Has Digital Media Improved the Communication of Political Issues

Has Digital Media Improved the Communication of Political Issues and Ideas in Australia?

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The growth of digital media has influenced societal and political norms in a modernised environment through impediments of resistance in communication. Chen (2013) depicted that the involvement of social media has increased transparency, standardised communication, and enhanced accessibility of information, irrespective of the class of economy or income group of a particular region. Since the Australian population is widespread, conventional norms of communication do not centralise society towards a common political issue, and they continue to prioritise their self-sustenance issue. However, Wilding et al. (2018) analysed that the mass usage of social media has enabled the diversified groups in Australia to focus towards the pressing political precedents and issues that can only be addressed through the unification of views of the population. As a result, political parties have indulged in the creation of a digital presence to fulfil the support requirements. Therefore, the following essay is designed to address the improvements that are contributed through social media in the communication of political issues and ideas in Australia. 

Australia’s success in being considered as a developed economy is powered by their democracy. Alodat et al. (2023) emphasised that the contribution towards democracy extensively prevails through social media platforms that enable users to share their views, grievances and opinions about a political issue. As a result, other users are able to generate an idea regarding the pressing economic and political problems faced by the population without individualising themselves for a particular grievance that results in a lack of attention towards core political issues such as corruption, wealth accumulation, gender disparity, racial diversity and acceptance within the society. However, Gauja (2021) stated that the involvement of social media has enabled the population to focus on the pressing issues that can allow betterment for macroeconomic and societal development. Furthermore, through the inclusion of social media, the transparency in the broadcast of opinions and views is backed by something other than funded groups of large-scale conventional media platforms that could be holistically biased in presenting information (Hendricks and Herrero, 2024).

Primarily, digital media provides unfiltered access towards information, which can be perceived as an advantage or a grave disadvantage for a diversified population (Schroeder, 2018). In Australia, the censor boards are strengthened to address the ethical consideration of users sharing responsible content on social media; however, the policy frameworks are impeded by the legal laws on freedom of speech and practice on social media. Therefore, the lack of filtration can cause a discrepancy in the focus of the political issue. Whereas the conventional media was found to be strengthened in presenting authenticated facts with significant authentic resources before they cite news, they were legally liable to present factual information that was covered under the broadcasters' agreement with Australia. Contrarily, with the mass usage of social media, the credibility of news has decreased extensively due to the ability of users to present false news based on fabricated sources that users believe. As a result, digital media presents a two-sided contribution towards the identification of political issues. 

Political issues often generate focus by an engagement of a political party that was conventionally drawn from physical participants of a particular party. However, the targeted campaigns offered by social media, particularly Meta Ads, have enabled political issues to be presented to the right audience using data analytics and audience filtration options available (Ate et al., 2023). Political parties and groups are instantly able to create viral content that is shared by the masses with the entire population network of Australia, resulting in greater attention to political issues (Arant et al., 2023). In Australia, manifestos of 40 registered political parties are published on social media where the population is able to make an informed decision for the electoral process. Otherwise, the popularity of a singular party was found to be the key reason for their democratic establishment of government. However, Alodat et al. (2023) ensured that the presence of democracy is maintained in Australia. Yet, the focus of democracy is on the competitiveness of the political party and their focus on pressing issues in Australia. 

Formation of cults with conventional media platforms was significantly challenging due to a lack of authenticated belief that could not be presented by the media as authenticated information. However, the unfiltered information shared by digital platforms through the maintenance of anonymity of users has readily prevailed and catalysed the existence of cult groups (Bakir and McStay, 2022). Therefore, the idea generation process and sustainability within the society with transparent communication has yet to be progressed as initially hypothesised or expected by the stakeholders of society. As a result, the children are devoid of social media usage. They are extensively discouraged by their guardians and parents to look for information on social media due to a lack of authenticity and misguidance that could lead them to construct falsified beliefs. Contrarily, Vromen (2018) depicted that the ideas generated on social media materialised with the presence of extensive contributions from the unfiltered audience, who may be intrigued by the concept and wish to interact with the individual as the stakeholder of the idea. However, Arant et al. (2023) depicted that a presence regulatory framework is required in Australia to ensure that responsible content management is exercised within the country while prioritising the safety of information for the diversified demography of the audience. 

The availability of data filtration techniques, which have readily prevailed under the usage of social media, has enabled political groups to identify the audience that may wish to engage themselves in their political movements in Australia (Ate et al., 2023). As a result, social media has played a pivotal role in mobilising retained support for political parties, resulting in a shift of power through the optimal implementation of democracy. Since the majority of the population in Australia is literate enough to use several social media platforms, simultaneously, their interest towards political groups has maintained its focus while they are able to actively communicate with their community of supporters and strengthen their belief towards a set problem. The globalised attention towards gender disparity, elimination of patriarchy, and equality in rights of Australia are movements powered by social media that enable the political party to gain organic support for their manifesto. Otherwise, conventional parties were found to be dependent on the inclusion of hired support to register their protest on the ongoing practices of the government and society. 

The idea of positivity generated by the inclusion of social media is the accessibility of information, which has salvaged the interest of the population. Otherwise, political movements required significant attention from seminars, conventions and rallies to gain support and be visualised as contenders to compete for a change in existing policies and frameworks. However, through the involvement of social media, the need for conventional practices in registering the identification and popularity of political parties has been marginalised. As a result, digital media has readily enabled political parties to induce credibility in their manifesto without investing significant capital in the registration of their brand and its association with the population. With digital media, they are at liberty to communicate with their followers and interact with them regarding the new-found problems that they face in Australia. Therefore, their input on the inclusion of issues is credited above their brand presence in society. However, a regulatory framework and a mediating technology are required to impede the progress of digital media presence in support of existing political issues in pursuit of avoiding its resurgence towards a negative escalation that may hamper the growth perception generated by the users. 

References

• Alodat, A. M., Al-Qora’n, L. F., & Abu Hamoud, M. (2023). Social media platforms and political participation: A study of Jordanian youth engagement. Social Sciences, 12(7), 402.
• Arant, R., Hanke, K., Mittelstaedt, A., Pennington, R., Umel, A., & ODAĞ, Ö. (2023). The Role of Media Use in Political Mobilization: A Comparison of Free and Restrictive Countries. International Journal of Communication (19328036), 17.
• Ate, A. A., Chiadika, J., Ekene, S. S. & Juliet E., N., 2023. Use of Social Media and Digital Strategies in Political Campaign. International Journal of Novel Research and Development (IJNRD), 8(10), pp. 1-13.
• Bakir, V., & McStay, A. (2023). The Nature and Circulation of False Information. In Optimising Emotions, Incubating Falsehoods: How to Protect the Global Civic Body from Disinformation and Misinformation (pp. 71-102). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
• Chen, P. J. (2013). Australian politics in a digital age. Anu Press.
• Gauja, A. (2021). Digital democracy: Big technology and the regulation of politics. University of New South Wales Law Journal, The, 44(3), 959-982.
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• Schroeder, R. (2018). Media systems, digital media and politics. UCL Press.
• Vromen, A. (2018). Political engagement in the Australian digital context. Papers on parliament, (69), 093-115.
• Wilding, D., Fray, P., Molitorisz, S., & McKewon, E. (2018). The impact of digital platforms on news and journalistic content. Digital Platforms Inquiry.