[ladyinred]

Charisma has a bad name in the media.

I recall them often speaking of the charisma of Bill Clinton. ( I call it sleaze factor, they called it charisma.) They don't want to see the real thing, which Ronald Reagan oozed with.

[GSlob]

Charisma in a leader is an ideological function, or, if one wishes, symbolic one. One has to project oneself as the focal point and symbol of major current concerns (or project these concerns into one's public persona), and to do it well enough so that the projection appears seamless.
In return for successful "charismating" the "charismate" can (IF HE/SHE WISHES) obtain, among other things, large and fanatical following, thus charismatic leadership can be very dangerous and has been on some major occasions. Since successful charismates are rare, the media would have difficulty with the sociological analysis of this phenomenon. Besides, imagine any major newspaper printing multi-page dreary post-graduate level lecture on this subject.