Communication Variables Favoring Celebrity Candidates in Becoming Politicians: A Case Study of the 1998 and 2004 Elections in the Philippines

Abstract

What conditions have made it possible for television celebrities to enter politics ? Why arethere many Filipino celebrities who are elected as national government officials ? Mostpolitical analysts and media critics devoted time in analyzing public approval ratings andad spending during the campaign period to understand voting behavior and politicalchoice. While those studies may also be helpful, they do not cover the overall set-up thatcontributes to the rising trend of celebrity politicians. This article offers to fill a gap incurrent scholarship on celebrity politician phenomenon by identifying factors that affectthe communication process between the celebrity candidate and voters even BEFORE theofficial campaign starts. For this reason, I chose to loosely base my framework on DavidBerlo's Source-Message-Channel-Receiver (SMCR) communication model. I found out that1) the socio-cultural and political backgrounds of Source and Receiver; 2) the social roleand spectatorship in relation to Message; and, 3) the television's nature as a Channel andits socio-economic background were critical communication factors in paving the way forPhilippines to have 11 celebrity politicians as president, vice president and, senators duringthe 1998 and 2004 elections combined.