George A. Krimsky: The Role Of The Media In A Democracy

It being the leading source of news since the printing press. We put our faith in the media to report accurate facts unbiasedly. Between 1983 and now the media industry has consolidated from 50 individual companies to 6. That means that though the impression given is that there are a multitude of sources to attain information, the messages being communicated are all one in the same. The limitation of media sources cause a ripple effect of limited information, allowing these companies to control the public’s perception on

This underscores why politicians have long perceived mass media as a veritable channel of disseminating an ideology so that the society can mirror itself against what the media feeds it and thus be manipulated. This further begs the question of whether the media is a contributor or otherwise to societal problems in the face of political ideological dissemination.

What does freedom of expression really mean? Why is it important to our democratic society? In the landmark case of R. v. Keegstra (1990), the issues of freedom of expression

The media is important for us the people to inform us about our government. In this paper I will show the relationship between the media and Congress. There are many forms of traditional media newspapers and magazines and TV news programs. Until recently people got most of their information and news from traditional sources. I would agree with scholars who argue that the media plays a major role as an agenda setter by focusing the public’s attention on a few issues. Public opinion is shaped in large part by people’s exposure to the media. There are two main areas of media agenda setting the first is reporting the news the second is telling us how to view the news.

The power and consequently the responsibility of media, especially mainstream, is something that shouldn’t be underestimated. It often sets the agenda amongst the general public and is the reference point for the majority of the discussion surrounding it. For many, what they see and read in the media forms the basis of their opinions on most important topics. Despite warnings not to, many believe that everything they read in the media must be true.

In the propaganda model media’s function is to inform the public with values and beliefs that will integrate them but if the power is in the hands of state, which means if the state controls the media. It is clear that the media serves the state and their dominant elite. The propaganda and Duncan’s analysis both agree that the journalists that covered the Marikana massacre had critiques and inequality in their reporting. Both Chomsky and Duncan focused on this inequality of power and civil servants. Clearly money and power are able to filter out news that is fit to go to print. This means that government and dominant private interests are able to get their messages across to the

The national media is instrumental in allowing the electorate to develop opinions about contemporary issues. The media is incredibly influential and its power can be wielded for the benefit of all, or it can become a detriment to society. Some media outlets seek to sensationalize the news, sacrificing informing voters in favor of the bottom line. It is through people and organizations who seek to provide the most accurate and impartial view of an event that popular sovereignty gains much of its power. A commitment to informing the public, even when the information conflicts with a writer’s social and political philosophy, can be a difficult one to maintain. Yet, reporters uphold it everyday. This can be seen in the news site CNN (Cable News Network), which is known for having a liberal bias. Despite said bias, it does not shy away from portraying Hillary Clinton, a democrat, as a flawed candidate in an effort to be unbiased. Such a commitment is essential to creating a political and social dialogue in our nation, and as the saying goes, “when dialogue fails, democracy fails.”

We are living in information age, where quick access to all types of information is a way of life. People around the relay on media, for information related to politics, culture, sports, technology, economy and various other factors. Although media is applauded for its role in transforming our life by providing relevant and accurate information, there is increasing exasperation about current media practices. Many people believe that current media practices are not aligned with the objective of providing correct information to public. In doing so, media portrays a picture that is favorable to its own objective and may contradict the reality; consequently these practices are termed

In his article “A Farewell to Journalism?: Time for a rethinking,” media critic Robert McChesney focuses on the idea that professional journalism in America has been in a major decline—and if a solution is not agreed upon to save it, our democracy itself will be in peril. More specifically, McChesney attempts to convey the idea that government intervention is imperative in order to salvage professional journalism as a whole and save democracy in America. He argues that government intervention in the form of subsidization and nationalization of the media is required; he writes, “The future of journalism left to the market will likely approach what education would be like if all public subsidies were removed…. It would be a nightmare for any credible democratic or humane society…” (McChesney 619-620). It is apparent that McChesney believes that in order to have a functional democracy, a robust Fourth Estate must also be present. Throughout the article, McChesney defends his claim and warrant through credible research and analysis—yet he falls short at critical points, especially when he assumes transferability between European and American policies, attempts to quantify freedom, and fails to realize the true relationship between the free-press and the government. These discrepancies within the flawed research that he presents render his argument for a national media system unsuccessful.

“The media are a primary source of those pictures in our heads about the larger world of public affairs, a world that for most citizens is ‘out of reach, out sight, out of mind’ and what we know about the world is largely based on what the media decide to tell us” (McCombs).

"Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." This quote by A.J. Liebling illustrates the reality of where the media stands in today's society. Over the past twenty years there has been an increase in power throughout the media with regard to politics. The media's original purpose was to inform the public of the relevant events that occurred around the world. The job of the media is to search out the truth and relay that news to the people. The media has the power to inform the people but often times the stories given to the public are distorted for one reason or another. Using slant and sensationalism, the media has begun to shape our views in society and the process by which

Without the media, how would the citizens be able to hold the government to account for their actions? A fair and just society is built by transparency and accountability of the leaders. The media serve to promote this, by acting as a witness of government actions. Politicians make decisions and take action on behalf of the public. Journalists analyse those decisions and give reports of the consequences to the public.

When the White House felt a retraction was not enough because so much harm had already been done, the media got extremely upset with the White House, due to the pressure they were putting on the publication (52-53). Begala agrees with Hewitt that the media has a bias, but argues that it is a liberal bias. He cites the media's obsession with the Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal and how, "Even when Clinton was leaving office, he was hounded and pounded by the press" (199). He argues the news coverage was unfair, brutal and unethical in the way both Bill and Hillary Clinton were treated during the scandal (200). Begala also says Al Gore was treated very poorly by the press during the election, by being misquoted. Gore made major contributions during the early phases of the internet and made a comment on CNN saying he "took the initiative in creating the Internet." Begala argues this was blown out of proportion and more than a thousand articles have been written quoting Gore saying he said he "invented the internet" (202). The people's perception that certain publications are bias can have a negative affect on journalists as a whole. While the public demands that the press question politicians, Robinson says there is public discontent when bad news is reported due to the publics distrust in news and a "kill the messenger syndrome." At times, the public will assume all media is the same and when one publication is guilty of inaccurate or bias

Noam Chomsky (1997) begins his critique of the role of media in politics with presenting his readers with the question: “What kind of society do we want to live in, and in particular in what sense of democracy do we want this to be a democratic society?” (9) He then poses two conceptions of democracy: one where the public has the means to participate in the management of their own affairs and the means of information are open and free; or the second conception where the public must be barred from managing their affairs and the means of information is kept narrow and controlled (Chomsky, 1997, 9). Admittedly, this is a strange way to define democracy; however, Chomsky (1997) urges us to understand that the latter is the prevailing conception that his been in that way in theory for a long while (10). Throughout the rest of Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda Chomsky examines American propaganda efforts and discusses how both major political parties use the falsification of history, suppression of information, and promotion of meaningless discourse to stifle questions about U.S. policy.

Thousands of our nation's men and women were fighting for their country, yet the media limited the amount of information that they chose to pass on to the public. Each day the media is faced with the choice of making decisions of what news to pass on, when that news could make a significant difference in someone's life, or in the fate of our nation.