Exploration Into The Party-media Phenomenon Of The Western Mainstream Party

Since the late 20th century, the network's role in the social and political is growing with the rapid development of modern communications technology. This does not only break the specific social strata monopoly on political information,but also replace certain functions which was embodied by the political parties in the political life of the past. People no longer use participation in political parties as the main channel for accessing information. They directly turn to media for help, especially the networks. Political parties are not able to be used as the exclusive linking bridge and bond between citizens and the government anymore. Meanwhile, the western mainstream political parties and political organizations have noticed that the Internet has the technical potential for the development of party politics. The network is challenging the traditional mode of political parties. At the same time, it supplies technical support for the political party's innovation of system and behavior. In this era, presidential election and policy advocacy through television and the network has become a necessary part of political activity. Many western mainstream political parties set up their own web sites and home pages and make use of network technology to connect people, campaign and party construction. This major change of western mainstream political parties'organizational structure and activities can be summed up as the media of mainstream political parties and the"media-oriented political party"phenomenon. Namely, from the pursuit of media's ownership and using it as a tool of class struggle and political commentator into the pursuit of the media's favor. And reform themselves with reference to the operation of the media. To some extent, they choose leaders and policies according to the media's reaction. Western mainstream political parties'this kind of media-party phenomenon will certainly have a major impact on its democratic development.U.S. political parties, particularly the Republican and Democratic have close relationship with the media historically. In recent years, they make overall transformation themselves timely along with the development of mass media. One important feature is the media-party. This phenomenon is reflected in all aspects of American politics. In short, the western traditional mainstream political parties are generally undergoing a profound transformation for all kinds of reasons especially the rapid development of media technologies. One notable aspect is the growing media-party phenomenon which is a very worthwhile research topic.