Public Policymaking in the Age of New Media

Policymaking in democratic societies is becoming more complex due to the phenomenal changes in media forms in disseminating policy initiatives. The power of the media not only provides information and education but also interrogates policy options in order to activate citizen mobilization, participation, and engagement. This chapter examines the efficacy of new media and specifically social media’s impact on public policy. The objective is to unravel its implication for policy through debate and participation as juxtaposed with traditional media. Democratic-participant theory of mass communication and contextual analytic frameworks provide the genus for critique and analysis. The chapter asserts that the emergence of techno-driven new media platforms and digital communication technologies have demystified policy dissemination and consumption. Following in its trail is the positive energy it unleashes to support public policy for development among governance and democratic actors of a techno-driven utopia. Conversely, new media platforms as tools for engendering participation and policy dissemination has been sullied by the production and circulation of fake news resulting from a pessimistic view of an impending dystopia. Despite the weaknesses of new media’s communicative power to influence policy, it continues to play a crucial role in empowering citizens’ escape from being passive consumers of government policy. Unlike traditional media’s news filtering and editorial discretion, new media has ceded this restrained power to ordinary citizens and thus shapes the policy agenda through mobilization, deliberation, and participation.