Mediated Politics

After a few days off enjoying the festive season and then recovering from a cold, I’ve finally managed to get some more reading done. Actually I returned to the mediated politics book mentioned previously.

The main issues raised by the various contributors include the impact of the proliferation of communication channels which is increasingly blurring the boundaries between political and non political as well as between private and public discussion.

The segmentation of audiences once again emerged as a key issue which has resulted in communication strategies being more targeted. This coupled with increasing commercialisation of the media increases the risks of large numbers of the population being completely left out of important debates on public policy.

New technology also adds to the risk of leaving the most disadvantaged out of debates which could influence them the most profoundly. The gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ could increase. Those who can afford new technology will be able to stay informed. Those who can not will be left out.

Despite the commercial interests of media owners which is encouraging increasing tabloidisation of the media, and the increasingly strategic and emotional political messages, it seems that the vast majority of people hold very stable views on issues and politics.

But the quality of political information the public is receiving is poor, specifically targeted and intended to draw out pre-tested emotional concerns.

This is a particular problem with issues which do not attract much interest from the media. Governments are able to pursue a policy agenda by putting across their point of view to a specifically targeted audience – essentially behind everyone else’s back.

Returning to the issue of commercialisation of media, the end of government regulation and the apparent decline of state broadcasting in some countries is creating increasing pressure to omit public service programming.

Most media outlets are now part of massive corporations and not locally owned. These organisations have a greater interest in profit than civic forces.

The internet has also made it increasingly difficult to define what is news

All this could have a profound impact on democracy but how is unclear.

As audiences become more segmented and media becomes more personalised, the possibility of maintaining large political organisations recedes. The public is also consequently looking for an increasingly personal approach from politicians. People are therefore less likely to be satisfied by standard government action.

The increasingly segmented audiences provide another headache for politicians. It may be possible to target all the different groups through different media and with different messages but how are political parties goingt o be able to create coherent policy out of the variety of responses they get from all these different audiences? This is potentially a very acute problem when coupled with the already mentioned fact that people increasingly want issues that affect them personally to be tackled rather than broader issues of ‘public good’.

Rather than bringing more people together increasing communication is driving people further apart by segmenting them according to their pre-existing opinions.

Politicians have quickly followed the marketers lead in to viewing voters as groups of consumers making it easier for people who do not fit in to a specific target audience to feel alienated.

Another major headache for politicians is the modern 24 hour news cycle which causes great waves of popular concern over issues but for a limited time period. For governments to create policy and enact legislation takes time. The politicians therefore seem increasingly out of touch with the public due to the fact that government simply has no way of keeping up with the changing media agenda.

It is clear that people care about politics and there may still be a basis for a coherent public opinion. But new communication channels and strategies are causing increasing alienation and the public is increasingly disgusted by the commercial way in which politicians try to target them especially at election time.

Today it is difficult to fathom the source of political information but there is still an interest and it is up to politicians and their advisers to find a way to recapture the trust of the voters.