Date Politics and the Media midterms
The media has greatly affected the political reforms as Bimber suggests. Campaigns are seen on television, gazette, or posted on the internet. This means that a lot has been exposed thought media. It is important to note that media has its advantages and disadvantages. Media politics is very effective because the whole world learns to know how politically able is a candidate. Every evil they have blows on the media although sometimes out of proportion. With this in mind, it is important to weight the effects caused on political reforms from all perspectives. In 2012, America held their elections and there was an impact from media.
Obama was the president of choice who took advantage of media to do his campaigns. Through television, social media, and newspapers, Obama had listed his success cases as a former president. He was the first president to accept the gay community that had a lot of publication. The media talked about it because it was a sensitive subject that no one had expected the president to favor. It helped him gather many votes from the community. There was also the issue of immigrants that Obama openly talked .The media assisted in spreading the word, and this saw Obama gather many votes from not only the Latinos, but also other immigrants. The president’s popularity was through information, and not the traditional mode of campaigns.
The social media has a lot of information, and the president made use of it to gather votes from the younger generation. Websites came up in his favor with free debates were posted online. Social networking has played a major role in today’s politics. They have been a fundamental communication tool in all community aspect. It is a source of endless information. The media exposure has been on the rise unlike the old days, and this has enhanced the information flow. These cite have been very effective above all other means of campaigns.
Social media has used to enhance the political dialogue. In 1996 was the year that an email sent email facilitated people on political issues (Bimber 1998). In 2006, in Belgium, ‘Think” was the catastrophe used through MySpace to stimulate discussion on how to vote. In 2007, the percentage of influence in political reforms had risen to 40%. About 20% had used the social media to learn on their friends voting interest. By 2012, almost everyone had known how to use Face book and my space, and this gave relevant information on the candidate’s credibility. Over 50% of the voters made their decisions based on what they gathered from media.
Talk shows play an important role on politics. This was seen on the many shows hosted on America’s television where all candidates are given time to express themselves. This gets the society’s eye, and the information given determines a lot on which candidate deserves the chair. These talk shows are challenging because questions come from the opponents and the audience too. This means that no lies and no questions left unanswered.
Long time back, very few people had access to internet, televisions, or newspapers. This means that they had very little information on their candidates other than what they heard during rallies. Their judgment was not strong because the rallies rarely debate on the negatives. The individuals do not get a chance to ask their candidates questions too. This means that community gossip contributed more to their judgment on who the best candidate was.
Accessing the internet today is cheap and affordable. Due to its fastness, people access the political news easily (Bimber 2008). Fundraisings and recruitments have increased with the use of the internet. In 2004, Dean used the internet to explore on the costs of internet campaign. He enabled the donation of small funds instead of holding huge fundraisers. This means social networking can raise huge amounts of funds compared to macro funding. Obama used the same strategy and acknowledged that his success was because of the little donations given to him through social media. Obama understood that social networking was the key to the white house. He believes myobama.com site gathered him enough supporters. He said that this was the best method to communicate to people without editing from media corporations.
Conclusion
Social networking plays a vital role in today’s political change. Its effect has not only be felt in the western countries, but also the oppressed countries in the third world. This is because the information is unedited, and everyone has the right to participate. Political parties have also used the online tools to gather funds for their campaigns. Political participation was enhanced because of the increase and use of the internet. This has been enabling by the accessibility and affordability of the internet. Social media is a powerful political tool, and given time, it will grow immensely along this political mechanism. Social networking has proved to be the new face to political reforms.
