New Communication Technologies and A Paradigm Shift of Political Communication in Nigeria: A Discourse on the 2011/2015 Presidential Elections
- March 5, 2020
- Posted by: RSIS
- Categories: IJRISS, Mass Communication
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue II, February 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186
Gloria Nnedimma Izunwanne1, Johnpaul Onyebuchi Nduba2
1Department of Mass Communication, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria
2Department of Political Science, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria
Abstract – Politics involves who gets what, when and how. For political organizations to achieve this and for the masses to understand the process, political communication is involved. There used to be an over reliance on the traditional mass media which limited the scope of political communication by restricting politicians and political parties and giving the masses a very little or no platform for participation. Hinged on the technological determinism theory, this paper builds upon how the emergence of the new media, or better, the new communication technologies have afforded substantial social effects in society. It has made political communication migrate from what used to be asymmetrical to a symmetrical or participatory exercise. The use of the new media as a tool for political communication has become a common phenomenon among Nigerian politicians to reach across diverse voters and prospective ones. This paper is a conceptual review of literature which unravelled political communication in view of the newer digital channels like the social media, the internet and mobile telecommunication tools; its strengths and challenges to overcome; its role in sociotechnical change and how these new communication technologies have aided political communication and have been used by politicians in Nigeria particularly, during the 2011 and 2015 general elections.
Keywords – political communication, new communication technologies, digital channels, sociotechnical change.
I. INTRODUCTION
Information rules the world today. However, being practically involved in the communication process rather than be passively exposed to information makes a lot of difference. Communication in politics is an interactive process involving the transmission or exchange of information among the actors or elements of political communication; the politicians, the news media and the public. This process operates down-wards from governing institutions towards citizens, horizontally in linkages among political actors, and also upwards from public opinion towards authorities (McNair, 2003; Norris, 2004). However, there must be a medium which would serve as a sphere where different ideas and views of these three groups of actors who have a right to publicly speak about politics meet.
