POLITICAL IMAGE AND PERFORMANCE

The importance of image in contemporary political communication is, nonetheless, an occasion of much concern. It is often expressed that political style is now almost as important as political substance and that political success is dependent more on media management than that on policy wisdom. Political leaders and public figures conscious of their public image and performative powers, have always cultivated images for public consumption. Here we can take an example of Nehru with his peculiar red rose and image or Indira Gandhi throwing garlands in public those were given to her. The media image has a backdrop of constructed media image by the construction of ‘self’. It is essential that that individual is the by-product of his own intelligence and initiative.
The contemporary public life has expressed concerns about this constructed image of the politicians by the media. Also there is a growing tendency to construct the political events as major media events with its live coverage. It so much becomes an event that the concerned policy is squeezed out of the news and the constructed image prevails in the public mind. A politician may receive media coaching and construct a media image at odds with their everyday self, but more importantly the media image is the necessary feature for their communicative powers. This media image does not merely depend upon the superficialities of that person but it includes the personality and character of an individual and their ability to connect with the masses emotionally.