Creating Political Ideologies

The New York Times recently posted an article entitled “U.K. Politics Moves Into Television Age.” The article high lights the fact that Britain is holding its first ever televised electoral debates. The candidates have gone so far as to invest in debate coaches, many of which have a background aiding US Presidential Candidates. The televised debates will be much different than what the candidates are used to in Parliament. The environment will be very controlled; there are strict time limits for rebuttals and open debates. According to the article, it is anticipated that many audience members, because of their current dissatisfaction with politics, will not stay tuned in to the debate for very long. Instead, it is likely that they will only watch for a few minutes and then “will be looking to the news medi[um] to interpret it for them.”
Reading this article reminded me of the philosophy known as political socialization theory (Croteau and Hoynes pg. 244). Advocates of this theory are largely concerned with how media involvement in politics will influence future political philosophy. It claims that, because media is such a large part of socialization, and thus more specifically a large part of socialization in regards to politics, the ways that we use media in politics today will influence the political theories that are created and adopted in the future. This stuck out to me in relation to this article because I can see how the media has affected my view, even of the structure of political campaigns. The fact that another culture, in this case Britain, did not utilize televised debates in their campaigns is a foreign concept to me. In my mind, televised debates are part of political campaigns, but this is only because I have been socialized to think so. Another thing that stuck out to me in this article was the mention that “Optimists see it [the televised debates] as a chance for leaders to reconnect with a jaded electorate. Pessimists fear that it will further ascendance of show business over substance in British politics.” This makes me wonder how much the use of media in politics has influenced the philosophies that are developed. Imagine what politics would be like without media. It seems as though this comment is expressing a concern toward a negative effect of political socialization theory. Media’s impact on political socialization could be a positive one, but it also could be causing a shift toward sensationalism and a lack of discussion about essential issues.
In response to this, the central question that remains in my mind is a broad one: How has media affected politics and their campaigns, and is it positive or negative influence? How will media’s involvement in politics influence the philosophies and tactics that will be developed in the future? According to this theory, media plays a large role in creating the ideology I develop about politics. Is that good or bad? What do you think?