MEDIATIZATION OF POLITICS AND IMPACT ON SOCIETY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO POLITICAL DISCOURSE DURING BIHAR GENERAL ASSEMBLY ELECTION 2020

Purpose of the study: Elections are symbolic affirmations of a country‟s functioning democracy. Yet, in a very real sense, they also reflect assertions of asymmetrical power that contribute to legitimising the decision-making authority of those who stand for office and win. The media, which once functioned as merely channels of communication within the election process, have now emerged as independent power centres operating „autonomously, according to its own economic and symbolic logics‟. The capacity of the media to set political agendas, which has been defined as the „assignment of special relevance to one particular issue or set of information by the source of the message‟ with the expectation that the audience will respond with heightened attention to the content and format of the message has also been noted. Methodology: The narrative literature review method proposed by Green, Johnson, and Adams (2006) was employed as the method for this article. Relevant peer-reviewed papers published during the period 2011-20 were considered for the narrative review. Appropriate papers were selected by a Google Scholar search using the keywords „Mediatization‟, „Political Communication‟, „Credibility of Press‟ and ‟India‟. and „political communication. Main Findings: The broad aim of the present paper was to explore the current academic literature in the field of Mediatization of Politics and Crisis of Press credibility in India. The narrative literature review undertaken indicates scant work with limited focus on the broader issues. Traditional media especially electronic media mainly TV has its own influence on voting behaviour and political engagement was the well-explored domain, but the determinants and uniqueness of such communication have not been explored. Applications of this study: The indications from the review showcase that the magnitude and essence of political communication have changed through the years. The spectrum of political communication through social media has a great role in political and civic engagement. This study will be useful to the researchers in the field of mass communication, journalism, and political science.