If by media you mean "news" and typically celebrity obsessed gossip, no he isn't. This isn't because he is isolating himself, or because they are isolating him, it is simply because there has been no news surrounding him lately. "No need to report until there is something to report", to quote a pretty awful film.

I don't know about him sounding stupid, I feel that he is a pretty intelligent guy. I think the issue is more that he is pretty full of himself and it shows as plain beard on his face. It is rare to hear the guy speak without tooting his own horn these days, he has always been a bit like that to some degree, but far worse now than when he was younger.