WHAT IS POLITICAL COMMUNICATION?

Mukesh Devrari

Mass Communication and political participation have meshed in each other to the extent that politics in modern mass society cannot exist without it. Mass Communication is used to ensure political participation which ensures the legitimacy of the ruling class. Every type of governing system needs to interact with people and the global community for a variety of reasons. It led to the growth of political communication as a practice and subject matter of study.

Political Communication? 

Political communication is a transmission of politically relevant information to the ruled by the rulers. It is a dynamic element of the political system and the processes of political socialization, political participation and political recruitment are dependent on it.

Karl Deutsch in his book ‘The Nerves of Government’ says, “There are two ways to study political communication. One is to study it as a black and white affair, where means of mass communication exists as machines between political organizations and audience.”

In this case, it is assumed that media projects objective reality to people as it exists. It does not influence the messages which are being served to the audience. It can be argued that news coverage on various occasion remain as objective as possible, mainly in the cases where no vested interest are involved and nobody has anything to lose and nothing to gain by being bias.

Another way, according to Deutsch, is not to look at mass communication tools or means an unbiased mediator between political organization and audience. Excessive conspiracy theorizing will not serve any purpose. But the obvious fact must be recognized that mass media is a cohort of political organizations rather than a companion of masses irrespective of the system of governance.  

Study of political communication must take into account the political system of a nation state. It functions differently in democratic and non-democratic systems. Political Communication is black magic. Its objective is similar, but the way it is being applied differs in democratic and non- democratic systems.

Democratic System is open. The flow of messages is theoretically unrestricted in it. The means of mass communication have a free role. This mechanism plays a positive part in bringing legitimacy to governing elites. The people know about the decision makers, they also know about the pressures on lawmakers and their reasoning to take a particular step.

There is hardly any direct censorship on the dissemination of news and views. It means people at least know about their government and take cues from the action whether to support them in elections or not. That’s why consent building has emerged as the biggest applied form of art in democracies around the world. The mature the democracy is the more it requires consent building.

In non-democratic systems, strict censorship over the dissemination of news exists. States generally have a monopoly over means of communication. But the non-democratic states also need legitimacy to govern, to maintain law and order. To maintain peace. However, due to new emerging technologies, total suppression of news is impossible in any political system.

Critique

The way mass media is being used in democracies is a huge scandal. At least people are aware of the unscrupulous methods of non-democratic regimes. But democratic governments are ‘no holy cow.’ Irrespective of governing systems government needs legitimacy. Otherwise, it cannot rule for long. Government of any kind needs legitimacy it makes the art of political communication of foremost importance.

The whole purpose of political communication within national boundaries is summed up by Inkeles in his book ‘Public Opinion in Soviet Russia’, “Both the system of communication and the control apparatus are oriented towards a single goal. They must serve the instruments through which party and government mobilize the mind and will of the population. They must see to it that what ought to be done is done, what should be thought and felt is thought and felt.”

In the democracy interconnected elites decide the terms and conditions for managing the economic and social life of the majority of people. They use three methods for doing it.

            a.       Persuasion

b.      Manipulation

c.       In case both of these highly sophisticated methods fail, then ruling classes have no qualms in using violence and force.

Mass media helps the ruling class in capitalist democracies to manufacture consent among the larger population to justify the even inhuman and brutal acts of government. The way government trying to crush the rightful Maoists demands in red corridor of India is an example of political communication by government and the corporate world to demonize tribal community who are fighting for their small pieces of land as terrorists and anti-nationals.

Hundreds of years ago, Saint Augustine narrated a story. Alexander’s navy caught a pirate. Then Alexander had an audience with him. 

Alexander asked him, “How you dare to molest seas.”
That pirate replied, “I am a small man and I have a small boat. People call me a pirate. You have such a huge navy. You molest the entire earth and people call you emperor. Why.”
Emperor did not answer. (Noam Chomsky narrated this story; I changed the context so that it could suit the argument.)

No emperor is ready to answer the question Augustine raised. The answer lies in political communication. Maoists may have killed few policemen or paramilitary personnel who tried them to push on the brink on the orders of democratic government as the government or ruling elite needs that land so that it could be handed over to corporate houses for doing business. It is there hard luck that Tribals, minerals and fragile environment stacked one above the other.

Political Communication is complex. Its impact is profound. It is organized, yet a portion of it is unorganized. Democracies never allow alternate views (perspectives other than of ruling class) to echo in the mainstream. It’s an informal structure, similar to caste in India. 

Everyone knows and at the same time don’t know anything. Almost in all countries around the world with few exceptions, national media stands with the foreign policy of their respective governments. Ideally, issues should be analyzed and debated on merit. All views must be heard and shared with public; only then they could take have an informed decision. But the reality is too grim.  

Politics is a power struggle. That power comes from people in the form of their consent. The only way to have their consent is to communicate with people. So, political communication is a natural outcome of perpetual churning or stirrings in democracies. In fact, politics cannot be seen separated from communication.

Articles and Books referred -
Chapter 8 - Concepts of Political Sociology (Principles of Modern Political Science - J C Johari)
Mass Communication Theory- Dennis Mcquail
Remaking Media – Robert A Hackett and Willian K Carr
The Media and Political Process – Eric Louw

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