Essay on Mass Media's Political Power

The powerful media barons have always altered broadcasts to achieve their personal or corporate agenda. What purpose does the media serve now? Measuring Bias on Television by Barrie Gunter has elaborated on the idea that news was originally set up to act as a national tool to stir thoughts. But is it? No! Is the media even enlightening the public now? After careful speculation of mass media and the communication world, I am under the impression that broadcasts have been used to entertain, frighten and cause controversy as a means to keep people watching.

Mass media can be a powerful tool, but it can also be a hindrance to the public if the facts are not checked. From the invention of the printing press, radio, television, and the internet mass media has revolutionized the way the public gathers information each and every day. Many of the sources we use for gaining knowledge and facts on current events today are controlled by a very small group. This small group controls many of the ideologies that drive our political system in the United States. The major political parties are highly affected by the information that is reported as facts on a daily base. A famous quote by Ronald Reagan comes to mind, “trust, but verify” and this could not be truer today when most of the public depend on mass media for the vast majority of their information.

When political candidates are campaigning these days they are using the media as a way to get votes to get elected. The influence of mass media, American politics have been quite a spectacle about it, and the way that politics are run using the media. The idea of mass media mass media is supposed to make it easier for people to participate in political decisions, understand how everything works in politics, and hold government officials accountable. But during this generation the media is often used to manipulate and obscure the true form of political issues. The diversion of attention is one strategy

Political institutions shape citizens lives. They shape their freedoms and restrictions, their opportunities and motivations, and to have uninformed voters can mean detrimental outcomes on what these are. It has been shown that there is too much reliance on the mainstream media to provide for us what as the public ultimately needs to know, and therefore what the media chooses to share with us can change our perceptions on parties. This is dangerous for two reasons. The first is that there is information that the mass media cannot share with us because they find it unimportant or unbeneficial to them, thus meaning we are unable

The role of news media is imperative to modern democratic process. For most of the people news media is a dominant source of information about the world they tell us what matters, who matters so the quality of democracy depends upon the information media provides (Lewis, 1997). If we want to understand how media works we have to look at its institutional structure for example how it is organized, who controls and funds the media (Chomsky, 1997). Now the big questions is does all the information we get from mainstream media is authentic? Or some views are dominant while others are excluded. In past 30 years there has been a large research that the media is influenced by wealthy businesses and conservative interests (Herman, 1997).

Politics and the media have long been intimately involved with each other, with media strongly setting an agenda in which politics is very important. (Harris 1999,p.167) "Our perceived reality of the real world is largely a product of the media." (Harris 1999,p.186) It is not known which influences more but there are definitely two sides to the story. Many studies have been done to decide but each comes out with different answers. Many say that the media has more of an impact on politics than does politics on the media. "The two have always been natural adversaries." "Skewering each other in print and in conversation, but generally enjoying each other's company. (Forum)

It is the year 2014 and the media plays a significant role on informing the public on elections and campaigns and politics; although, the public is in constant need of new information from the media, there is an underlying distrust in the American population on the media for false campaigning covered and which can be perceived as media bias. There are countless of misconceptions on how the government can and does influence the media and equally how the influence media has on the government. Moreover, the media aids in the persuasion of what the voters should care about in elections and what foundation they should use to evaluate the candidates. There is a reoccurring relationship between the government, media, and the public; meanwhile, the media on occasion shape the public’s opinion in their favor and it has an even more important role on influencing the voters on what issue to focus on rather than influencing them on what to think about on the issues. Additionally, the media has the power to categorize what are “important problems” and whatever they feel the public should be more concerned with. A vast majority of the public are unaware on how huge of a role the government has in the media. The media’s public officials are the sources in the news that help the government decide the media’s content. On the contrary, the media can also set the political agenda by narrowing the specific issues and persuading what issues the public and government should be more concerned

The effect of media is profound and far-reaching. All over the world, the media influences our values and intrudes upon our deep-seated ideologies and beliefs. Indeed the media has been a powerful force in influencing people’s perceptions, and more importantly, their behavior as well. Business, politicians, and showbiz personalities pay huge sums of money to media firms in order create an image or change an existing one. Politics in particular, has been making use of the media to generate public support for their campaigns and support for certain policies and legislations.

The current extreme role of mass media on Americans has greatly affected citizens’ view on fundamental politics and has been generated as a venue of inclining messages for consumption. Media has immense and often unnoticed power in American society because it performs a number of significant functions to the democratic process. Without the media, reporting news to individuals to keep them involved in society and politics would be extremely strenuous, which exemplifies that the media serves as a foreground for both politicians and American citizens. Many controversial sources has been prominently focused on how news has shaped people’s views and senses regarding the democratic status and how it has revoked politicians attempts of making unjust changes to the constitution. Although many claim that politicians are to blame for the tumultuous political climate, it is the media that fuels our social tensions.

The Mass Media is an important feature of modern society; its development has undoubtedly been a core factor to rapid social and technological change and also to the rise in personal income and standard of life as well as the decline of some social traditions. Mass media can be defined as venues for messages that are created for consumption by large numbers of people. It is a term used to denote a section of the media specifically envisioned and designed to reach a very large audience such as the population of a nation state.

Firstly, in order to understand the major influence that the media has on politics and elections, one should understand what the term ‘media’ includes.

Over the years the media has been a regular part of our societies life. Whether we are watching our favorite television sitcom or watching our favorite news program almost all of society is somehow attached to some sort of media outlet. We turn to our televisions when we want to have a laugh or when we want to know what is going on in the world and our communities during the evening news. And when we want answers about why things are happening around us we turn to the media. The media has been referred to at times by conspiracy theorists as “The Fourth Branch” of government (Neumayr, 2014) because of the influence that it has over the mass population. So why is the media such a big part of everyday life in society that such a bold statement can be made, comparing the media to the other branches of government? What power and influence does it have over us?

Since the invention of technologies such as the telegraph, radio and eventually television, which enabled communications “produced at a single source [to be] transmitted to an infinitely large audience” (Fearing, F. 1954), the social impacts of communications via mass media have been a subject of intense research by political and social scientists. This literature review intends to examine the major theories and perspectives on mass media with regard to its impact on society, which existed throughout the 1950’s and 70’s. Special attention will be given to the subjects of human social development, distribution of power, and human knowledge.

In this essay we are going to take a look at the mass media and its role in changing public opinion. This involves analyzing various changes that have occurred in media coverage over the years as well as certain strategies used by media outlets such as framing, media bias and public relations, advertising and affiliating, and “parroting” between media outlets.

Interestingly, the newspapers have demonstrated the substitute role for public gatherings in certain communities by addressing their shared issues of concern. So they become the first variable (Dylko, 2010). Secondly, another media use variable is exposure to the political news on TV. As a result, this news informs people about various current political situations and activities. However, lastly, the political talk shows having a unique format of discussions on a single issue with politicians and journalists on board, convey the status of that particular issue, its implications and politicians’ viewpoints and attempts to solve the specific matter.