Media & Politics....educational, have a look!

    Professor John Zaller’s from the University of California Los Angeles developed A Theory of Media Politics in 1999. It is a complex analysis of media and politics in America. The author presents very interesting arguments. Zaller’s work does not only examine the new coexistence of journalists, citizens and politicians before the turn of the millennium and how new media have changed interaction between politicians and voters, it also explains in detail how a variety of factors conduct and shape this coexistence: among them the changing society, the free market and the new era of journalism and PR. According to his theory,  

“A widely accepted view is that the rise of media politics has been associated with the rise of candidate-centered politics, which has in turn meant greater political instability and less political accountability.”.

    This argument underlines my opinion. I highly recommend reading Zaller’s theory for a broader understanding of changes in media and politics in the US over the last 60 years. Visit the UCLA site for the pdf file of Professor Zaller’s work right here.

Politics & Education Politics

    The second educational file is from Peter Dahlgren who is Professor of Media and Communications at the Lund University in Sweden. His discussion on The Internet, Public Spheres, and Political Communication: Dispersion and Deliberation published in 2005 is a great contribution to how politics and the new public sphere along with new media created a new dimension evolving since the last decade, where those elements interact and therefore create a new public sphere and new approach to politics.

“The Internet is at the forefront of the evolving public sphere, and if the dispersion of public spheres generally is contributing to the already destabilized political communication system, […] the Internet […] also allowing engaged citizens to play a role in the development of new democratic politics.”

    It is great reading and great educational material for those interested in Mediated Politics in depth as it covers not only detailed analysis of the new public sphere but also discusses how electronic communication becomes more and more important for politics and new generations. A link to Professor Dahlgren’s work in pdf file can be accessed here.