Democracies and Dictatorship for Journal of Communication

Question: Discuss about theDemocracies and Dictatorship for Journal of Communication. Answer: Holt, K., Shehata, A., Strmbck, J. and Ljungberg, E., 2013. Age and the effects of news media attention and social media use on political interest and participation: Do social media function as leveller?.European Journal of Communication,28(1), pp.19-34. The prime aim of this research article was to determine the role of independent media to in political results in the age of social media as maximum of decisions are being published through social media nowadays. The authors used different traditional media and social media comparisons in a four-way process while Swedish election process and determine the use of social media by different age groups. Further, they assessed the result of election by the usage of the political parties and then relates to the use of social media by the citizens to understand the effect of traditional media and social media on the democratic process of Sweden. While researching about the topic, the authors were able to measure the effect of traditional media and compared that to the used social media campaign. However, in the process, use of new media underscore the most significant findings of this study. Further, they just included the online data but missed the influence of the traditional media on offl ine population determining democratic process. Hence, the study depended on the younger generation that uses social media in higher proportion. Besides that, the result was able to provide a comparative study that determines the importance of traditional media in a democratic nation in the presence of social media. Gil de Ziga, H., Jung, N. and Valenzuela, S., 2012. Social media use for news and individuals' social capital, civic engagement and political participation.Journal of Computer?Mediated Communication,17(3), pp.319-336. In this research, the researchers were determined to find out the reach of social media compared to the traditional media to get news and informations related to democratic processes. Nevertheless, it was an important research to conduct as in the context of today's socially?networked?society, the rise of social media applications such as Face book, new perspectives need to be considered and addressed. They conducted a literature review on social capital and participation and collected information related to social network sites, for news, media, and motivational information rather that traditional media options. Further they conducted survey in the USA from December 2008 to January 2009 and found that due to social interaction and communication issues, people preferred social media over traditional media. Age and location was also an important aspect for this purpose. However, the researchers were only open for pre-predicted issues and did not included newer consequences of the use of social media they only tested the possible effect of social media use for news and intrapersonal political efficacy. However, the article was able to determine the comparison of these two media in a democratic country likes USAQ and hence, the efficacy of the research increased. Further, it arises several future implication of research hence, it is included. Whitten-Woodring, J. and James, P., 2012. Fourth estate or mouthpiece? A formal model of media, protest, and government repression.Political Communication,29(2), pp.113-136. The role of media is to provide resourceful information to the citizen so that flow of communication can be managed in the democracy. However, usage of social media by political leads creates a stoppage in the process. This was the discussion in the research by (). The research discussed the Advocacy of human rights to provide media with enough independence so that they can they can honestly report information to communities. To understand the process, the researchers conducted survey in the community to understand the independent of media in the age of social media. They also created a model in which impact of interaction, among and between the news media, citizen and government was discussed. The first model was given a role of watch dog model to understand government repression, the second model was developed to understand public reaction to the news media coverage of government repression and third was the solution to the repression. The candidates in the survey were asked to fil l these aspects. However, in the survey, maximum younger generation included that provided only partial data regarding the society. However, due to the scale of the survey and implementation of such models, the effectiveness of the research remains intact and it has been included. The question Is free and independent media important for contemporary democracies in the age of social media? Main argument In the democracy, it is very important for the traditional media to have independent reporting process as the social media is a personal media through which, manipulation and alteration of data and information may affect the democratic nature of the process. Therefore, in the age of social media, independent media and their reporting hold prime importance for security of the human rights as modification of information can violates the rights and regulation of a democracy. Introduction It is important for a democratic country and its independent citizens to know about each situation without any modification and adjustment. This is the basic democratic right of citizens to know about their nation directly from the government (McCombs, Shaw and Weaver 2013). However, in the age of social media, people have started losing their focus from traditional meida and are completely dependent on social media for each information. However, as the social media a personal platform, the authentication of the data cannot be guaranteed. This is the primary reason this topic has been chosen for the discussion (Ogbondah 2017). Democratic rights are important for personal as well as communal growth and if this right is hampered, the fundamental human rights are hampered as well. Therefore, through this discussion, the importance of independent media houses, in the age of personalized social media has been discussed. As this discussion provides a legal information of the citizens, and provides them with their right to know about each strength and weakness of their nation (Young 2010). Key points There is a strong link between individual liberty and democratic independence of media. Media is a reflection of the society and hence, if the independence of media is intact, the community of the nation is intact as well. Social media is a common personal place, where the information provided can be modified and hence its authenticity cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, the news provided by social media cannot be authentic that the news provided by the traditional media (Sunstein 2017). If the independence of media can be assured, the rights of minorities, and deprived can also be assured. This is because media helps to protect the rights of each individual in the society. The role of media to shape the human minds towards right by providing them correct choices, and correct data so that without any bias, citizen can schose their correct candidate for election. However, social media is biased and cannot provide authentic and correct data to shape human mind. Social media is liable to the person it belongs to, whereas the independent media belongs to the nation and helps to provide correct data to the citizen (Sunstein 2017). Conclusion In a democracy, each individual have equal chance and rights. Therefore, it is the duty of the government to provide chance to free and independent media to cover stories that can shape the mind of individual. However, due to interference of social media this proves has gfaced a lot of issues. The key issues mentioned in the paper discusses the issues because of which, each democracy requires free media rather than social media. References Cass Sunstein. 2017, The Daily Me, #republic: Divided democracy in the age of social media, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017, pp. 1-30. Gil de Ziga, H., Jung, N. and Valenzuela, S., 2012. Social media use for news and individuals' social capital, civic engagement and political participation.Journal of Computer?Mediated Communication,17(3), pp.319-336. Holt, K., Shehata, A., Strmbck, J. and Ljungberg, E., 2013. Age and the effects of news media attention and social media use on political interest and participation: Do social media function as leveller?.European Journal of Communication,28(1), pp.19-34. McCombs, M.E., Shaw, D.L. and Weaver, D.H., 2013.Communication and democracy: Exploring the intellectual frontiers in agenda-setting theory. Routledge. Ogbondah, C.W., 2017. Media laws in political transition. InMedia and democracy in Africa(pp. 55-80). Routledge. Sally Young. 2010, Election Reporting in the 2000s, How Australia Decides: Election Reporting and the Media, Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-20. Whitten-Woodring, J. and James, P., 2012. Fourth estate or mouthpiece? A formal model of media, protest, and government repression.Political Communication,29(2), pp.113-136.