How Media Impacts Government

The media is an important part of government knotted with the practice of democracy. Anywhere in the world, media act as a primary source for any news or happenings. As a primary source, it has great influence on what people think about politics, public opinion and government. Moreover, media is an important factor in political campaigns. There are different factors on which the media impacts governments like;
Social Media for shaping a political profile
No politician disagreed with the popularity through media. Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram give politicians the opportunity to shape their public image and convey a sense of precision to users. Nowadays, voters hold politicians answerable for their wrongdoings. In addition, candidates and their supporters continuously post their views on Facebook and Twitter. Each party has its own pages, from where it broadcasts propaganda and requests for contributions.

Media users and politics
Nowadays, to gain votes from voters, politicians cannot just focus on mega projects and tax reduction plans because now it doesn’t attract people. To gain their attention politicians use energetic and fresh material, such as videos, to communicate with the audience with their government plans so that large numbers of audience cast them a vote. This also gives them the chance to have a modern image that appeals to younger audiences. They remain active, commenting and interacting with followers to know the point of views of audience.
Advertising through social media
YouTube has become a fastest means for politicians to advertise their political campaigns without spending money on advertising space on TV or the radio. This saves millions of dollars, because a digital ad costs a fraction of the price of traditional advertising. . Targeting is also used throughout the advertising industry to make sure that those ads and messages reach the right audience.
Moreover while watching any video the advertisement during video attracts the viewers and forces them to watch that advertisement. This gave the advantage to the politicians that through this advertisement any person attracts to that particular political party.
Our Government Institutions
PEMRA
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority is an independent and constitutionally established federal institution which is responsible for regulating and issuing licenses to the channels for establishment of the mass media culture, print and electronic media.
Its main objectives are to facilitate and regulate the private electronic mass-media industry and to improve the standards of information, education and entertainment. PEMRA was established on 1st March, 2002 during the era of President General Pervaiz Musharraf.
It enlarges the choice available to the people of Pakistan in the media for news, current affairs, religious knowledge, art, culture, science, technology, economic development, social sector concerns, music, sports, drama and other subjects of public and national interest. It also ensures liability, transparency and good governance by optimization in the free flow of information. Saleem Baig is the current chairman of PEMRA.
PID
PID stands for Press Information Department which is the principal department of Ministry of Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage headed by Principal Information officer (PIO). PID is working since 1947 with the mission to establish an authentic source for timely dissemination of information to people through all forms of media.
PID carries out its operation round the clock through a proper mechanism of media projection, monitoring and feedback. Its purpose is to broadcast the government policies and also to tell the Government about the impact of its policies.PID functions as media coverage, release of public sector advertisement, and research.
The Impact of Polls
Political polls play an important part in every campaign. They are often confusing because we often find multiple polls with opposing results posted on the very same day. As with other types of political news, the internet has greatly increased the number of poll results we see each day. Social media has accelerated this even more.
Not only social media sites report the results of polls, we can participate in Facebook polls also. Polls results have a big influence on elections. This is true even if they are flawed. A poll can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, if people think one candidate is far ahead in the race, they might conclude there is no point in voting for the loser. When people are posting the latest poll results on social media throughout the day, there is a great deal of pressure on candidates to pull ahead of their opponents.
How government impacts media
Government plays vital role in regulating media. But besides positive factors; unfortunately government also affects media in following ways

Government ills

First of all government do not focuses on serious issues regarding people of country and when media highlight these issues politicians get active to resolve that issue so that they are not blamed for that issue. Government is elected by we people, so it is responsibility of government to resolve all the problems of people.
It can be any problem either it is flood, target killing or any other serious issue. People who are getting poor day by day government should give them financial aid so that they can make their both ends meat. Unemployment is the major problem our country is facing these days, government should give jobs to the unemployment people.
The major government ill due to media is that our entertainment channels are showing such issues which should not be highlighted on TV. It should be stopped by government.

Policies promotion

Government agencies are using social media increasingly to engage with citizens, to share information and to deliver services more quickly and effectively than ever before. But as social content, data and platforms become more diverse; agencies have a responsibility to ensure that these digital services are accessible to all citizens, including people with disabilities.
Government can promote media policy by providing the conditions for the free formation of opinion, the free exchange of ideas and the real opportunities to examine various phenomena and activities in society. To do this, government needs a variety of high-quality media which covers film, the daily press, radio and TV, and the protection of children and young people from harmful effects of the media.
Government promotes media policies so that their opinion, ideas can reach to all the people of the country effectively. By using media If politician tweet links to photo, video or audio content, they should make their tweet effective so that it can act as a descriptive caption to provide context for the item, and then link back to a website page that hosts a tagged photo, captioned video or audio with full caption.
Unlike past campaigns, where face to face appearances drove the campaign trail, social media has effectively helped both candidates reach audiences across the nation at all times. The use of social media platforms by government for example, are a great way to manage a social strategy across multiple internal teams without the risk associated with disorganized efforts.
Conclusion
The use of social media in politics including Twitter, Facebook, and you tube has dramatically changed the way campaigns are run and how we interact with our elected officials.
The prevalence of social media in politics has made elected officials and candidates for public office more accountable and accessible to voters. And the ability to publish content and broadcast it to millions of people instantaneously allows campaigns to carefully manage their candidates images based on rich sets of analytics in real time and almost no cost.