Media's Role in Politics

Introduction

The important identity of a responsible media is playing an unbiased role in reporting a matter without giving unnecessary hype to attract the attention of the gullible public with the object of making money and money only.

Discussion

As political parties start media for themselves and utilise it for their own selfish ends, the role of the media is very much narrowed. During elections, in democracy the media is an effective tool for getting the public opinion in its favour. Presently, the mass media play a fundamental role in politics. They, acquire vast amounts of authority with reference to the political process.

Governments are conscious of the political significance of the media. They have developed philosophies about the political role to be preformed by the media in their societies, and ways to manage the impact of the media on government actions. The Latin meaning of media is "middle", as it is the middle string of communication from the dispatcher and the recipient of information (Gantz Fitzmaurice & Fink 630-637). Within modern society, the media sends out political propaganda from the political sphere to the public. Propaganda is information spread for the particular purpose of promoting a doctrine. Alternatively, propaganda is the reason, which reflects the sights and benefits of those advocating or opposing it.

Reporters and their editors, lean to structure political news in ways, which elaborate rivalries among leaders, and to a lesser extent, the race involving government and Opposition frontbenchers. To a degree, news in the present day is a form of popular entertainment and fails to notify people in a consistent way. Citizens are more dependent on the news as a reliable resource for information in comparison to the newspaper (Reagan Pinkleton Aaronson & Ramo 170-177). Television is an educational mediator that motivates and circulates these thoughts, which provide the prevailing interests inside the variety of social classes that make up its viewers.

The media are technologically created, and economically beneficial forms of human communication detained either in public or private ownership. They disseminate information and entertainment across time and space to a wide audience. Ownership of media corporations significantly influences the delivery and spread of political information to the communities. Public broadcasting stations such as the BBC in the United Kingdom, and CBC in Canada, have lost viewer's support and market shares due to the prevailing influence of media (Austin & Pinkleton 1-21). Their companies have power ...