Session 8- The Media and Political Socialization

   The basic idea of political socialization is to what extent factors like family, education, media and religion help shape an individual’s political attitude and behavior. In today’s day and age, with latest technologies on the rise, the electronic media plays a vital role in forming people’s beliefs regarding various matters and especially issues that concern a state’s political situation. 

   We frame our ideas and thoughts by seeing and listening to those around us. Our primary sources of receiving and absorbing information are the various news channels since we do not have firsthand access to the news ourselves. In Pakistan, where the majority of the population is rurally established and uneducated, it is fairly easy to mould their political views and preferences through the media. State owned channels like PTV only project what the government wants the people to see and this leads to a false image of national affairs being shown to people. 

  Where state owned channels present the government’s side to the public, private channels also have their biases. This could be seen in the May 2013 elections where news anchors openly showed their support for different political parties.  The Pakistani media has also been known to overstep its mark when it comes to certain events. For example, not more than two months ago 141 children were killed in the Peshawar attack and the whole country was in a state of sorrow and despair. Instead of giving the victim’s families space, journalists pursued them relentlessly and cashed in on their misery. 

The media is a very powerful medium of communication and can has the potential to make or break individuals, even entire nations. As Malcolm X said, 

"The media is the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses."