New Media, The Restructuring Of Democratic Politics And Some Problems Analysis

In the historical perspective, every innovation in communication technology has brought a new landscape to the American political ecology. The rise of the Internet provides us with a possibility for the restructuring of democratic politics, and the influence of new media to presidential elections is strengthening. Whether for the uplift of social media in2008, or for the prevalence of mobile Internet in2012, the fingertips’elections have caused a digital technology revolution in the political communication field. The result is, as an information channel between the government and the public, new media redraw the political campaign territory, not only change the candidate’s campaign mode, but also lead to the birth of new voters group. American political elections thus present a complex picture of interaction between the state and the civic on the basis of new media platform.On the important moment when U.S. elected her first black president, in Obama’s words, when "we create the history", the Internet myths come to its climax. All kinds of technology determinism claims can be heard:in new media election context, centralized power already disappeared? Political apathy gradually decreased? Equal interaction had been achieved? Freedom of speech finally turned into reality? All these optimisms come along one by one, constructing a hyper-realistic "communication utopia". However, the myth of technical worship to a certain extent is a repetitive discourse of the ending. Through deconstructuring the U.S. presidential elections on the Internet, and studying new media’s role in political elections, we find out that some old things like authority center, political alienation, social hierarchy and electronic surveillance still exist. The same ideology and power relationship are hidden behind new media politics-new media are structured in the domination of rationalism politics and form the complex social system. With a critical approach and a perspective from political economy and cultural study, new media elections may well be analyzed and interpreted. Therefore, the answer is obvious: power is always the core of politics, and "the online politics is just as usual as before". As the French sociologist Eric Maigret said:"Technology has offered politics many promises, but technology is not the same with politics; and the electrical applications in new media may change the path of democracy, while its connotation can not be determined by technology.’It can be concluded that, new media’s role is not only limited in technological innovation itself, but more is a reflection of the common effects between the new communication power and many other factors like political, economic, cultural and social ones. Thus, a more complex multidimensioned international vision is essential to evaluating the relationship between new media and old politics, for it will help us to forecast the trend and future of political cultural communication:as Web2.0Internet technology comes into being, social control in news media depends on the zero-sum game between the government and the public; meanwhile, the innovation in media technology, on one hand, will force the intelligence power to redistribute and form a kind of new knowledge monopoly, on the other hand, might as well bring hopes for the restructuring of public domain, the return of social justice, and the realization of democratic communication.