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Public broadcasting and democracy
Public service broadcasters and its role in democracy
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This study investigates further the relationship between exposure to specific news media outlets and changes in political knowledge in France. Previous studies have been conducted in the United-States and demonstrated that citizens gain their political knowledge more through reading newspapers than watching television. However, unlike the United-States, France owns a strong public broadcasting system. This paper aims to investigate whether the findings would be the same in France. It provides new insights on political knowledge regarding the use of French news media. Drawing on the European Parliament Election 2009 voters Study, it examines the ability of the news media to supply political information to the public and analyzes its relation with political knowledge. The difference between public and commercial channels in providing political knowledge is considered. Although the literature is divided, the findings indicate that both the use of broadsheet newspapers and television news are positively related to political knowledge. The public broadcasting service leads to higher level of political knowledge in comparison with the commercial one.
Key words: Television use; newspaper use; public broadcasting service; political knowledge.
Introduction
According to Jerit, Barabas and Bolsen (2006), “in a democracy, knowledge is power”. Indeed, political knowledge is a prerequisite to ensure a quality citizenship in a healthy democracy (De Vreese, Claes & Boomgaarden, 2006). Likewise, Berelson (1952) defines the ideal democratic citizen as “well informed about political affairs”. In order to be an active citizen, it is necessary to be knowledgeable and informed about politics (Le Hay et al., 2011). Indeed, information leads t...
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...culture? Communications’, The European Journal of Communication 23: 527–543.
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Van Biezen, I., Mair, P., & Poguntke, T. (2012). Going, going,... gone? The decline of party membership in contemporary Europe. European Journal of Political Research, 51(1), 24-56.
Van Egmond, M.H., Sapir, E.V., Van Der Brug, W., Hobolt, S.B., & Franklin, M.N. (2010) EES 2009 Voter Study Advance Release Notes. Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam
Verba, S., Burns, N. and Schlozman, K.L. (1997) ‘Knowing and caring about politics: Gender and political engagement’, Journal of Politics 59: 1051–1072.
Whiteley, P. F. (2011). Is the party over? The decline of party activism and membership across the democratic world. Party Politics, 17(1), 21-44.
For instance, Menand writes, “The fraction of the electorates that responds to substantive political argument is hugely outweighed by the fraction that responds to slogans, misinformation...random personal association.” Mass voters mostly pursue the wrong or irrelevant information that are irrelevant to the election; thus lead them to vote for the candidates which they do not really want. Their choices mostly lack rationalities. Many voters who are slightly informative think that they are participating in a certain issue and considering the value of the candidates; yet most of them do not have adequate information and knowledge in understanding the meaning of political terms. Voters lack judgment on their government and candidates, their minds are easily being brainwashed by a small amount of people who has informative approaches in participating governmental issue, and affect their
On the national civics assessment, “two-thirds of 12th graders scored below ‘proficient’…and only 9 percent could list two ways a democracy benefits from citizen participation” (O’Connor and Romer 4). The information provided clarifies just how little students know about democracy. Without education on the subject, they are unaware as to how their government contribution is beneficial and why it is needed in the first place. The students, because of their lack of understanding, therefore choose to not take part in their government and fail to carry out their duties as a citizen. The authors provide more research that shows “the better people understand our history and system of government, the more likely they are to vote and participate in the civic life” (O’Connor and Romer 8).
Fairlie, Henry. The Parties: Republicans and Democrats in This Century. New York: The New Republic Magazine, 1978.
Party is an inevitable feature of the democracy and it is defined as ‘an autonomous group of citizens having the purpose of making nominations and contesting elections in the hope of gaining control over governmental power through the capture of public offices and the organization of the government’ (Caramani, 2011, p.220). Parties are ubiquitous in modern political systems and they perform a number of functions, they are: coordination, contesting elections, recruitment, and representation (Caramani, 2011). Political parties are the product of the parliamentary and electoral game, and party systems reflect the social oppositions that characterize society when parties first appear (Coxall et al., 2011).
The low level of political engagement that Schier says is going to be approximately 50% of the citizenry can be explained in many ways. One of the reasons for the low level is what Martin Wattenberg points as being the citizenry lacking party identification. People are tending to not identify with a party and therefore not vote solely for that party. Wattenberg claims that some saw the lack of party identification to have implication that seemed quite threatening for democracy (Wattenberg, 23-25). Keefe points out that “strong partisans are less numerous than in the past. Split-ticket voting is common everywhere. Most voters do not view parties in a favorable light (Keefe, 74).” With the lack of party identification has come the rise of parties of accommodation. Parties of accommodation have made it impossible for the number of citizens engaged in politics to remain as high as it once was. If the party does not stand for something than people aren’t as interested in making a stand with the party. In the 2000 election there where 2 parties of accommodation running candidates of accommodation against each ot...
TerBeek, Calvin. “’Swing’ voters are still partisan.” Chicago Turbine. N.p., 20 Nov. 2013. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. .
Beck, Paul Allen and Hershey, Marjorie Randon. Party Politics in America. 9th Ed. Longman, New York, NY. 2001.
398).It is also stated that news divisions reduced their costs, and raised the entertainment factor of the broadcasts put on air. (p. 400). Secondly, the media determines its sources for stories by putting the best journalists on the case and assign them to areas where news worthy stories just emanates. (p.400). Third, the media decides how to present the news by taking the most controversial or relevant events and compressing them into 30 second sound-bites. (p.402). finally, the authors also explain how the media affects the general public. The authors’ state “The effect of one news story on public opinion may be trivial but the cumulative effect of dozens of news stories may be important. This shows a direct correlation between public opinions and what the media may find “relevant”. (Edwards, Wattenberg, Lineberry, 2015, p.
Cooper, Barry, Allan Kornberg and William Mishler. The Resurgence of Conservatism in Anglo-American Democracies. Durham: Duke University Press, 1988. Print.
Livingston, Robert Gerald and American Institute for Contemporary German Studies. West German Political Parties: CDU, CSU, FDP, SPD, the Greens. Vol. 4. Washington, D.C.: American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, Johns Hopkins University, 1986.
Wattenberg, Martin P. (1986). The decline of American political parties 1952-1984. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Political efficacy refers to the degree in which an individual believes he or she has an ability to influence the government (Chan 2014). The decision to engage with politics is usually a result of one’s attitudes towards participation, in the sense that there cannot be a political action without some prior thought about a political issue. One of the common attitudes related to political participation is political efficacy (Caprara et al., 2009). Political efficacy is individual's faith and trust in government and their belief that they can understand and influence political affairs. it is commonly measured by surveys and is used as an indicator for the broader health of civil society. When an individual has low efficacy, he does not have faith in his
In deciphering what constitutes the brilliance of democracy then, we find that it is not citizens’ ability to make informed decisions or an unflawed and subtly manipulated election process, but the unapparent way in which democracy persuades citizens – informed or not - and leaders – corrupt or not – toward working to build better, more prosperous societies.
The main aim of this report is to analyze the impacts of changes in the media concerning the societal and individual view of politics and politicians. The report also describes significant milestones in mass media since the year 1960 and examines the impact of mass media on how people think politically. The report then considers the effect of technological advancements in mass media and the effect on the results of elections. The use of mass media has increased over the last fifty years in that it is a primary medium through which supporters of various campaigners share their ideas and views concerning politicians and different political parties. Through social media, behaviors and performance of several activists have brought
Americans look to the press to provide the information they need to make informed political choices. How well the press lives up to its responsibility to provide this information has a direct impact upon Americans: how they think about and act upon the issues that confront them.