Media and Politics in America
The Role of Media in American Politics
The political system in America today utilizes high-tech politics whereby technology shapes the behavior of its policymakers and citizens including political agenda (Graber & Dunawa, 2017). For instance, mass media is an essential technological component that profoundly reaches out and influences the elites and masses and includes magazines, newspapers, radio, and television. Additionally, the control of mass media is useful in determining today’s modern political success. For example, the daily political governance and campaigns are highly dependent on the politician’s press image. Politicians have also learned to provide scripted events and limit their reports to guide the focus of media reporting. The typical roles of media in today’s American politics include determination of official’s behavior as well as a candidate’s behavior, influencing the voter’s political opinions, and setting the agenda of the public.
Moreover, mass media is useful in determining a candidate’s behavior whereby several politicians have learned to utilize media as a means of influencing actions and getting elected (Mann & Orren, 2010). For example, President Roosevelt spoke over the radio to soothe the American citizen’s pain of economic war and depression. Also, President Reagan’s effective communication with American votes was as a result of his skills as a television and film actor. The media also influences the voter’s political opinion by swaying people who do not have strong political opinions since the media cannot change the behavior of individuals interested and active in politics. For instance, committed Republicans and Democrats selectively choose the information they want to learn from media sources. Therefore, mass media power can substantially influence the voter’s voting pattern since elections outcomes depend on the voter’s decision.
The mass media is essential in setting the public’s agenda since the majority of Americans utilize electronic media and print to learn about social issues (Mann & Orren, 2010). Additionally, the media sets the stage for the government’s undertakings by focusing on some issues while ignoring others. For example, people have often accused the media of emphasizing high-interest issues and scandals at the expense of less interesting but essential problems in politics. Today’s media has a significant influence on American politics since it acts as a modern system for “checks” and “balances” whereby reporters become public watchdogs to prevent abuse of power by Justices representatives and presidents. However, the media also abuse its power, especially when influenced by profit to issue information that the public wants to hear instead of what they need to hear.
Changes in Media and its Impact on Politics
The different ways in which media has changed over the last three decades include the new dynamic media environment which has also developed in unanticipated and novel ways resulting in serious outcomes for political and democratic governance (Vernon, 2017). Media transformation has radically altered the institutional operation of government and communication of political leaders, election contests, and engagement of citizens. The new media types utilized in politics consists of different forms of communications that help in the exchange, dissemination, and production of content within platforms and networks that accommodate collaboration and interaction.
Additionally, the emergence of new media has complicated the media system of politics (Vernon, 2017). For instance, the legacy medium which consists of established institutions of mass media that dominate the internet such as news program in televisions, radio shows, and newspapers coexist with technological outgrowth innovations of new media. Contrary to the relatively stable formats in legacy media, the new media continues to expand innovatively and consists of video-sharing platforms, social media, digital apps, blogs, and websites. Therefore, the introduction of new media has increased the unpredictability and instability levels of communication in political systems.
References
Graber, D. A., & Dunaway, J. (2017). Mass media and American politics. Press.
Mann, T. E., & Orren, G. R. (Eds.). (2010). Media polls in American politics. Brookings Institution Press.
Vernon, Pete. 2017. “The Media Today: Social Media and the Storm,” Columbia Journalism Review, August 29. https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/hurricane-harvey-social-media.php