Communication, the
process of sharing ideas, feelings and information from one person to another,
has always been one of the crucial activities of human kind. Regardless of
their age, people have always been involved in communicating among their
families, friends, groups, communities and even out of their society. Undoubtedly,
communication has played the significant role in civilization, thus,
communication has often been also termed as 'socialization'. Even when human
beings were nomads and living in smaller groups wondering here and there for
foods and security, they used to communicate by available means. And, as the
human history has been the evidence of 'power struggle', more or less politics
was always at the centre of communication. From Stone Age to Ancient age,
medieval age to modern age leading to 21st century, society has always discussed
on politics as anything on this planet can be hardly untouched by political
phenomenon.
Media scholar Denis
McQuail observes, "There has always been an intimate connection between
mass communication and the conduct of politics, in whatever kind of regime. In
totalitarian or authoritarian societies, ruling elites use their control of the
media to ensure conformity and compliance and to stifle dissent by one means or
another. In democracies, the media have a complex relationship with sources of power
and the political system. On the one hand, they usually find their raison
d'être in their service to their audiences, to whom they provide information
and views according to judgment of interest and need. In order to perform this
service they need to be independent of the state and of powerful interests. On
the other hand, they also provide channels by which the state and powerful
interests address the people, as well as platforms for the views of political
parties and other interest groups. They also promote the circulation of news
and opinion within the politically interested public" (McQuail, 2010).
Thus, there has been a distinct
form of communication concerned with dissemination of political message from
political actors to large mass society, which is known as political
communication. Like every communications, the communicator in political
communication aims to persuade win mind and hearts of other party i.e. common
people or citizens with their persuasive message and build their positive image.
Pipa Norris writes in
for the 'Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences,' Political communications is an
interactive process concerning the transmission of information among
politicians, the news media and the public. The process operates down-wards
from governing institutions towards citizens, horizontally in linkages among
political actors, and also upwards from public opinion towards authorities. She
stresses on the circulation of politically manufactured messages not only among
publics but also among the active political party leaders and cadres as well as
among news media which further take the message to large population. Therefore,
political communication is not only related with diffusion of political
message, but also how they are manufactured, processed and analysis of those
message whether they are effective for influencing people.
Two prominent scholars
in political communication – Robert E. Denton and Gary C. Woodward – defines the phenomenon of political
communication as pure discussion about the allocation of public resources
(revenues), official authority (who is given the power to make legal,
legislative and executive decision), and official sanctions (what the state rewards
or punishes). In short, they focus on the overall governance of the political
system and they fail in addressing the significance of symbolic meaning of the message
and activities manifested by political parties or those in power to sway common
people. However, in their work, 'Political
Communication in America', they point out the intention of political
communicators as the major factor involved in political communications.
According to them, what makes any normal communication 'political
communication' is its communicator's intention and purpose than any other
dynamics like origin of the message or the status of the involved political
actor.
Contrasting to the
views of Denton and Woodward, Doris Graber focuses on anything similar to 'political
language,' which along with messages includes also body language, discussions,
demonstrations and every other political acts. In short, everything done by
political parties and leaders to impart any message to publics is a form of
political communication.
Prof. P. Kharel, notes,
'The affairs of the state structures, institutions, individuals, political
parties and their activities, leader's statements and comments, and studies and
research on and about are of interest to the general public. The various
elements of news such as health, crime corruption, fads, foibles, family
romance and accidents get tied up with politics and politicians.' For him, any
acts of political leaders get so much attention among public and make headlines
that their messages are easily communicated, the idea which is also shared by
Graber.
However, Brian McNair
provides the most comprehensible definition of political communication after
synthesizing the ideas of Denton and Woodward and Graber. He defines political
communication as purposeful communication about politics.
Political communication
may be at its peak at the present modern world, where wars are not fought only
with armory but also with opinion, information and propaganda in the form of
media messages like news, editorials, columns, advertorials, and fiery
discussion on air, however, the origin of political communication dates back to
ancient time.
If we even begin with Aristotle’s
Rhetoric and Politics written in 350 B.C. as a the milestone in the field, political
messages have been noted, dissected, and speculated about for well over 2,000
years. The contribution of the then three Greek City State philosophers – Socrates
(469-399 BC), Plato (427-347 BC) and Aristotle (384-322 BC) – cannot be
undermined. They all lobbied strongly for freedom of expression and created a ground
for the beginning of political communication. During the ancient time, people
from Athens and surrounding countries would visit these three scholars and
listen to their public addresses. They used to organize various mass gathering
on public discourses.
Socrates had to drink
Hemlock for his firm belief on 'Freedom of Expression is the most important
criterion for the society'. Similarly, Plato sought after the responsibility of
the citizen, 'Citizens should be conscious of their duties. They should also be
aware of their needs and conditions of the society.' Plato stressed on the need of social
participation and governance in his discourses. Aristotle, disciple of Plato,
gave the most influential statement when he said, 'Man is a political animal.' Contribution
of these scholars in the field of political communication shows the ground for
political communication was laid during ancient time.
The tangible tool
employed for political communication can be 'Acta
Diurna' which was started by then Roman emperor Julius Caesar in 59 BC. The
sole aim of the initiation of the journal was spreading political message to
its commoner about war and soldiers. The history of political communication has
been dark as they were no freedom of expression during the time when the world
was mostly ruled by monarchs. The existence of political communication can be
also linked with development of paper, wooden blocks, press and other growth which
could record the happening and make general public read and write. With all
these developments, various religious texts like Bible and speeches of kings
and queens were recorded. Various poems and other literatures were produced all
praising for the monarchy.
Johannes Gutenberg's
printing press in 1456, what can be called a milestone in human history,
brought up a revolution in the field of political communication. It opened up the
opportunities for communicating with larger population spread across distance.
Within 50 years of the press, there were hundreds of newspapers in different
cities of Europe all disseminating information on contemporary society. William
Caxton owned the first press in England and run it under relative freedom. King
Henry VIII, who was always afraid of power of press, introduced several
controlling mechanisms by 1534.
For much of the past
2,000 years, the communication of news has been carefully guarded. Through most
of the years of the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages, the distribution of news
came under the strict control of both secular and ecclesiastical authorities.
Even after the development of the printing press in the mid-fifteenth century,
it took another 150 years before the political climate changed sufficiently to
allow the beginning of the modern newspaper (Hiebert, Ungurait and Bohn, 1988).
Through the darker age,
now political communication has reached the 21st century, where political
parties and political leaders with the help of possible all means and
strategies like agenda-setting and propaganda pledges to win the hearts of the
publics. Thus, in conclusion, the study and practice of political communication
can be termed strategic communication which is manipulative in nature concerned
with ways and techniques of influencing public or voters in the given political
environment.
Bibliography:
- Denton, R. E. and Woodward, G. C., (1990) Political Communication in America. New York: Praeger.
- Hiebert, R. E., Ungurait, D.F. and Bohn, T.W. (1988). Mass Media V. New York: Longman.
- McNair, Brain. (2011) An Introduction to Political Communication (5th Edition). USA: Routledge.
- McQuail, Denish. (2010) Mass Communication Theory (6th Edition). New Delhi: SAGE.
- Norris, P. (2004) Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Massachusetts: Harvard University.
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