Why all the intense media interest in who the next president will be?

Because it still makes a lot of money for your media outfits,and some of your public still cares on who gets the top job.

The election is a real circus. (They always are but this one beats all!) People go to circuses to see the acts and to see if the trapeze artist will fall, or if the lion tamer will get eaten.
Also, it’s like a televised game, like football. Who will win? Who will break a leg??

Ratings.

I agree with @SecondHandStoke. Ratings is why the media is interested.
As to why it’s bringing in ratings is because Donald thinks its a reality tv show. He has adopted the same format that has kept his shows on the air. Provocation and tons of lies has gotten him a world of attention on his shows and the formula works for running for presidents. Only his provocations is tearing the party and the nation apart. So good for him. Not so good for the nation.
On the other side, it isn’t Hillary that is looking to tear the party or the nation apart but the republican party is doing all they can to tear her down in case Trump becomes the parties leader and they don’t think he is what he claims to be since the party is fracturing under his media attention.
Point is the media wouldn’t have the ratings if this wasn’t such a well executed soap opera. If All My Children were still on there would be more people interested in what scheme Kenall was up to this week than what was going on with Trump and Clinton.

Despite the shortcomings and travails listed, make no mistake. It DOES matter who is elected President of the United States. I have only to refer you to the state of both this country and the world minus W’s Presidency. The appointments to the Supreme court by the first Bush is probably the only reason Gore was not at the wheel instead of W. Now there’s no proving that Gore might not have done something equally as stupid as invading Iraq, but the ineptitude of Mr. Cheney would certainly not have been in evidence in a Gore administration.

Have the debates even discussed the national debt? If they did I missed that one.

@JLeslie Only if you think that by saying you are going to bring jobs back to America means the end of the national debt is a real discussion, then no. You missed nothing.

“It makes no difference.”

I don’t think it does either.

And even if a mystery person who’m every citizen of earth agreed upon to be world leader was appointed as Kwing… I’m also unsure if that person would make any difference either.

I do not think that the media only cares about ratings. The media in America is a propaganda machine for corporate America and does a great job of influencing public opinion of the masses.
Let’s take for instance, Donald Trump and polls. Some day Trump is anti-establishment, but I disagree. If he was, I believe he would have been ignored from the minute he entered the race, not leading the polls before anyone even knew he was running.

Has anyone ever heard of Edward Bernays? He was a nephew of Sigmund Freud, and is known as the “grandfather of public relations.” He has had a great influence on our society and how corporate and government PR works. He wrote a book called Propaganda.
Here is the first paragraph of the book:
“THE conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.”

Why do we like assume that we are immune from propaganda in the US?

@Pandora I can’t believe that issue hasn’t been directly discussed. It’s a big miss.

@JLeslie You and I are both in agreement there. I am sick of all these side show freaks not giving the public any real solutions. Trumps idea of building a wall is only going to add to the debt along with trying to send thousands back across the border.
Raising taxes on the rich will only mean they will higher less people in their companies or go abroad.

Raising taxes on the middle class will only mean that they will be made poorer and most of them are already deep in debt.

Cutting back on the military or the government will mean more people unemployed.
Taking jobs away from China sounds fantastic till you realize a good portion of our debt is owed to China. So no one believes they won’t call the payment in. The only reason they lend us the money was to insure jobs for them. Someone got a few trillion dollars to pay China back?
How much Money does the United States Owe China?

A: $1.25 Trillion (Oct/2015)

How much Money does the United States Owe Japan?

A: $1.15 Trillion (Oct/2015)

How much Money does the United States Owe Russia?

A: $82 Billion (Oct/2015)

How much Money does the United States Owe the United Kingdom?

A: $210.6 Billion (Oct/2015)

How much Money does the United States Owe Germany?

A: $81.6 Billion (Oct/2015)

How much Money does the United States Owe Canada?

A: $66.8 Billion (Oct/2015)

If you had all the worlds billionaires give all of their money to the government, it still wouldn’t pay off ⅓rd of the debt.
I read for 17 trillion dollars to be paid off, every man, woman and child in the US. would have to pay over 62,000 dollars. Good luck with that.
I don’t know what the answer is but I know that looking for more ways to spend money isn’t the answer and making more people unemployed isn’t the answer either.

They should just give the gig to the one true American leader, Mickey Mouse.

The GOP establishment is pushing Cruz, and I think we’d be fools to discount the distinct possibility that Cruz and a Republican held Congress would appoint SCOTUS justices that will steer the course of the US for decades to come.

Does that explain the media interest? No. The media is creating news if any doesn’t exist. Example: the media has an obvious vested interest in pretending that Kasich is still a contender. They do everything possible to keep everyone possible in the race until the last possible minute. It’s repetitively boring as it is, with 4 possible contenders.

@Pandora Where is the Tea Party demanding discussion on the topic?

@Leslie Half are busy reading Hillary’s email and the other half are measuring Trumps penis.

In America the media has become part of the political process, rather than the reporters of it. It’s not just politics; it’s everything. When I was in school a student would be laughed at and shunned if he ever used “I think” in a report. I am disgusted by the mainstream media. I think the law/regulations should be restored/implemented disallowing one corporation from owning/controlling more than one media outlet.