On the other hand, the same politicians who criticize the media attempt to sway and dominate it, trying to get their messages out to the electorate. What does this say about journalism in the current age? To start with it speaks about the substantial presence the media has in our political system. In many ways, our democracy depends on the media, just as much as the media depends on the political system of a country. As said by Angela Phillips and Tamara Wtschge, “Information is to democracy what oxygen is to fire.
The press plays such a pivotal role in the society that its influence and estimate far exceeds mere entertainment value. A perusal through the functions and impacts of this great institution will clearly illustrate this. The press is one of the pillars of democracy, promoting and safeguarding its values. By faithfully reporting the proceedings of the legislative and political organs of the democracy, journalists not only provide essential information to the public but also act as a check to the ruling power. In other words, a free press prevents the government from going about doing as it pleases.
Despite all its flaws and political biases, it provides an invaluable service to the nation in that it reminds us that we have a fundamental right to speak our own beliefs and to know what is going on in government. However, this could be described as an idealistic view because the media is as much the tool of the government as the government is a tool of a media. Both are driven by the force of power and money (Marxism) and therefore liable to corruption (Jones and Norton, 2010). What we read is often misconstrued for a certain effect, whether it be to sell papers or to gain support for a political party. As long as the complex relationship between politicians and media is
This manipulation is in found forms of government bribes to journalists and ownership of firms by political party advocates. Where as the media serves to inform the public of government procedures and link the people to the government, the recipients of news must be prudent of the manner in which this news is portrayed.
It is interesting to comprehend the relation between media content and political power. What biases do the media experience in producing news in relation to government interests? Media, according to Herman and Chomsky, has a tendency toward elites’ political interests; media tend to follow official’s agendas. Herman and Chomsky proved this generalization through the use of terminologies and the way they place such kind of news (a foreign country’s election or attitudes toward countries) in US’ newspapers (with regards to number of news, editorial page, and front page of newspapers). Herman and Chomsky could be true when we relate their idea with Gan’s notion that (people behind) media tend to have ethnocentrism, and even possessed with patriotic spirit when there are political conflicts between the country where media is originally produced and its foreign countries as their perceived enemies.
The corruption, classification, usage of money for militarization purposes. The Wiki-Leaks and its systematic defamation has showed us what major impact, revealing classified document has had on political communities. The media, the government, corporations are constantly trying to manipulate public and we need to stand up, open our eyes and see the truth. The information is key to power.
In order for the U.S. government to control and determine the public’s popular perception of reality, the government must shape and oversee the information that the media reports to the existing populous. This particular process of democracy is known and referred to by political scientists as cognitive socialization. However, many of us, who do not adhere to the cushioning of political correctness, refer to it as the propaganda machine. Numerous political scientists consider cognitive socialization to be the most effective form of political socialization. According to theory, cognitive socialization is doctored up information, which is strategically fragmented in such a manipulative manner, that the probability of its rationalization is highly predictable.
Not For Publication “Journalists are given the privilege of shared access to the first draft of history, and some responsibility to make sense of it.”(NFP) The light that Chris masters sheds on the ethics and responsibility of investigative journalism in relation to the public and on whom the report on is explored in Not for publication. Masters’ expository discourse develops the common ‘essential objective is profit rather that saving the world.” Masters first hand experience and unearthing of the true facets that are todays investigative media, is more sinister than one would expect. Through direct expressions of Masters’ concern we see how the public is stimulated and deluded by masses of entertainment and propaganda, the cry for bad news is so inert in our society, that the concept of Masters exposition stories would not mediate to the mass media. The level of manipulation of the news is alarming when brought to our attention, Masters goes on further to explore why this news is manipulated, to our ill-surprise, it is manipulated for the very people who watch it, the public. The escalating sensationalism and violence that the media embellishes to is what Masters argues to be, what the public want, “the massage is hard to avoid: [the public] want blood, their own blood”.
Media’s investigative reporting somehow led to ouster a president and befalls a corruptive government. It causes a democratically elected official become more acquainted with an intrusive press and build a culture of disclosure and openness as they assume their responsibilities more accountably. True liberal democracy will not be possible without the active participation of the people. Media educates, informs, and mobilizes these people in order to be anxiously involved in the business of domination. Media is not just a mere inert recorder of events but a watchdog.
Our current society and past have associated drugs with violence to an extent that is not even true. Politicians and the media have the power to create moral panic based off of narrative and stories that are not even statistically backed. By creating these sensational narratives politicians are able to advance their political agendas by scapegoating a group such as addicts and the media is able to create these great stories everyone wants to hear. The media’s stories further pushes politicians to make policies that hurt certain groups because of the moral panic they create. At the end we must understand that there is a problem with our system and that by blaming the addict we are not really helping.