Transitional journalism: The midwife of democracy
The reality, however, is that the media in Nigeria and Britain do not always live up to the ideal. Strict laws, private ownership, and sometimes, the threat of alternative forces connect them. The media supposedly helps to shape public opinion, but they are in turn just as confusing and evolutionary as it is new and revolutionary. The media, however, can play anti-democratic roles as well; they create a sense of fear, division and violence among the people. Instead of promoting democracy, they can contribute to democratic decay. This paper examines the impact of media convergence on democratic governance, reflecting on the power it gives to citizens to use news to make informal political choices.
Democracy requires the active participation of its citizens. Udogu a prominent figure in the broadcasting community stated that poor education and information dissemination were partly to blame for the failure of leadership in emerging countries. Thus, the function of news media should keep citizens engaged in the business of authority by informing, educating and mobilizing the public to participate in the democratic process. In many new democracies print media, the Internet and television are the preferred mediums of choice; as they are less expensive and more accessible. The exchange of information offers a greater chance of helping to sustain a more pluralist organization of politics. With all its profound complexities, mass media expands the public sphere and generally, welcomes more participants to independently engage in debate and discussion of the policy. For example, the news media in Nigeria has remained stagnant through out the democratic process of the West African country ...
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... conclusion, democracy works as a system of consensus and equal majority rule that depends on public cooperation. It is the role of the media to constantly engage and unify the public by providing information and educating them on topics with high importance. Although democracy and works differently in developing countries such as: Nigeria and established countries such as: Britain; no real democracy can function without a sense of freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Think about it, freedom of the press is based upon freedom of expression that is an important aspect of citizen involvement in the countries affairs. The British population proudly accepts the media’s involvement in their country as a form of advancement. The press may play a helpful role, but it would be wrong to accept that they alone can truly create a difference as far as democracy goes.
Media finds its central role in the democratic debate in providing information, analysis, and a diversity of perspectives to the public. In recent years, with what is known as a media revolution, the amount of telecommunication outlets has increased dramatically. Often called “a product of healthy market competition,” the media revolution has theoretically expanded the public’s access to a multitude of facts, opinions, and general information (Miroff, et al. 2015). However, with a
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.
First, the role of the media is to represent the public and intervene between the public and the government. The media is a mirror, which re...
The aim of this paper is to look at the relationship between the mass media, specifically television, and presidential elections. This paper will focus on the function of television in presidential elections through three main areas: exit polls, presidential debates, and spots. The focus is on television for three reasons. First, television reaches more voters than any other medium. Second, television attracts the greatest part of presidential campaign budgets. Third, television provides the candidates a good opportunity to contact the people directly. A second main theme of this paper is the role of television in presidential elections in terms of representative democracy in the United States.
One way in which government achieves this objective, is by its ability to misuse the media’s ability to set the agenda. Contrary to popular belief, media is in fact an enormous hegemony. In fact, separate independent news organizations do not exist. Rather than creating an independent structured agenda of their own, generally lesser smaller news organizations adapt to a prepared agenda, previously constructed by a higher medium. Based upon this information alone, it is quite apparent that media functions in adherence to the characteristics of a hierarchy.
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
... small media reforms (like public journalism) will be enough to reduce the commercial and corporate imperatives driving our existing media systems (Hackett and Zhao, 1998, p. 235). Instead, a fundamental reform of the entire system is needed, together with a wider institutional reform of the very structures the media systems work within, our democracies. This will be a difficult task, due to powerful vested interests benefiting from the status quo, including media, political and economic elites. Reforms will need to be driven by campaigns mobilising public support across the political spectrum, to enable the citizens of the world to have a media system that works to strengthen democratic principles as opposed to undermining them. This task is challenging, but it will become easier once people begin to understand the media’s role in policymaking within our democracies.
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.
Press freedom takes influential place in a country. It represents citizen's freedom of speech and the right to know. Media can expose news without obstructor or any controls by government and organizations. There should not be control over the press and press freedom is necessary for regulation the growth of corruption, development of economy and maintenance of democracy.
Let 's first take a look at the media 's most obvious role. We all use the media to inform us. Here, the media report news and information to the general public. This is the most significant role of the media in a democracy because citizens play a crucial role in the political process and must be informed in order to make educated political choices. The media, therefore, must do a thorough and impartial job when informing the public on all government activities and political events. Elections pose a special challenge for
In our democratic society, mass media is the driving force of public opinion. Media sources such as Internet, newspaper, news-broadcasts, etc, play significant roles in shaping a person’s understanding and perception about the events occurred in our daily lives. But how much influence does the mass media poses on our opinion? Guaranteed by the First Amendment in American Constitution, the media will always be there to inform us about the different events or issues they feel are important for the public. The media constantly bombards us with news, advertisements, etc, wher...
Newspapers have allowed for such a freedom in our everyday lives, and most have not even realized this fact. They have provided us with an outlet to speak our mind about politics, societal issues, public differences, and religion and cultures. Searching online to find such knowledge can be extremely challenging; moreover, newspapers always seem to be a place to find valid information. Newspapers have started to come off the printer more slowly over the past decade. More people are turning to electronic ways to find information rather than going to the direct source where that electronic media got their information. Most reliable information comes from newspapers where high up and educated citizens or leaders speak their mind on certain and important topics. The reason newspapers should stay a part of today’s society is because they offer a way for people to speak freely about what they please and get their voice heard, they are always credible, and they help us hear the problems of the world openly from different perspectives.
There are numbered of news channels that have maximum coverage throughout the country. Media contribute a lot to develop public knowledge but even after years of success, media could not alter public’s attitude towards issues. Media should discourage smoothly such attitude of public. Demonstrations and protests are good to increase pressure towards the solution of any problem, but there should be a proper way to express which should result oriented.
Being a good writer is a very unique skill, but so is being able to show it off to the world. Journalists do that every day; they get to write about events happening all around us and share it with the world. Anything from world crises to stocks is their job to report. There are so many different kinds of journalists that deal with many different things. Anywhere from sportscasters to reporters are considered journalists. This job ranges from so many options to write about. People show off their writing skills everyday whether it is through a newspaper or a television screen. Journalism is a great profession to go into if you like to write because there are many types of writing opportunities; working conditions are easy and good, and extensive training is needed.
The power of media lies in its functions, as it can be illustrated by realizing its political power. Media is the cementing force of democracy, because it has supplemented the authority of people by giving them awareness about political system and its functioning. And this is the reason for which media is considered the fourth pillar of state. It strives for the rights of citizens to be served. In short, proper functioning of media is pre requisite for democracy.