Mass media is considered one of the major agents of political socialization
and is criticized for influencing public perception about nature of issues.
With the advancements of technology, people have greater access to mass media and have started relying on it. Television is a source of news and information for people. However, along with providing information, mass media has the ability to shape political attitudes or at least affect their political behavior, e.g. voting behavior, by manipulating, vetting and feeding information.
Conflicting views about the role of mass media exists. The pluralist model of the mass media argues that it allows all political views to be debated and discussed, whereas the dominant ideology argues that it propagates bourgeoisie ideas, merely acting as a propaganda machine.
Can the mass media in our country be a part of dominant ideology model? Or is it a part of pluralist model and allows all political views to be discussed? Does it influence people’s political behavior?
Major businessmen own television channels in our country and those channels can be perceived as representatives of the dominating political parties. The information is manipulated and vetted to influence people’s beliefs. The political beliefs shape people’s political behavior. Hence, the dominant political parties, through their propaganda machines, are able to make people act in a way that is beneficial to their own interests. e.g. by making them vote in favour of themselves.
The mass media is also used for “Political Marketing”. We have seen political parties, especially during the 2013 elections, using the mass media to propagate their ideas and influence publics’ voting behavior. The political parties not only tried to influence the public’s voting behavior by advertising their own policies and achievements 24/7 but also by propagating against their opponents. The “paid content” ads were broadcasted day and night accompanied by their campaign songs, promising to bust corruption, fix the nations’ myriad ills and bring prosperity to the citizens of the country. Nawaz Sharif was portrayed as a statesman and a developer who had the cure to all the economic problems of the country whereas Imran Khan offered the citizens a “Naya Pakistan” with his party symbol, a cricket bat, swiping away all the corruption.
Hence, the mass media in our country can be seen as a major agent of political socialization, which influences people’s political values and beliefs either by manipulating and vetting information or by becoming an instrument for “Political Marketing”.
With the advancements of technology, people have greater access to mass media and have started relying on it. Television is a source of news and information for people. However, along with providing information, mass media has the ability to shape political attitudes or at least affect their political behavior, e.g. voting behavior, by manipulating, vetting and feeding information.
Conflicting views about the role of mass media exists. The pluralist model of the mass media argues that it allows all political views to be debated and discussed, whereas the dominant ideology argues that it propagates bourgeoisie ideas, merely acting as a propaganda machine.
Can the mass media in our country be a part of dominant ideology model? Or is it a part of pluralist model and allows all political views to be discussed? Does it influence people’s political behavior?
Major businessmen own television channels in our country and those channels can be perceived as representatives of the dominating political parties. The information is manipulated and vetted to influence people’s beliefs. The political beliefs shape people’s political behavior. Hence, the dominant political parties, through their propaganda machines, are able to make people act in a way that is beneficial to their own interests. e.g. by making them vote in favour of themselves.
The mass media is also used for “Political Marketing”. We have seen political parties, especially during the 2013 elections, using the mass media to propagate their ideas and influence publics’ voting behavior. The political parties not only tried to influence the public’s voting behavior by advertising their own policies and achievements 24/7 but also by propagating against their opponents. The “paid content” ads were broadcasted day and night accompanied by their campaign songs, promising to bust corruption, fix the nations’ myriad ills and bring prosperity to the citizens of the country. Nawaz Sharif was portrayed as a statesman and a developer who had the cure to all the economic problems of the country whereas Imran Khan offered the citizens a “Naya Pakistan” with his party symbol, a cricket bat, swiping away all the corruption.
Hence, the mass media in our country can be seen as a major agent of political socialization, which influences people’s political values and beliefs either by manipulating and vetting information or by becoming an instrument for “Political Marketing”.
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