Title: The New Media’s Role in Politics | OpenMind
Headings: The New Media’s Role in Politics
The New Media’s Role in Politics
The diversity of content disseminated by new media has created opportunities such as the ability for more voices to be heard.
The Evolution of New Media
Members of the public also were responsible for recording and posting videos that could go viral and influence the course of events.
Providing Political Information
Post-Truth Media
The Ascendance of Fake News
Objective facts are subordinate to emotional appeals and personal beliefs in shaping public opinion.
Watchdog Press or Politicians’ Mouthpiece
Conclusion
References

Content: Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein inspired a generation of investigative journalists after revealing President Richard Nixon’s role in the break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate Hotel, forcing his resignation (Shepard, 2012). Much news in the new media era is defined by coverage of a never-ending barrage of sensational scandals—be they real, exaggerated, or entirely fabricated—that often are only tangentially related to governing. This chapter begins by briefly addressing the evolution of new media in the United States to establish the core characteristics of the current political media system. We then will focus on the role of media in providing information in a democratic polity, and will examine the ways in which new media have impacted this role. The diversity of content disseminated by new media has created opportunities, such as the ability for more voices to be heard. However, the questionable quality of much of this information raises serious issues for democratic discourse. Next, we will discuss how the new media are integral to political coverage in a post-truth society, where falsehoods infused with tidbits of fact pass as news. Finally, we will contemplate the ways in which the watchdog press is being overshadowed by the mouthpiece press which serves as a publicity machine for politicians. The Evolution of New Media
New media emerged in the late 1980s when entertainment platforms, like talk radio, television talk shows, and tabloid newspapers, took on prominent political roles and gave rise to the infotainment genre. Infotainment obscures the lines between news and entertainment, and privileges sensational, scandal-driven stories over hard news (Jebril, et al.,