The Media - Research Proposal Example

COVER PAGE HERE Introduction The media has long been a central actor in what drives political thought of a nation’s citizens. Media serves as a dominant medium which educates society members to equip them to make competent political decisions about what candidate to elect and which political ideology to adopt that is relevant for an existing society or culture. Media maintains persuasive ability to foster political thought and political action. As a social medium, with an outcome of expanding social word-of-mouth, media serves as a facilitating force which influences political activity (Belloc, 2002). This sentiment is supported by Van Belle (2000) who argues that political figures within a government structure are pressured to make socially-relevant decisions within the constant presence of the camera, hence media serving as a force to drive political transparency in decision-making and communications. Without media serving as a medium for educating political thought and providing society members with knowledge regarding the behaviors of political representatives, the public would have inferior knowledge about governance activities and political decision-making. In the early 2000s, after the events of September 11, 2001, political ideology in American society changed as a result of media coverage of the George W. Bush political administration and its efforts to curb the spread of terrorism in the United States. In Western nations, such as the United States, the slaughter of civilians is believed, at the social level, to be barbaric and monstrous (Atawneh, 2009). The acting President Bush led a media-driven campaign to publicize his stance on terrorism which emphasized that these terrorist actors were evil and reprehensible, with this discourse influencing American society members to view Middle Easterns as malevolent and immoral (Graham, Keenan & Dowd, 2004). The President, using media as a forum to spread this politically-motivated ideology, utilized the phrase us versus them, where “us” was representative of peaceful individuals and “them” as foreign opponents of democratic lifestyle and peace-loving society (Leudar & Marsland, 2004). Media coverage of Bush’s ideology toward terrorism influenced American society to adopt his political views related to the terror campaign, giving Bush more social clout which ultimately led to society’s political action to elect Bush for a second term. The media, hence, served as the fundamental influence to change political thought of American citizens, with media-covered political rhetoric driving a new social view of what constituted proper political governance. Political actors within a society are very prominent in setting traditional media agendas in their effort to endorse their own political dogmas and influence what discourse that audiences perceive and hear. One study found that media companies in the United States tend to have bias toward American political beliefs and initiatives which are manifest in media organizations’ content and tone (Kumar, 2006). This bias, in traditional media, when combined with consistent rhetoric, sways political thought of citizens, especially when the content and tone of media communications are congruent with social beliefs and ideologies. The aforementioned phenomenon of media influencing political thought of a nation’s citizens is relevant for traditional media, inclusive of newspapers, television and radio. Today, there are new outlets for communicating governance decision-making and political ideologies known as new media. New Media is defined as on-demand technologies that provide information and content to citizens as well as interactive technologies that provide forums for social creative participation and feedback. New media technologies consist of digital systems such as the Internet, DVDs, and computer-based multimedia (Logan, 2010). The popular social networking site, Facebook, is one example of the new media model whereby users can be interactive participants of discourse creation and expand socially-relevant commentaries and feedback on political issues and political events. Why is the presence of new media in contemporary society important for investigation as to how political thought is influenced with today’s citizens? A study published by Insight found that 40 percent of survey respondents preferred the Internet as their primary medium for news, which reflected a surpassing of television as the preferred type of media for consumers (Eijaz, 2013). Furthermore, statistics reinforce that a whopping 73 percent of all smartphone subscribers access Internet-based social media content at least once per day (Site Rapture, 2012). Furthermore, research has found that understanding of politics is most often negotiated through social connections, discussions with neighbors and other relevant social citizens, and variety of news consumption behaviors. Political beliefs, therefore, are often socially constructed (Kahne, Middaugh & Allen, 2014). With such an overwhelming volume of today’s society members having access to Internet news and with substantial social reliance on instantly accessible social media, new media could potentially have a unique impact on political thought over that of traditional media sources (such as television) which is being overshadowed by growing utilization of new media technologies. Research Question and Hypotheses The purpose of this research project is to examine how new media influences political thought and theory. It has been established empirically that citizens shape their political beliefs and ideologies based on their exposure to traditional media. Concurrently, with much of political thought being driven by the social condition and through socially-driven construction of meaning, new media may even have more influence in shaping political thought because of its on-demand characteristics and inclusive social participation which drives much of how consumers engage with political discourse and ideologies. This study maintains the ability to close an existing gap in theory and empirical literature which does not fully address how political thought and theory is shaped by new media. Findings from this proposed study could be significant in understanding whether political action is motivated by new media, the prevalence or insignificance of socially-driven meaning through new media interactivity, and how society members develop modern political ideologies as a result of new media access and exposure. The study’s main research question is: How does new media technology affect political thought and theory? To effectively answer the aforementioned research question, several hypotheses will be investigated: First, I offer that with ample existing evidence that the social condition and social interaction are highly influential in driving political thought, new media technologies with its dynamics that involve social networking and social feedback systems via the Internet maintains the ability to alter political thought and theory substantially. Secondly, I foresee that new media provides opportunities for broader politically-related discourse and rhetoric over that of traditional media due to the on-demand characteristics of political discussion in new media, which will maintain the ability to change political thought more often than traditional media. Lastly, I foresee that the diversity of communications provided by new media technologies can remove long-standing bias present in much traditional media and will maintain the ability to more rapidly change pre-existing political thought and theory. This proposed study will explore a variety of literature on what shapes political thought and theory, with an emphasis on new media discourse, cognitive psychology, sociology and hegemonic theory in journalism. By exploring the aforementioned domains of knowledge, it should assist in gaining a more in-depth understanding of how new media influences political thought and theory in a research environment where there is a large chasm of understanding surrounding this phenomenon. Literature Review The domain of cognitive psychology asserts that humans, inherently, construct meaning toward a phenomenon dependent on how discourse and communications of the phenomenon are framed. Framing involves how individuals and societies organize information and perceive its relevancy or irrelevancy based on discourse and rhetoric which underpins messages; the foundation for how reality is constructed and interpreted (Johnson-Cartee, 2005). Framing, in relevancy to political news reporting in journalism, is the packaging of a particular political rhetoric with the motivation of encouraging specific interpretations or to discourage society members from holding an undesirable ideology. Framing involves presenting facts and other communications related to politics in a way that insinuates a problem that needs effective solutions. As with the aforementioned example of President Bush’s war on terrorism, many political representatives attempt to utilize rhetoric and discourse that frames a situation using a method which influences political thought from others in a way that favors the political figure’s point of view (Van Der Pas, 2014). With George W. Bush able to utilize the media as a channel for encouraging others to lean toward his personal political ideologies, and finding success in this effort, Bush and other members of his administration framed their communications about terror which encouraged more societal cohesion in political thought and belief. Why, then, would framing in new media be relevant for influencing political thought of society? A plethora of theory in multiple domains of study asserts that decision-making and attitudes of today’s society members is driven by reference group sentiment and opinion. Reference groups, according to sociological theory, are individuals or groups by which the self is compared, serving as standards for evaluating oneself and his or her behaviors (Henslin, 2005). When the reference group maintains aspirational characteristics or somehow relates to the self at the psychological level, this individual becomes a frame of reference which influences cognition, perception and underpins self-concept (Thompson & Hickey, 2005). New media consists of social networking via such sites as Facebook or Twitter, which are becoming widely-used forums for social discussion, which maintains a variety of disparate sentiment from important reference groups (i.e. political figures, celebrities, or those with similar socio-demographic backgrounds). Elbedour, Bastien & Center (1997) offer the theory of identity formation, recognized in the domain of human psychology, whereby members of a society build a sense of cohesive national identity by adopting the beliefs, values and norms of others within their respective society. Humans have a fundamental need to build a sense of identity and understand their place within society by referring to the sentiment and opinion of others. George W. Bush appears to have found significant success in gaining support for his terror crusades and terrorism ideologies as a result of this inherent psychological need stemming from his American viewership. Hence, positive self-concept and self-identity was established through perceived political cohesion across the nation as a result of recurring and consistent political rhetoric related to terrorism and foreign policy. Said (1995) refers to this phenomenon as othering, in which a social group works diligently to segregate itself from another when a disparate group maintains different values and norms that are significantly unique from the comparing culture. The United States considers itself a hegemonic culture, defined as maintaining a dominant and militarily-superior capability to other nations, hence political beliefs and values stemming from political actors (especially related to foreign policy) are often rhetoric which influences the political thought of others within that society as the comparing individual seeks belonging within the hegemonic ideologies. For example, Dunetz (2014) found that one CNN reporter, who had been conducting an interview with an Israeli Ambassador, abruptly interrupted the ambassador in the midst of a discussion about military actions taking place in the Gaza Strip. The interruption was meant to sway conversation over the volume of civilian casualties rather than talking about the logic and rationale for conducting these strikes. Atawaneh (2009) identified that in the United States, a common set of beliefs is that murder of citizens is considered barbaric and detestable. Hence, journalistic discussion of the CNN reporter referred back to the cohesive, hegemonic socio-political values of the nation rather than discussing less-biased aspects of this particular situation in Gaza as identified by Dunetz. In new media, especially social networking, socio-political discussion about newsworthy political events both domestic and foreign occur regularly. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter, as only two relevant examples, have many members of society actively providing feedback and communications about their sentiment, opinion and attitude regarding these events. Interestingly, Neuman (2008) points out the polarization effect that such sites maintain, where users tend to search for communications and knowledge which has relevancy to their own beliefs and confirms their individual opinions. Hence, with social networking (and general Internet websites discussing political events) maintaining new opportunities for selectivity and potential affirmation of one’s own personal beliefs, political thought and political theory might easily be swayed by discussion which involves rhetoric confirming the prevailing social attitudes and opinions of one’s own culture as a consequence of new media. Barlow (1995, p.108) calls this phenomenon a “hardwiring of a collective consciousness”. The aforementioned phenomenon is supported by the explosive success of the Occupy Wall Street campaign in which support for a movement designed to express communal dissatisfaction for perceived economic inequality and injustice in the United States was bolstered by social media discussion (Clark, 2012). This movement, which challenged alleged corporatism and elitism in the American government, bolstered rather instant support and mobilization for participating in the Occupy Wall Street movement by utilizing on-demand social media channels to appeal to a wide demographic that shared the same frustrations and anger over the American political system. Through this new media, solidarity and the ability to network effectively as a means of fighting political policies and threatening longevity of the existing political power structure was achieved in a way that significantly surpassed the capability of traditional media. Outrage was sparked when former presidential candidate, Herman Cain, used traditional television media to tell the protestors to go home, get a job, and to blame yourselves (Bingham, 2011). New media responses to Cain’s annoyance toward the protestors of this movement met with considerable, cohesive social backlash manifest through blogs. Consider the sentiment of regular U.S. citizens to Cain’s controversial discussion via Fanpage (2011, p.2): “Talking about blame yourselves, really?!! In an economy where people with masters have to work as pizza delivery drivers to make ends meet. These people had jobs. When Wall Street and the banks ruined the economy….unemployment skyrocketed. BULLS**T, Herman…COMPLETE BULLS**T!!” “He’s telling them to go home or go get a job. What job? There’s no jobs! U idiot!” After Cain’s comments which ridiculed the protestors in Occupy Wall Street, the volume of tweets discussing this exploded on Twitter, totaling 55,663 individual discussions (Clark, 2012). Was social sentiment from disparate demographics using new media forums the catalyst for why Occupy Wall Street maintained such ample support across the nation? Were the polycentric aspects of this movement driven by social sentiment and outrage against political actors’ antagonism toward Occupy Wall Street protestors, fueled by new media? The evidence would seem to suggest that new media, and the social influences present in these technologies, dictated much change in political thought from disparate demographics in favor of the movement’s organizers and protestors. It is unlikely that traditional media, such as television and newspapers, would have maintained impartiality in journalistic discussion in an environment where traditional media is so heavily influenced by the hegemonic government (Manyozo, 2004), instead focusing on the sentiment and ideologies of political representatives in an effort to affirm long-standing political ideologies and the capitalistic system driving the American economy. Theoretical Foundation As illustrated by this proposed study’s review of literature, new media appears to provide opportunities for affirming social sentiment regarding political thought and serves as a medium for framed communications which dictate political beliefs and ideologies. Where traditional media, often influenced by prevailing hegemonic political thought, served as information frameworks for society, new media seems to provide more diversity in information dissemination which changes the method by which audiences perceive political beliefs and ideologies. Baglow (2011, p.2) describes new media technologies as “egalitarian” and “deeply subversive”. Hence, the theoretical framework underpinning this study is that social influence and social interactivity, when combined with diversity of communications about political phenomenon, alters mental representations and cognition about political events and ideologies thereby transcending the historical influences of traditional media. Methodology and Research Methods The study being proposed is to determine how new media technologies influence political thought and theory. Will new media be more influential in altering political thought as compared to traditional media and with more rapidity? Participants This proposed study will utilize simple random sampling as a means of identifying an appropriate human sample that will be recruited to respond to qualitative questionnaires. Because the research did not uncover any specific socio-demographic profile within the national population that might be more influenced by new media technologies, the random sampling method can gain disparity of perceptions, opinion, and attitude regarding the potential influence on political thought as a result of exposure and interactivity with new media. Hence, this sampling methodology ensures more breadth and avoids classification error common with other sampling methods that attempt to identify a potential participant population based on certain criteria or characteristics. The researcher will approach between 40 and 60 random citizens of varying demographics and backgrounds to entice participation in a short questionnaire regarding measurement of political thought and experiences associated with new media technologies. To gain the most significant volume of valid responses, the researcher will set up a research headquarters in a busy commercial district after gaining approvals to conduct research from facility administration. Basic demographic data and the level of experiences from each participant will be recorded as part of the questionnaire in an effort to identify whether there are any correlations between responses and socio-demographic backgrounds of the participants. Questions on the research instrument will explore the relevancy of social sentiment as an influence of political thought, whether attitudes and beliefs had been swayed as a result of new media interactivity and exposure over that of traditional media, and aspects related to prevailing hegemonic political ideologies and how they are perceived as being disparate or congruent with traditional media coverage of political events and political actors. Data Analysis The research instrument will be constructed utilizing a Likert-type scale, where 1 = not at all, 3 = neutral and 5 = very much. This portion of the questionnaire will provide statistical data indicating the level to which certain political thoughts and political theories have been influenced by new media technologies. Mean analysis, consisting of calculating average sentiment of the participants, will be conducted as part of data analysis, hence illustrating whether there is a majority sentiment related to new media influence on political thought and behavior. Furthermore, the questionnaire will consist of several questions with YES and NO answer criteria related to questions about social influence, new media technologies, and the hegemonic ideologies dominant in American political culture. Responses will be tabulated to determine the percentage of YES or NO responses, hence illustrating whether there is a majority sentiment or whether there is considerable disparity associated with each research criteria on the instruments. Further, any correlations, if any, which are identified with certain socio-demographic characteristics of respondents will be documented and presented in discussion format upon publication of the final research project in an effort to explain the potential influence of new media technologies on swaying or sustaining political thought and theory. Limitation The only notable limitation to this study is that researcher resources and time-scale for completing of the study does not allow for more in-depth interviews with a sizeable sample of disparate citizens. Interviews would provide for more breadth of discovery regarding opinion, sentiment and experiences related to political thought and the influences of new media technologies. However, the selected sample size proposed for participation with the qualitative questionnaires will present findings from very disparate citizens, hence improving study validity rather than focusing on a stratified sample which may hold similar sentiment that does not address political thought from unrelated members of society. Anticipated Findings I expect that the study will return findings that new media technologies are highly influential in swaying and influencing political thought. Based on the foundational literature offered in this proposal’s review of literature, hegemonic political ideologies, the breadth of information provided by new media technologies, and social reference groups will be highly influential in what drives political thought in contemporary society as a consequence of new media interactivity and exposure. Because new media technologies do not disseminate just a single political viewpoint or handful of perspectives and ideologies which is common with traditional media (i.e. television or newspapers), it theoretically creates wide-ranging breadth of opinion and sentiment which was not common historically when journalistic news agencies reported on political events and phenomenon. Therefore, with opportunities for citizens to explore these disparate perspectives, new media technologies will likely be very significant in changing political thought with more rapidity than traditional media. Such events as the aforementioned Occupy Wall Street campaign, which was often covered in traditional media with disdain and scorn from certain political actors, was discussed in new media technologies from a wholly-different perspective; one which defied the hegemonic political ideologies so often supported in many different traditional media formats. While it should not be dismissed that new media technologies also have the ability to support long-standing political ideologies dominating American culture, the ability of citizens to express incongruent and contrasting political thought in new media could have potent sociological and psychological consequences on what drives political thought and theory. Therefore, it is anticipated that new media technology and the modern method of these technologies in providing consumers with vast information and opinion influences political thought much more substantially than traditional media. Conclusion with Policy Recommendations Based on the plethora of empirical research and theoretical perspectives on new media technologies as potential influence on what drives political thought, this proposed study can affirm the perspectives stemming from the domains of cognitive psychology, sociology and political theory about how new media drives revised or sustained political thought and theory; if citizen opinion and sentiment is congruent (as anticipated) with such studies and theories. The psychology of political thought is complex and touches on inherent socio-psychological tendencies of citizens as well as external stimuli which can serve to change one’s political ideologies and beliefs. New media provides disparity of opinion and sentiment when communicating politically-oriented events and phenomenon, which might be considered viable in a democratic society where freedom of thought and expression are guaranteed liberties from a governmental perspective. However, this study’s review of literature found that hegemonic influences are highly influential in driving the framing of traditional journalistic coverage of political scenarios which has, historically, influenced citizens on how they perceive politically-related media content and ideologies. While such a hegemonic order might assert that unfiltered information available via new media technologies should be regulated (so as to sustain a cohesive set of political values throughout the nation), such efforts would likely infringe on basic human rights of freedom of expression which is guaranteed by the U.S. Bill of Rights. Hence, this study can determine whether new media technology interaction and exposure transcends long-standing hegemony-driven political thought and ideology which should be sustained in contemporary culture. References Atawneh, A.M. (2009). The Discourse of War in the Middle East: Analysis of Media Reporting, Journal of Pragmatics, 41, pp.263-278. Baglow, J. 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