This essay examines arguments of the decay and transformation of politics by focusing on a case study. It explores the relationship of the media-television and the press-with Ecuadorian populist leader Abdala Bucaram. Instead of assuming that television in itself explains his election. I analyze how Bucaram used this medium together with traditional mechanisms such as political machineries based on clientelist networks and electoral rallies. Differently from the views of television as a medium with the power to manipulate citizens, I study "how people make sense of the media and what groups and traditions help people mediate media content." Media images are created and interpreted within particular political cultures, and journalists and other media professionals have an important role in decoding media content.