0 Political Communication

Political communication is a sub-field of communication, political science. Political communication can influence political decisions, and voting patterns either positively or negatively. Through political communication, politicians pass vital information about their agenda, objectives and strategies of how they will implement them. For effective political communication, the public officials need to identify and understand their audience so that they can use the best approach to reach them. Through political communication, the public gets to know, discuss and pass their needs to the public officers. These needs include health, education, security and social well-being. In this paper, I will discuss the role that political communication has played among residents aged 18-25 years from the city of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia is the capital city of Pennsylvania and it is ranked the sixth largest city in the United States of America. It is located at the southeast of the state at the junction of Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers. The city bears a total area of 369.4 km², which includes both water and land. Philadelphia is a cosmopolitan city with a population of about 1,547,297 people. Out of this, 41.4% are African Americans, 39.5% are whites, 11.7% are Hispanic, 5.6% are from Asia, 1.3% of the population belongs to other races. American Indians make up 0.1% of the population while 0.01% are inborn Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander. In Philadelphia, the mayor of the city is the most powerful political figure and most of the decisions made pass through him (Philadelphia, web).

In the olden days, youths had little or no interest in voting or politics because they believed that voting was for the old people. Democracies did not see the need of involving the younger generation in voting or making political decisions. Unlike those days, the present politicians have greatly incorporated the young generation including the youths in politics and campaigns, and incorporated curriculums that help them learn about politics and political communication.

 The three main means of communication between the public officials and residents between the ages of 18 and 25 are the mass media, civic education and social networks. The mass media has played a vital role in political communication since time immemorial. Through mass media, the public officers have used means like the television and newspapers to carry out their campaigns. The media can either build or destroy the political ambitions of an aspirant. Most people rely on the media while making vital decisions concerned with voting. This makes most aspirants to treat media companies with lots of respect especially on matters involving their agendas and objectives on issues that affect their voters’ well-being. To communicate to the youths, the politicians have used youth friendly slogans with promises such as job creation, good health care, and better education systems. The politicians have also used radio shows and commercials that help them reach to the younger generations by giving them useful information.

Civic education is a significant factor of political socialization. The public officials through their policies have introduced the Student Voice program in the learning curriculum across schools in the city. This program helps the youths learn about their voting rights, the constitution and other things that help them make wise decisions when voting.  Through civic education, the students get an opportunity of self-governance. They also get the chance to participate in projects that are community based which help them interact with the citizens within their communities and other public officers. Such programs help them mature in the policy making process and in turn, help in building and developing the community. These programs help the community change from activities that affect the well-being of the youths such as engaging in criminal activities and drugs. Proceeds from these projects finance the campaigns and some go to charity.

The public officer have in the recent times spent a lot of time in the social media as one of their campaign tools to target the young generation voters, most of them being college students. These social sites include twitter, Facebook, and BlogSpot, and are mainly frequented and used by the youths as a primary mode of communication. Some have used the social media to spread propaganda against their opponents. Some of them have hands-on control when it comes to the management of their sites. A number of politicians have also used short messaging services (SMS) to reach their targeted voters through their campaign managers. When the youths receive these messages, they discuss them among their peers and forward to their older folks. Some politicians have also created online forums to discuss their ambitions, give room for questions, and receive feedback about them.

The public officers have volunteered to encourage communities towards realization of better health, higher income, and an enhanced education system. They formulate different strategies to achieve this goal. For example, through the graduation coach campaign, the Mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, has committed himself and his administration towards improving the education systems in the city. His goal is to increase the number of graduating students from high school to college by 80% by the year 2015. To achieve this, he has used approaches such as the Philadelphia Council for College and Career Success, Project U-Turn and PhillyGoes2College. The Philadelphia Council for College looks at efforts to meet the education goals in the city. The aim of project U-Turn mandate is to look at the drop out crisis in the city while PhillyGoes2College is an information centre within the mayor’s office whose main aim is to help youths of all ages attain a degree.

The public officers have also come up with programs like the Get Healthy Philly, which is a funded public health initiative whose focus is on healthy eating, tobacco control and active living among many other beneficial things. They have invented this program through collaborating with community-based organizations, government agencies and academic institutions to increase the availability and affordability of nutritious foods, decrease consumption of health-depriving foods and beverages, and increase physical exercise among Philadelphians (Phila.Gov, web)

The officials in the city of Philadelphia have helped them in the creation of youth groups and forums that aim at helping the youths come together. One of these groups is the Philadelphia Youth Commission and the Young Government Leaders. The Philadelphia Youth Commission represents the youth Philadelphia in public hearings and their main aim is to give testimonies that reflect the youth perspectives. This commission works with the city’s public officials, non-profits organizations, community organizations, and private entities to come up with strategies that will improve the lives of Philadelphia’s youth (Pasek, Lauren, Daniel, and Kathleen, web). The Commission serves to assist all the youths in the city regardless of their political, education or ethnic background. Their work also involves advising the Mayor and other decision makers on matters pertaining to the youths. They do this by commenting on laws and policies that impact youths and improving the youths’ lives by coming up with public service programs. Additionally, they evaluate how effective the youth programs and policies are, and make partnership with the community and other youth organizations. These partnerships help deal with common issues affecting the youth and they involve themselves in training the youths to help them prepare for leadership in the future (City of Philadelphia Youth Commission,web)

Voting in Philadelphia has been made easy for the college-going students because it is now possible for them to use their school identity cards that have been made a legal voting card by the government. For them to use the cards, they need to have their full names.

To increase the voter turnout rate among the youths, politicians need to educate them about the reasons why their participation is important in the American Democracy. They can do this by increasing the involvement of college student in public life and activities and connect some actions that will give them a sense of belonging. They can also create forums that will give these students more voice that lead to them giving an input towards the policy making process of the community. Finally, through civic education, the public officials help the college students understand how the public resources are run, thus help them gain interest in politics. Involvement of the youths helps them develop leadership skills that they will apply later on in the future as they engage with the government activities.

            In conclusion, political communication is a very vital tool in the decision making process. This is because it helps individuals acquire enough information to assist them make the sound decisions.

 Works cited

CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement). 2010. Web 18 April 2012.

"Civil Education." The National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good. 18 April 2012

"Graduation Coach Campaign." Graduation Coach Campaign. 2010. Web 18 April 2012.

Pasek , Josh , Lauren Feldman , Daniel Romer , and Kathleen, Jamieson. "Building Political Efficacy through Civic Education." Stanford University. Journal of Applied Developmental Science, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2012.

"Phila.Gov | Public Health.". City of Philadelphia: Mayor Michael A. Nutter. 2010. Web. 18 April 2012

"City of Philadelphia Youth Commission." 2009. Web. 17 April 2012

National Association for Civic Educators. 2002. Web 18 April 2012

"Philadelphia, Pennsylvania." City-data.com. 2010. Web. 18 April 2012.