Politics and media Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Politics and media - Research Paper Example For effective intersubjectivity, the producer of the message needs to adapt it according to receivers’ interpretive process. On the other hand in order to effectively understand the message, the receiver needs to interpret the message in accordance to its source. Key Challenges to Achieving Intersubjectivity in a Fractured Media Landscape The media landscape is changing. Presently people are shifting from traditional forms of media like newspaper and television to the web , blogs, RSS feeds and social media sites to obtain their news updates. Initially what had been a passive audience has now become active with the help of these non traditional media (Jisun. Et al, 2011). The users are now capable of filtering, sharing and commenting on news. Just like all walks of life, politics too has been greatly influenced by the new media. Since 2008, politicians would not think whether or not to use the new media, but how to incorporate it. President Obama is often cited as one of the k ey candidates who changed the face of political campaigning by utilizing networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. Some even claim that President Obama’s success in Iowa had a great deal to do with his ability to mobilize young voters through the new media (Perlmutter, 2008, p.160). He was effectively able to achieve intersubjectivity through his campaign by truly understanding the needs of his listeners. The youth generally perceived politics are dirty and didn’t want to get involved, through his campaign President Obama attempted to make politics inspiring and interesting. He also chose the best media—the social website to aggressively deliver the message. The use of SNS cannot be applied in all instance because according to a survey it was found that the greater the political involvement of a voter, the less likely they were to use SNS for political information. This suggests that although SNS is significant in the US as a political tool for furthering the same thoughts in politics or for campaigns and for acquiring support, other resources also need to be utilized to gain favor of politically active voters. According to the intersubjectivity groundwork set out by Hewes and Planalp, a similar concept was propagated by Hawkins and Daly who proposed that communication depends on knowledge. And in order to have effective communication cognition is mandatory. The producer of the message should be capable of relaying their intent and the receiver of the message must be able to attach cognitive meaning to them (Hawkins & Daly, 1988, p.222). In order to reach a consensual meaning of the message both the parties should have shared meaning and cognitive variables. Selective Reinforcing and Challenge Avoidance As we have established that cognition is vital to intersubjectivity, any lack thereof can result in failure to achieve intersubjectivity. Once the receiver or producer is engaging in selective reinforcement of the messages, they are alter ing the cognition. Through selective exposure, the receiver or producer picks the elements from the message that suits them and filters out the rest of the information. This selective exposure can enable them to intentionally focus their attention towards structural features or physiological characteristics—