Political communication
Edward S. Herman notes that the expensive nature of the printing press meant that early on in the technology's existence, labour and co-operative organisations were easily priced out of the press media market due to capital constraints, meaning that corporations obtained an early grip on the market.
[10] Campbell became an influential and controversial addition to the political communication toolkit of Tony Blair's Labour government in the United Kingdom.
For example Barack Obama's presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012 are notable for mobilizing supporters, as they helped innovate the use of social media to engage voters and raise funds.
[12] Volodymyr Zelenskyy's successful 2019 Presidential Campaign also featured heavy usage of social media posts.
[13] Today, Political communication continues to evolve quickly, as new technologies such as AI and big data analytics have begun to reshape how campaigns can target and persuade voters.
[15] The company was found to have assisted Donald Trump's election campaign by unethically mining user's Facebook data, exemplifying increased levels of distrust of corporate and political institutions by the public.
[citation needed] This includes public discussion (e.g. political speeches, news media coverage, and ordinary citizens' talk) that considers who has authority to sanction the allocation of public resources, who has authority to make decisions, as well as social meaning like what makes someone American.
For Brian McNair, this means that this not only covers verbal or written statements, but also visual representations such as dress attire, make-up, hairstyle or logo design.
[citation needed] Strategic political communication during the event included both silencing and persuasive discursive activity.
[23] Discursive activity aimed at silencing consisted of plea bargains, censoring Guantánamo detainees’ descriptions of their own torture in pre–trial hearings[citation needed], deals with journalists to censor or withhold information that affected national security[citation needed], weeding out personal sousveillance of torture online,[citation needed] and suppression of visual sousveillance of torture while court–martials and criminal investigations proceeded.
[citation needed] Destruction of videotapes of CIA interrogations and withholding key information from intelligence oversight committees also occurred.
While admitting that political communication in the mass media has diversified and developed some more liberal patterns in recent years”.
[27] In cases like the on-going conflict like in Syria, the majority of media formats are censored towards the Middle East in order to avoid further catastrophization of an event, possibly by the West.
[clarification needed] For example, in Syria, the Rebel Free Syrian Army was created as an opposition to Bashar al-Assad's dictatorship.
Therefore, Herman and Chomsky argue that the interests of the corporate elites are not overly concerned with the democratic rights of citizens and that this creates a new form of propaganda, which has damaging effects on democracies like the United States Government.
[32][33] With more digital native citizens coming into the voting population, social media has become an important medium where politicians can establish themselves and engage with voters.
[40] With almost half of the Australian voting population active on social media, political parties are adapting quickly to influence and connect with their voters.
