TV really is more important that voting

Is television exposure really considered more important actual votes in our democracy?
It could be argued that that is the case, in light of the decision Wednesday by the leaders of the Conservative and New Democratic parties to reverse themselves and allow a party with no seats in the House of Commons to take part in the televised leaders' debates during the Oct. 14 election campaign . Stephen Harper and Jack Layton had opposed letting Elizabeth May participate, partly on the grounds that May's party, the Greens, hadn't elected anyone to the Commons in past elections. But a coast-to-coast public outcry over this stand apparently prompted the pair to change their minds. The controversy and the reversal seems to suggest that Canadians put more value on seeing their leaders on TV than on the ability of those leaders to actual win votes. That's an interesting proposition. It may signal that Canadians are increasingly prepared to forego the actual practice of Parliamentary democracy, in favour of something closer to a Canadian Idol style referendum on who should lead us. What do you think?