Do New Media Technologies Contribute To A More Democratic Polity
Since the introduction of mass media, academic debates in the field of communications and among the everyday discussions of citizens around the world, tend to emphasize on the importance of news and entertainment media as mediums of political discourse, and especially on their role as dynamic forces to nations’ democratization. In United States particularly, scholars and observers place considerable responsibility upon the shoulders of new media for the current state of U.S. polity and culture.
When the term new media was first introduced, critics that studied it entered the sphere of hope, trying to evaluate whether the new technological forms could foster participation, increase the level of awareness regarding politics among citizens, and reestablish interaction. Internet chat rooms, talk shows, live TV shows, and all interactive multimedia networks of various forms, fueled and continue to feed this hope, which makes contemporary critics believe that the significance of politics could be understood by the vast majority, decreasing lack of interest. But have things changed due to the...