions. The reporting virtually never includes a look at whether they know anything about the job.

This clickbait has real consequences. It feeds the idea that the election is a popularity contest, rather than a hiring decision made by the public that should follow careful consideration. Big media could help stop this nonsense and use their platforms to call for sanity.

The stakes are high. If fame is the path to power, then we’re not just rewarding people who succeed in fields like entertainment and sports, we’re also rewarding some of the worst attention mongers in the country—people who crave fame and get addicted to it once they have it.

Former Republican political operative Tim Miller discussed the dangers of this among people in Washington. “You're getting invited to these parties with celebrities the weekend of the correspondents’ dinner. All of a sudden, you know, people like Sean Spicer … are getting asked for selfies all the time on the street by Trump supporters. You know, they're getting recognized,” he told WHYY’s Fresh Air in 2022. It's very appealing, he said. The “banal desire” to be seen, recognized, and receive affirmation "drove a lot of people to do things that are pretty evil.”

Media: America needs you to step up. Stop focusing your glare on celebrities, including the so-called “Washington famous.” Focus on what the country needs in government leadership. Tell us about talented, capable people across this country who could do a great job in Washington. That's a crucial role of the fourth estate.

Josh Levs is host of They Stand Corrected, the podcast and newsletter fact-checking the media. Find him at joshlevs.com.

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