Political news is a subcategory of journalism that covers civil government and political power. The concept of political news has been around for centuries, but modern technology has enabled the dissemination of political news at a scale never before possible. The advent of cheap printing, the rise of newspapers in the nineteenth century, the invention of radio and television a century later, and the proliferation of the Internet have enabled political news to be available to an ever-expanding audience.
While the political news is often thought of as a source of outrage, it can also serve other positive functions in society. For example, it can help citizens understand the functioning of their government and how their taxes are being spent. It can even encourage civic participation and debate on important issues such as abortion, climate change, gun control, foreign policy and more.
However, the media is not immune to criticism that it is biased and partisan in its coverage of political events. Critics point to the fact that the media is largely funded by advertising, which tends to favor one political party over another, and the influence of powerful interest groups on the news. Brendan Nyhan and John M. Sides argue that journalists covering politics are frequently unfamiliar with political science research and question its relevance to their work, which can enable them to take a particular spin on a story.
When it comes to political news, a journalist’s job is to tell a story in human terms. It can be easy for politicians to hide behind difficult official language, sometimes referred to as jargon, and it is the job of the reporter to bring those words down to an everyday level so that readers can understand how the rules, policies or regulations might affect them.