POLITICAL SCIENCE

Role of Media in Educational Policy Development

Role of Media in Educational Policy Development

Introduction

It is a well-known fact that in today's modern era; media plays a significant part in shaping and forming public opinion and perceptions regarding issues, social and political, that have been a point of debate over a period of time. There is widespread acceptance that our perceptions and beliefs of incidents and events taking place in the world are formed largely due to the manner in which the media, television and newspaper, communicates them. There are only a handful of individuals that have actually experienced a terrorist attack personally. A fewer number of people know what it feels like to be indicted in an unknown country for drug trafficking. An even fewer number has had to deal with having known a perpetrator of violent crimes or have been direct victims of such individuals' crimes. The intensity and reality of such events and incidents and our response to them are based solely on the visuals that we see on television or the words we hear on the radio. The media in society provides us with an augmented or shaped account of events as we become increasingly reliant on these sources for information on the outer world (Bryant & Zillmann, 1986, pp. 86).

The Media and Education

Education is one area in which almost everyone has had a direct experience of some kind, unlike those events that were mentioned above. The general experience is that which is spread over 12 years of schooling (six years of primary education and six years of secondary), in which we experience what it is like to be in a classroom environment. This experience takes a new point of view when parents see their children begin to go to school. Based on these experiences, we can assume that majority of the population would have sufficient knowledge of the educational process; while some would like to think of themselves as experts on the subject or any other relevant issue. That the majority of the population has had experience of education or schooling it can be said that these individuals would be less susceptible to any form of bias, distortion and fabrication of information presented by the media. But this belief comes to nothing according the literature on the issue. David Berliner and Bruce Biddle, in their book “The Manufactured Crisis”, have severely criticized the manner in the United States media provides coverage to initiatives for school reforms and data on student achievement. Biddle and Berliner are of the view that the media is bent on convincing the general public that the education system in the country is failing to fulfill its purpose and responsibilities to the community and students. They prepared a report card that covers the matter of media coverage of educational issues and reveal seven short-comings.

These shortcomings include the media's tendency to convey negative news more than the positive one. The list also contains the issue of insufficient and over-simplification of several complicated social ...