Introduction
Political communication has been changing drastically as more people in media houses engage politicians in forums that seek to enlighten the public of prevailing political climate in a given region. Politicians are individuals elected or appointed by people or groups of people to rule or represent others in political fronts and forums. This factor has been changing and is controlled by acts of law in a given state or country. Citizens are subjected to political shows that seek to discuss their collective wellbeing and putting in place an endeavoring action to guide the rule of law (Klaehn, 145). Every citizen in a given country has a mandate to vote wisely for leaders who will represent their collective interest in a national or region forum. Politician’s sends messages to media houses to inform the citizens of their commitment to offer civil duties to the society while gaining a more edge over their political rivals. In any democratic society the power to guide the rule of law is placed under the judiciary while laws are normally created by the legislature or parliament. During campaigns every politician must use a channel that will inform any potential voted of the person’s commitment to development and try to discredit their political rivals. This attempt to outdo their political rivals brings a lot of debate on who is more suited to lead and exercise his/her civil duties of leading the citizens on another political term. The media is supposed to be impartial on political matters but due to their nature of work they engage in political forums as they try to pass information to the masses. They mostly engage the politicians and pass judgment concerning their character in public and private matters. The paper will be discussing the relationship between political power and media, how politicians use the media in their favor, and how the media educates the public on what is going on behind the scene in politics. It also discusses how the freedom of the media is important, and the degree to which such freedom should be controlled by the government.
Political communication
Citizens have over the years been attracted to news that relate to their politicians or leaders at whatever position they holds in the governing of a region. The media has over years changed their tactic in accessing some crucial information about their leaders. This edge has in most cases been blamed on bad leadership and un-accountability among media houses and politicians as both wish to outdo one another in the public domain. Citizens have on most cases been subjected to wring information from media houses as each tries to match their competitors and have more following. Citizens are attracted to political shows as it has been evident from time in memorial (Kolker, 91).
The ability of politicians to influence the decisions of voters has been largely narrowed down by the character of a leader and the attention each serves to the public coupled with political ideology they offer the public. Each politician seeks to attract the largest following in terms of supporters who later turn in for the votes to place the politician under power. Most people seek political power to express their personal and collective ideologies which are sought to benefit the society. Thus they are forced to use the mass media to seek audience and attention from the public of their willingness to vie and seek political vacancies. Thus the media has been used as a channel to inform the politician’s intentions of seeking a position and participate in national or regional building. The trick is to attract audience of a large number of potential voter sand later use this channel to pass your intention to serve them as their leader (Kolker, 97).
Political Power has been used over time by media houses and personnel’s to inform the public of the actions of the government where in most cases is driven by relations created by the leaders to win more support at the expense of their rivals. The motive is usually driven by pre-existing power by the media to change the course of political succession and relations between voters and politicians. The role played by the media in any country is of great importance e as they are able to pass information and give a conclusive role in the news of a given region or country. This role has in most cases been used for the good of the public but they have on other cases been abused. Abuse of political power has been highlighted by media houses around the world in view of informing the public of the actions of the government or some individuals who hold political positions. The society has been led to believe that the media has every right to inform the public of the actions that happen in political circles. The freedom of communication has been practiced in many nations around the world and it follows the freedom of speech which is enjoyed by citizens in the given region. The government has in most cases failed to support the initiative that people have a right to information which at most times may be used to taint the operations of the government. The power of the media cannot be ignored as it has been emphasized the need for people to access information and create a forum through which the public can channel their views and opinions about the political climate in the country (Brian, 98-108).
Political power revolves around the influence the information passed by media house impacts the social welfare of citizens in a country. This influence in most cases has been abused by various stakeholders in leadership position where they have muscled the media freedom to report certain issue and ignore others. The media freedom in different countries have played vital roles in running of the government and giving information to the public according to the preference of their roles. A close comparison is the media role in channeling public opinions about the running of the government and how it influences support for the given government (Freeman, 222). The British political communication has been changing over the years as evidence by the election of the Prime Minister Gordon brown in early 2007 after the exit of Tony Blair. The media has in most cases criticized the suitability of the prime minister in key government decisions and how this plays on the public domain. The media in this case has been used to shape the political climate in the country and this has led to the public to view and judge the PM. The Member of Parliament in the British capital has been on the media limelight as their call for reform in the political atmosphere and structure in the Britain has been emphasized by the media. The media in this case involve television, radio, the internet and the printed media who include the newspapers and magazines. This information being passed to the public may cause public unrest as it has been witnessed in several countries like China. The media has highlighted the plight of different social groups in the society which has led the government to act and conceal the agony it may have inflicted on the citizens (Morris et al, 45-47).
The role of the media
The British media has been criticizing the government in major leadership and governance roles where it has called for reforms in major sectors and assures the public of its commitment to better services in the public sector. The media has played a major role in ensuring the public have access to information about the development of the country and the political shape the country seem to be taking. The British prime minister has been on the public limelight mainly due to criticism by the media who have failed to accord him the time to reform the country’s governance structure. The Prime minister has tries to resolve the political stalemate in the country but the role played by the media seeks to expose the ineffectiveness of the leaders in the country (Freeman, 230).
The leaders have tried to call for a new election which the public seeks to criticize as lack of a clear forum to lead the country to greater economical strengths in the region. Democracy has played a major role in championing for the rights of every citizen and the right for access to information which is readily availed by the media in the country. The media has thus formed a link between the public and the leaders and the role they have exercised in the governing of the country or region. The media has thus been very influential in shaping the political climate of a given country as they interact with several stakeholders in different sectors of governance. The media has been instrumental in championing for the improvement in several sectors around the country (Cook, 68).
When crisis rock a given country the media is the first to report of the happening as it seeks to pass information of the proceedings in the given country. The role of media in a society cannot be ignored as they have set out a pace to be the first to pass information to people as soon as they have it. In most case the media has done speculations that have in most cases turned to be true and placed political figure heads on the limelight for their actions (Volkmer, 38). The political setting in many countries is structured to include the role played by leaders in the governance of a country which in most cases reflect the majority of the citizens. This factor has been influential in the leadership style applied by the political leaders as they try to win support of the public in their operations. The political leader wishes to win support from their supporters as they try to operate in their best ability in championing the growth agenda in the country. They may rely on the media to pass information to the people as a strategy to seek their support and stop with the pubic form criticizing their activities which in most cases may be demeaning in the public view (Lawrence, 51). The actions of the public may cause an outburst which may lead to public protest and mass action to oust the government from power. This action has been used in several countries where the media has been used to mass up people to rise against the government as it has been evident in countries like Libya and Egypt in Africa. Information has been an important tool in the actions of every human being as it helps people to judge the action or results of a given activity. These mass actions have been directed on the activities of the government towards its citizens and the suitability of the country’s political atmosphere in tackling national issues (Mazrui & Robert, 23-31).
Political power involves changing the ideologies of people to follow a certain guideline by a leader. Support for such a course comes from the public and the aspiring leader may use several channel to pass the information to the people. Information is a vital tool in the society nowadays as it gives the people the will to choose their leaders who they think will change the course of their development plan to more involving approach that include the opinions of the public in such matters. Democracy has been practiced in many nations around the world and it follows a selection of leaders by majority win through voting or nomination. The process of electing a leader has been a national issue in many countries around the world as it involves the opinions of the people and the suitability of a given candidate to such a post. This initiative by the government to influence election of leaders may be facilitated by ganging the media into giving propaganda against rival candidate and thus wining the sympathy votes in the process (Freeman, 231). The willingness of people to elect servant leaders have been left on the senior citizens who are legally allowed to vote and who exercise their civil duties in electing leaders. During campaigns the mass media has been used by politicians to pass information to the public and call for support as each try to outdo each other in the national forum which has at times seemed to work.
s times keeping changing the number of people who have access to information on the mass media seems to increase as technology advances. During a couple of years ago the people who had access to the internet in the world was very small but due to a changing technological advancement the number of such people has increased tremendously. This has led to public enlightenment of the current political atmosphere around the country. Even school going kids have access to this information in terms of newspaper, the radio, television or even the internet. The social media has been used as a platform for campaign in the world as people who have access to the internet can acquire the information on the site and use it to judge who is best suited to lead the country r region given the credentials shown on the site. This factor has been instrumental in shaping the government of several countries as they try to answer to the needs of the society. Any decline in government reaction to public needs has been met by criticism from the media who then pass this information to the public. A government that has been democratically elected needs to seek the support of the voters if it’s to remain in power. It’s thus very important for the government to act according the needs of the society (Brock et al, 56).
The political structure of the British system has been on the global map for decades now as they try to portray the operations of the government and how it has managed to utilize political communication in changing the development course of the country. Since Tony Blair left office as a Prime Minister and the election of Gordon Brown back in 2007, the country has embarked on a national building initiative as advocated by the government. The Members of Parliament have in most cases conflicted on opinions about how the country should be led and how effective is their current government to tackling national issues. The government has in most cases faces a lot of criticism from the media as it questions its actions and how the prime minister has led the country so far (Swanson, 12). The government has at times faced a lot of opposition by the kind of information revealed y the media about the operations of the government. The structure of government changes as time goes by and thus it’s very crucial for the changes in the political atmosphere to relate well with the public as they are the one who have placed their hopes on democratically elected Leaders. The media has been instrumental in changing the political atmosphere in a country as it creates a link between the leaders and the public. Any information posted by any media house is likely to raise a reaction form the public as the government of this country tries very much to tackle any wrong information that may be passed by the media. The democracy of a country has at times ben revealed by how the governments treats its media houses (Swanson, 12).
Conclusion
The media has played several roles in the political atmosphere of several nations around the world. Where media freedom is allowed the media has exercised their freedom on giving information about the operations of the government to the citizens and the international community. The media has created a channel where information is shared between the government and the society as it tries to link the two groups of people with information and paint a picture of the operation of the government. The mass media in most cases is controlled by strong individuals who may be politically connected and they may be used to change the political atmosphere in the country by passing out propagandas and wrong information to the public to seek their support through votes which in most cases determine the leadership of the given area. In this case acts as a partisan by supporting the impunity of the individual as they try to win political seats at eth expense of the public ad their trust on national matters. The freedom of the media has been discussed on several fronts as governments seek control of this critical tool in the society and ways through which they can tame the operations of the media. The media on the other hand claims that any government control will inflict on the right of people to information which is a social norm. This tussle between the political leaders and the media has been played out in the public domain and it has led to a lot of criticizing of the government operations. The media has had public support for a long time and this has placed the government on a collateral damage that may lead to its collapse if it fails to head to public outcry and act upon enriching the well-being of its citizens. It has thus been very influential in shaping the political atmosphere in a country.
Work cited
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