Com 304 Paper 1
Austin Hoverder
College Students
Modern Day Media and Politics
Are you tired of hearing constant remarks about how the media skews all news reports now? Well I can relate and that is why I felt the need to write a blog post about this subject. Particularly over the last year I have felt that this topic has been brought up at almost every major event. When the world closed down in March of 2020, no one knew what the future would hold. There was little information being shared about the virus, and little idea of what guidelines we would be expected to follow. All news outlets were sharing different opinions and instructions during a very stressful time. However we have all been affected greatly by the media even before 2020, and that is why I felt the need to blog about the importance of this topic.
In an article written by communications expert, Kamil Filipek, and published by Studia Socjologiczne social media has impacted us in ways that weren’t even understood originally. According to the article some of the impacts have been seen through modern citizenship, political engagement, and even our public sphere. The article also expresses how resources might be used or shared differently depending on the audience that it is being shared with. Family, friends, coworkers etc all retain a different view point when it comes to social media and the political climate right now. I thought that this was an excellent point and considered how this applies to me personally. During this last year with the many debatable events that occurred, I now see a trend with the kind of articles that I would share with my friends and family. In a society that is becoming more and more divided, I can’t help but wonder if it is partially due to the media coverage that we seek out. Instead of trying to understand more information about the opposing views we hold, we look for more ways to support the views we already hold. What could we change if instead of just trying to be right, we tried to find common ground?
However we must discuss another aspect of political unrest when it comes to the media, fake news. In this article published by the International Journal of Press/Politics, the authors calculated which American citizens were most likely to use fact checking sites. The study found that liberal/mainstream news consumers were the most likely to use a fact checking site. This was surprising to me because I assumed it would be a bigger study of generational differences. I always have to intervene when my mother or grandmother share their opinions about an article on social media, as neither of them check for validation in their news articles even before sharing with others. Almost every person I know could be more conscious of sharing only true and completely correct information on social media instead of sharing hypothetical thoughts or comments.
The International Journal of Strategic Communication published an article that supports the idea of who we tend to choose to share social media activities with. The authors found that political practitioners have a higher chance to be motivated by an in-group orientation with their colleagues, instead of the hypothesized motivation of using a strategic orientation toward external stakeholders. The article also shared an interesting statistic; 55% of European communication practitioners use Facebook and Twitter every single day. This showed me an exact number of the politicians and communication experts that we can determine are using media to share their viewpoints. These experts sharing their opinions is a great thing, however I have to wonder if they are using legitimate supporting evidence to support these opinions.
Social media in particular is typically used more by younger generations. So when I found an article published by the Journal of Independent Studies and Research: Management and Social Sciences and Economics about how social media impacts political efficacy and vote intervention in the youth, I knew I could learn a variety of new viewpoints. My main takeaway from the article is that even though social media can cause more division when it comes to our modern day political issues, it also brought more young voters to the polls for the last two presidential elections. This means that social media gives Americans a wider range of voting opinions and more participation across the country. I find this to be very beneficial in the way that we can campaign in future elections to ensure that every single American voice can feel heard. This was the major impact that I personally felt this last election, and irregardless of the side you supported, I think social media is helping more people exercise their constitutional rights. Particularly with COVID this last election, as a country we had to adapt and find new ways to vote without losing the integrity or security that it requires. I feel as if we are getting closer and closer to an internet led election in the near future. This could potentially open up even more doors for social media and even possibly allow for a new way to vote through a specific social platform. This could continue to increase the younger generations desire to vote, while allowing for easier access to information about the candidates qualifications and viewpoints which would ensure a higher percentage of educated voters.
Overall I previously believed that the media should remain as impartial as possible. And while I still believe that, I also believe that has not been practiced as strictly as it could be. Sharing different perspectives when it comes to politics allows the public to create their own opinions and educate themselves further on political conversations. I think that we are entering a new era with our media that will treat these conversations with more educational support instead of just solely sharing personal opinions. Future generations will have more opportunities to engage with representatives and elected officials which will continue to create a stronger pull to the pulls, and for better or for worse it is all thanks to our modern day media.
