The new media environment is dynamic and continues to develop within the novel, sometimes unanticipated, ways which have serious consequences for democratic governance and politics. New media have radically altered the way that government institutions operate, the way that political leaders communicate, the style within which elections are contested, and citizen engagement.
New political media are varieties of communication that facilitate the assembly, dissemination, and exchange of political content on platforms and within networks that accommodate interaction and collaboration. They need to be evolved rapidly over the past three decades and still develop within the novel, sometimes in unanticipated ways. They need to transform the political-media system and redefined the role of journalists. They need to redefine the way elections are contested, and the way citizens engage in politics.
The rise of the latest media has complicated the political-media system. Legacy media consisting of established mass media institutions that predate the web, like newspapers, radio shows, and tv news programs, coexist with new media that are the outgrowth of technological innovation. While legacy media maintain relatively stable formats, the litany of the latest media, which incorporates websites, blogs, video-sharing platforms, digital apps, and social media, are continually expanding in innovative ways. New media can relay information to individuals without the intervention of editorial or institutional gatekeepers, which are intrinsic to legacy forms.
They depend on new media sources to fulfill the ever-increasing demand for content. Despite competition from new media, the audiences for traditional media remain robust, whether or not they’re not as formidable as within the past. Readers of the print edition of The big apple Times and viewers of the nightly network news programs far outnumber those accessing the foremost popular political news websites (Wired Staff, 2017). Cable and network newscasts remain the first sources of political information for people over the age of thirty. Consequently, new media depend upon their legacy counterparts to realize legitimacy and popularize their content.
Ideally, the media serve several essential roles in a very democratic society. Their primary purpose is to tell the general public, providing citizens with the data needed to create thoughtful decisions about leadership and policy. The media act as watchdogs checking government actions. They set the agenda for word of issues, and supply a forum for political expression. They also facilitate community building by helping people to search out common causes, identify civic groups, and work toward solutions to societal problems.
The diversity of content disseminated by new media has created opportunities like the power for more voices to be heard. They supply unprecedented access to information and may reach even disinterested audience members through personalized, peer-to-peer channels, like Facebook. As average people work with the established press to perform the watchdog role, public officials are subject to greater scrutiny. Issues and events which may be outside the purview of mainstream journalists are often brought into prominence by ordinary citizens. Although legacy media coverage of political events correlates with increased political engagement among the mass public, mainstream journalists don’t believe that encouraging participation is their responsibility. However, new media explicitly seek to directly engage the general public in political activities, like voting, contacting public officials, volunteering in their communities, and collaborating in protest movements.