The landscape of new media continues to evolve dynamically, often in unexpected ways, profoundly influencing democratic governance and political processes. These platforms have fundamentally reshaped how government institutions operate, how political leaders communicate, how elections are contested, and how citizens engage in political discourse. This chapter explores the evolution of new media and delves into their significant implications for political life.
New political media encompass various forms of communication that facilitate the creation, distribution, and exchange of political content across interactive platforms and networks. Over the past three decades, these media have rapidly evolved, continually introducing innovative functionalities. They have reshaped governance by altering the operational dynamics of government institutions and transforming the role of political leaders in public communication. Concurrently, they have revolutionized the political media landscape, redefining the traditional roles of journalists and the modes through which elections are contested.
The emergence of new media has introduced complexity into the political media ecosystem. Traditional mass media, such as newspapers, radio, and television, which predate the internet, coexist alongside a plethora of new media outlets born out of technological advancements. While legacy media maintain relatively stable formats, new media platforms—ranging from websites and blogs to social media and digital apps—continue to innovate and expand. Unlike traditional media, new media enable direct information dissemination to individuals without editorial gatekeeping, thus injecting greater volatility and unpredictability into political communication processes.
The relationship between legacy and new media is symbiotic. Legacy media have integrated new media into their reporting strategies, utilizing multiple communication platforms to reach diverse audiences. Despite the competitive pressure from new media, traditional media outlets still command substantial audiences, albeit not as dominant as in the past. For instance, the print edition of The New York Times and nightly network news programs attract significantly larger audiences than the most popular political news websites (Wired Staff, 2017). Cable and network television remain primary sources of political information for individuals over thirty (Mitchell and Holcomb, 2016). Consequently, new media platforms often depend on legacy media to enhance credibility and broaden their audience reach.
In an ideal democratic society, the media fulfill several crucial roles: informing the public, scrutinizing government actions, setting public agenda, providing platforms for political expression, and fostering community cohesion. New media have expanded access to information dramatically, reaching previously disengaged audiences through personalized, peer-to-peer channels like Facebook. They have empowered ordinary citizens to participate actively in political processes, from scrutinizing public officials to mobilizing for causes.
However, the advent of the new media era has exacerbated challenges that undermine the democratic ideals of a free press. While new media proliferate political content, much of it is trivial, unreliable, or polarizing. The traditional watchdog role, once predominantly the domain of trained journalists uncovering serious political misconduct, has been overshadowed by a flood of sensationalized scandals—whether genuine, exaggerated, or fabricated—that often distract from substantive governance issues.
This chapter begins by outlining the evolution of new media in the United States, establishing the foundational characteristics of the contemporary political media landscape. It then examines the media’s role in providing information in a democratic society, evaluating how new media have both broadened the voices heard and raised concerns about the quality and reliability of information. Additionally, it discusses the integral role of new media in political coverage within a post-truth society, where misinformation and truth are often blurred. Finally, it explores the evolving nature of the media landscape, where traditional watchdog journalism competes with partisan media that function more as publicity vehicles for political figures.
The Evolution of New Media
New media emerged in the late 1980s with the rise of entertainment platforms like talk radio, television talk shows, and tabloid newspapers, which began to play significant roles in political discourse and gave birth to the infotainment genre. Blurring the lines between news and entertainment, infotainment favored sensational, scandal-driven stories over hard news (Jebril, et al., 2013). Politicians found these platforms more accessible than traditional news outlets, fostering a trend toward blending politics with entertainment that attracted previously disinterested audiences (Williams and Delli Carpini, 2011). This era also laid the groundwork for the emergence of celebrity politicians and, decades later, a “reality TV” president like Donald Trump.
Initially heralded for its potential to engage disenfranchised citizens and enhance political discourse, new media quickly faced criticism for evolving without clear principles or goals, dominated by commercial interests and established players in politics and media. While the public initially embraced new media’s accessibility through platforms like political talk shows and online forums, enthusiasm waned as concerns grew over the medium’s credibility and impact on public discourse (Davis and Owen, 1998).
The second phase of new media development coincided with the application of digital communication technologies to politics, spawning a diverse array of platforms for content delivery. Beginning in the mid-1990s, political websites evolved from basic “brochureware” to interactive sites featuring discussion boards, blogs, and online fundraising tools. This transformation empowered citizens to produce and disseminate political content, enabling grassroots movements and introducing new voices to political discourse. Citizen journalism gained prominence as ordinary individuals documented events and shared their perspectives, sometimes influencing political outcomes through viral content (Wallsten, 2010).
The third phase of new media’s evolution was epitomized by Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, which pioneered the use of social media as a potent tool for political mobilization. Obama’s campaign leveraged social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to engage voters, share multimedia content, solicit donations, and organize volunteers. This digital strategy revolutionized political campaigning, emphasizing community-building and personalized messaging through microtargeting techniques based on voter data (Gil de Zuniga, et al., 2010).
The enduring legacy of Obama’s digital campaign strategy is evident in the pervasive influence of social media on contemporary politics. Social platforms have facilitated broader and more immediate political discourse, enhancing public engagement and political efficacy among users. However, they have also been criticized for fostering divisiveness and misinformation, prompting some users to disengage from social networks (Linder, 2016).
Story by: Alexander Kukah
