According to IGI Global, a leading international academic publisher, mediatization is a theory that argues that the media shapes and frames the processes and discourse of political communication as well as the society in which that communication takes place. In the world of politics, it refers to politicians’ strategic use of broadcast and social media, a theoretical perspective that acknowledges the increasing presence of media in all aspects of personal and political life, arguing that media logic and political logic intertwine. Mediatization is said to be the process whereby the media and news platforms shape and frame public discourse and debate, acting as an accelerant in advancing the democratic and political systems and campaigns.
Mediatization may be regarded as an unheard of term in our context but that does not mean that it is not here already. In fact, political communication without mediatization would be impossible today in this age of the internet. The politician or the political party that mediatizes the most is perceived to be more common people-oriented. Think populism. Mediatization is here to stay and it cannot be wished away. A politician or a political party without social media presence, for instance, will be handicapped when it comes to political communication. Political actors and institutions have become increasingly dependent on the media and the use of social media in politics will only grow bigger from here. Even here in Nagaland, if the next assembly elections were to be held as scheduled, one thing is for certain: social media presence in the election campaign will be greater than ever. It is just a question of how much resources will be ploughed into them.
So far, the BJP seems to be far ahead of the other political parties when it comes to mediatization in Nagaland. How the BJP at the national level uses the media to influence the masses is a well-known subject and the state BJP seems to have been tutored well by the national BJP. The state BJP is without a doubt the most social media savvy among all the political parties. While almost all the state political parties have their respective media and communication departments, the state BJP is observed to be more decentralized and, therefore, more persuasive. BJP is perhaps the only party with a district level media team in Mokokchung, an active one at that. It is also observed that when it comes to individual politicians, those belonging to the BJP are far more engaging than the rest. Almost all of them are actively present in social media as if they were following a protocol. The BJP has so far effectively used the media to their advantage, in Nagaland as well as in Mokokchung, and why won’t they? In a hypothetical scenario, if the BJP were to storm to power in Nagaland, we might even see a Nagaland version of the Godi media. That is how much mediatization is happening without us even knowing.