Political commentary is analysis, critique, and opinion about political events, policies, leaders, and societal issues. It can be presented through a variety of media, including articles, television, social media, and podcasts. It is distinct from news reporting, which aims to objectively present and analyze information. Political commentary often includes personal opinions and perspectives, and may use advocacy or satire to influence and shape public opinion.

Twenty-four-hour cable-television news channels have limited resources to gather and disseminate political news, so they often fill their shows with commentary and opinions from guests with political backgrounds or affiliations. For example, they may interview pundits (political consultants), political strategists, party officials and leaders, people from interest groups and ideological think tanks, and other experts on particular aspects of a topic. This practice, known as agenda setting, influences what the public sees and believes politicians should do, and it shapes how they judge those elected to office.

For example, a series of experiments demonstrated that when a newscast places more emphasis on certain topics, such as crime, viewers perceive government as having a strong role to play in solving those problems, which leads to more trust in and confidence in government institutions (Iyenger & Kinder, 1987). By contrast, when a TV show ignores a subject, the public is less likely to view it as an important issue requiring action by government.

Social commentary takes many forms, and can occur in all types of art and communication mediums: visual art that addresses social issues, poetry that examines politics, photography that documents humanitarian crises, literary works that criticize society’s injustices, music that reflects economic disparities, movies that explore dystopian societies, and public speaking.