ASSIGNMENT

ON

COURSE CODE: MAC426

COURSE TITLE: POLITICAL COMMUNICATION

BY

EGWUONWU IFEANYI FAVOUR

DEPARTMENT OF MASS COMMUNICATION

JULY , 2022

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a) POLLING

Polling is the act of voting in an election the conducting of a public opinion poll. computing the

automatic interrogation of terminals by a central controlling machine to determine if they are

ready to receive or transmit messages

b) SURVEY

A survey is a method of gathering information using relevant questions from a sample of people

with the aim of understanding populations as a whole. Surveys provide a critical source of data

and insights for everyone engaged in the information economy, from businesses to media, to

government and academics.

There are four modes of surveys that are commonly used.

 Face-to-face surveys

 Telephone surveys

 Self-administered paper and pencil surveys

 Self-administered computer surveys (typically online)

c) WHAT IS WORLD MEDIA SYSTEM ?

It is communication from varied media that shape our global context through various political,

economic, social, and cultural factors. International media can be dispersed and consumed via

traditional or digital media. Its broad range connects the world from the bleakest lands to the

busiest of cities.

d) MASS MEDIA DEMOCRACY

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Media democracy is grounded in creating a mass media system that favours a diversity of voices

and opinions over ownership or consolidation, in an effort to eliminate bias in coverage. This, in

turn, leads to the informed public debate necessary for a democratic state.

Media democracy is a democratic approach to media studies that advocates for the reform of

mass media to strengthen public service broadcasting and develop participation in alternative

media and citizen journalism in order to create a mass media system that informs and empowers

all members of society and enhances democratic values.

Media democracy is both a theory and a social movement. It is against concentration in the

ownership of media, and it champions diversity of voices and perspectives within the news

system.

e) MASS MEDIA

Mass media is communication -whether written, broadcast, or spoken- that reaches a large

audience. This includes television, radio, advertising, movies, the Internet, newspapers,

magazines. Mass media is a significant force in modern culture, particularly iAmerica.

Sociologists refer to this as a mediated culture where media reflects and creates the culture.

Mass media are channels of communication which aid the transfer of meaning from a sender to

heterogenous audiences simultaneously. It refers to a varied range of media technologies that

reach a large audience through mass communication. Examples include; television, radio,

newspapers, magazines, motion pictures.

f) DEMOCRACY

is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide

legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choose governing officials to do so ("representative

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democracy"). democracy is a form of government in which the common people hold political

power and can rule either directly or through elected representatives.

Democracy provides an environment that respects human rights and fundamental freedoms, and

in which the freely expressed will of people is exercis

g) THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE MASS MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY

The media have allowed politicians and political candidates to address large audiences, the

power to persuade has become increasingly spontaneous, with presidents and other politicians

acquiring more and more channels through which to reach their constituents, in addition to

theirnormal interactions with other appointed and elected policymakers.

Because of its emerging function as a watchdog that monitors the running of the nation by

exposing excesses and corruption, and holding those in power accountable, the media was

regarded as the fourth estate, supplementing the three branches of government by providing

checks and balance

The media also plays a more basic role as a provider of information necessary for rational

debate. A healthy functioning democracy is predicated on the electorate making informed

choices and this, in turn, rests on the quality of information that they receive.

The media, as an institution, has for a long time enjoyed the position as a trusted primary source

of news and information. Due to the enlarging population, it has become no longer possible for

every citizen to participate directly in the democratic process. This led to the representational

form of democracy where representatives speak and act on behalf of individuals. The media, in

this environment, took on the role of being a voice of the people to those in government.

However, in recent times, questions have also been raised about the media’s representation of the

public. Because journalists, and by extension, the media, are seen now as a representative of the

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public, questions are raised over whether there is a wide enough range of opinion to represent the

public’s interests.

As the media becomes increasingly commercial there are also questions about the quality of the

news and information, which may be compromised when the media focus more on entertainment

to retain their audiences’ attention. There are also concerns that the role of the citizens are now

reduced to a passive observer whose only democratic function is to cast the final vote.

The media has given political parties the tools to reach large numbers of people and inform them

on key issues ranging from policies to elections. The media can be seen as an enabler for

democracy; having better-educated voters would lead to a more legitimate government.

Media democracy is both a theory and a social movement. It is against concentration in the

ownership of media, and it champions diversity of voices and perspectives within the news

system.

h) PROPAGANDA

information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or

point of view.

Propaganda is the dissemination of information—facts, arguments, rumours, half-truths, or lies—

to influence public opinion. Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or

persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively

presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded language to

produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information that is being presented.

i) MIND MANAGEMENT

Mind management is about watching over one’s thoughts and keeping the wrong thoughts away.

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Thoughts become your words, words become your actions,

actions become your habits, habits become your character, your character becomes your

destiny... You think, therefore you are... your destiny. It is all about keeping the human thoughts

pure, positive, godly, and at peace to enable man live life to the fullest.  Mind management is

being careful of what kind of thoughts one thinks per time especially as unpleasant events unfold

in one’s life.

j) RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROPAGANDA AND MIND MANAGEMENT

Some experts believe propaganda works because people want it to. Think about it – when you

see a story that already aligns with your beliefs, you're less likely to question it. You might even

feel comforted, because now you have even more evidence to support your existing beliefs.

Chances are, it'd never occur to you to check if it's true, because it already feels "right."

But there's a deeper psychological process going on, too. See, your brain has an "executive

control network" – regions of your brain responsible for higher-level functioning, like thinking

analytically. Research shows that fear – including fear of immigrants, fear of foreign countries or

fear of people unlike you – can suppress that executive control network.

k) EXPLAIN FRAMING IDEOLOGICAL CLOSURE, CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY

i. Framing Ideological Closure

In cultural and media studies, this denotes the use in the production of texts (including films

and television programmes) of strategies which lead the reader or viewer inexorably to one

interpretation rather than another.

ii. Construction of Reality

The term Social Construction of Reality refers to the theory that the way we present ourselves

to other people is shaped partly by our interactions with others, as well as by our life

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 experiences. How we were raised and what we were raised to believe affect how we present

ourselves, how we perceive others, and how others perceive us. In short, our perceptions of

reality are colored by our beliefs and backgrounds.

l) EXPLAIN THE CONCEPT OF FOURTH ESTATE OF THE REALM

The term Fourth Estate of the Realm, a descriptive term for the Press, is almost unanimously

agreed to have been coined by Edmund Burke, a 19th Century British statesman and orator,

who championed many human rights causes and brought attention to them through his

eloquent speeches. By this description the Press is regarded to be the fourth of the traditional

three estates of the Parliament namely: The Lords Spiritual, the Lords Temporal and the

Commons. In medieval Europe, the three estates depicted the clergy, the nobility, and the

commoners – each of whom sat in designated dais of the Parliament. Representing the Fourth

Estate then were the press men/women who sat at the Gallery of the Parliament to cover

proceedings. Each estate had a very distinct social role and a certain level of power.

Although, society is far more egalitarian today, the idea of the estates of the realm became so

entrenched in European society.

m) EXPLAIN CONSPIRACY THEORY, COPYCAT EFFECT OR IMITATION

i. Conspiracy Theory

Conspiracy theories are explanations that describe the secret and wicked plans and actions of

a powerful group of conspirators as the most important cause of an event or state of affairs.

Although such theories are by no means limited to extreme political groups, they are often

central to extreme ideologies and may radicalize followers. On the far right, we find

conspiracy theories that place ethnic or religious minorities in the role of conspirator, often

in collaboration with traitors “on the inside” of the system.

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ii. Copycat or Imitation Effect

The copycat effect, also referred to as contagion effect or imitation effect - the supposed

power of the media to create an 'epidemic' of behaviour based on that witnesses in the

media. The idea is by no means new; the eighteenth century novel Die Leiden des jungen

Werther by the great German writer Goethe, was accused of having led to a wave of suicides

amongst the young. More recently, the media have been blamed for the 1981 riots which hit

British cities; later in the eighties, for a spate of prison rioting; in the early nineties, police in

Wales asked the media not to report details of suicides involving carbon monoxide

poisoning from exhaust fumes because they believed that suicides were imitating the

suicides in press reports; in 1999, doctors researching the effect of medical soaps reported

that after a 1996 episode of Casualty portraying with a paracetamol overdose actual cases

rose by 20% and doubled amongst people who had seen the episode (source British Medical

Journal, reported in The Guardian, April 9 1999.