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Chasing the Wind: Assessing Philippine Democracy, Second Edition
experienced learners. Moreover, a participatory, experiential approach might
be more conducive to learning. Lastly, in order not to exclude school dropouts,
perhaps a more experiential learning strategy can be devised for out-of-school
youths within their community settings so that they do not miss out on the
socialization effects of a good education.
Media, the internet and social networking sites. Teodoro's (2016) chapter
in this volume discusses the Philippine media system at length. In this section
focus will be on media as the third most powerful political socialization agent.
Ortega (1984) noted how her young student respondents believed that people
from mass media were representatives of government. And perhaps it is not
totally unthinkable to believe that mass media practitioners speak for
government. Some of them actually do. But a consequence of this mistaken
belief is the reinforcement of the credibility of media pronouncements for the
young, impressionable mind and, hence, their enhanced potency in the shaping
of their values, beliefs and behaviors.
Whether or not people mistake mass media as representatives of
government, it cannot be denied that media plays a very powerful role as a
political socialization agent. A study of rst-time voters from among students
in Metro Manila indicated that television and personal networks (i.e., peer
group) were their main sources of election-related information and these
greatly inuenced their beliefs and attitudes about elections (Capadocia, et al,
2008). These data concur with the ndings of Quiñones (2013) on the
importance of media (e.g., television, internet, print media, radio) as the
preferred source of information on government and on being Filipino among
university students. As individuals move away from home and leave school
after graduation, media plays an increasing role in their continuing
socialization process.
Media can also inuence political socialization in subtle indirect ways. In a
2015 quasi-experimental study on attitude formation towards the Bangsamoro,
Quiñones demonstrated how exposure to a graphic and negative affect-laden
news clip shifted student's attitudes from a neutral to a more negative attitude
towards the Bangsamoro. An objective, unbiased report did not lead to any
signicant shift towards negativity. This demonstration clearly showed the
immense power of traditional media in directing attention and leading the
public to think and feel in a particular way. Selective vivid images quickly
shape emotions, create strong impressions and direct beliefs and behaviors.
People in media should thus be more aware and responsible in their role as
political socializing agents.
Much has been said about the millennial generation, those born after 1980.
"Now ranging in age from 18 to 33, they are relatively unattached to organized
politics and religion, linked by social media, burdened by debt, distrustful of
people, in no rush to marry— and optimistic about the future" (Pew Research
Center, 2014). Though this is data from an American population, we see some
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