Pre-1970s Franklin Delano Roosevelt's fireside chats From March 1933 to June 1944,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt would address the nation roughly thirty times via radio, in what would become known as "
fireside chats." The 1930s saw
radio broadcasting at its peak, before the development of
television broadcasting introduced competition for the public's attention; by 1934, shortly into FDR's presidency, sixty percent of households had radios. Through this
rapid rise, FDR became the first president to speak to the public directly, unfitted through the media. Not only were these messages informational, but they were entertaining. Though these chats were calculated and scripted, FDR spoke casually with simple language, and often called upon well known references to connect with audiences. Fireside chats allowed him to reach faucets of the public that may have previously been excluded, such as illiterate individuals. Fireside chats became something the American public willing wanted to tune into. Presidential impersonations are one of the defining features of the show. Each cast member on the show fights for the position of the impersonation of a president or candidate to earn more air-time. For example,
Tina Fey's impersonation of
Sarah Palin was so good that even though she wasn't a current cast member, Fey was a common cameo throughout the 2008 election. Fey's impersonation also decreased Palin's popularity dramatically. What started out as a pure entertainment, has crossed over into the realm of real media and information. Many scholars ask, what happens when entertainment becomes not just a tool to engage and communicate, as it has in the past, but
the defining and driving component of a contest to win an office that also involves making substantial decisions about domestic and international affairs?
2000–2010 2010–present day Twitter Twitter has become an important platform for political communication in recent years. Roughly one-quarter of American adults use
Twitter. In 2020 and 2021, one-third of English-language tweets were political in nature. The majority of these political tweets are produced by a minority of users, specifically, those 50 and older. He was eventually banned from the platform but rejoined recently after Twitter rebranded as
X. == Examples of politainment outside of the United States ==