Title: Review of new media studies in political communication
Abstract: New media, simply put, is new form of mass communication. Another term for it is digital media. Relatively, it is recent media based on new information technology, a 21stcentury’s people’s media. It is dynamic as the Internet-based tools and technology keep changing in unpredictable ways, and evolving too. New media has redefined, given a new dimension to the very concept of communication, whether internal, intrapersonal,one to one or one to many. New technologies, which are emerging on a daily basis, are enabling new media to evolve. Inarguably, social media is shaping opinion, helping to build profiles of people, companies and government. Moreover, it is helping to get people ‘connected’ and draw moral support sometimes. Political communi-cation, which is a sub-field of communication, has dramatically changed in the last decade. Many traditional media as well as new media have changed politics which is inclusive of governance and players involved in it.New media platforms and social media tools have made democracy more vibrant, at least in the cyber world. This does not imply that the quality of governance has improved and society at large is happier because the quality of life has improved. But with the media becoming more and more interactive, public communication has increased which in turn has an impact on policy makers. ‘Social media afford new opportunities for engaging citizens in democratic processes. Use of socialmedia is increasing rapidly, these forms of media offer increased access to voters and potential voters,’ (McNamara et.al, 2012) says the study on the usage of social media in Australia. A study on political changes in China (Ashley Esarey, 2011) observesthat digital technologies empower citizens by providing forums for the expression of political views and critics of the state. The present paper is a Meta review of studies undertaken on new media as agents of political communication.
Publication Year: 2016
Publication Date: 2016-06-01
Language: en
Type: article
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