signs of a democratic government

A few weeks back I was sitting watching the news in the evening. Every once in a while, usually close to election times, the airwaves get taken over by political messages that last anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour long. Not like the typical 30 second spot in the USA, these things consist of set up interviews with people in the street, the talking head politician, "public service announcements" and any other typical political propaganda you can think of. When these things come on, there does not seem to be any way to escape them - they take over every channel (at least on the free antena fed stations, as I am too cheap/busy to pay for things like satellite here), as this video demonstrates. Right in the middle of the usual news casts, suddenly PPS took over with their message about how worried the public is about the government confiscating their savings from the bank to deal with the country's debt. It went on for half an hour on every channel, even MTV. Not what I wanted to watch, but I did learn a new word "Popança."

Yes, as I flip through the channels, you will notice there are only like 5 or 6 (I watch so little TV, I am not even sure). Still, the effect is nice, a little like brainwashing.