The Extent to Which the Todays News Media Play a Democratic Role in Our Society - Essay Example

? The Extent to Which the Today’s News Media Play a Democratic Role in Our Society al affiliation: The Extent to Which Today’s News Media Play a Democratic Role in Society Introduction Democracy in the media means that media should uphold the urge for all citizens in by voicing their needs, listening to them and informing them without any bias from any side Wells and Hakanen (1997 p57). The media’s democratic role in the society entails serving as a channel in advocating the political view point. In practicing democracy in the society the media should ensure openness in the state by allowing people to access the media and to participate in decision making. This makes the audience well informed and knowledgeable in making effective and rational use of information that is circulated by the media according to Wells and Hakanen (1997, 43). In today’s society the media should not just remain a mere business oriented organization but should act as an adventure for advocating the truth. This means that it should be more committed, focused and objective not to be used as an instrument by the powerful. The responsibility of the media to the society is wide as it is the source of believed of different information which can not be accessed through other means as suggested by Shamsi (2006, p120). Therefore there is the need for the media to maintain democracy in dealing with such issues. The media can be referred to as the fourth arm of the government after the parliament, judiciary and the executive due to its role in connecting the society as a whole. In this respect, the media is the fourth pillar of the society. Since the power of the news print serves to mould the thoughts of millions of people allover the world, then the role of the media in the society can be said to be stupendous Wells and Hakanen (1997, 67) . In so doing it significantly participates in preserving the democratic essence of a country. This implies that the media should remain content driven and focus on providing issues which are important and useful to the society. The Extent to Which the Today’s News Media Play a Democratic Role in Our Society The present news media plays a crucial and democratic role in the society in various ways. These ways are defined depending on the way they impact on the society. Creating Awareness/Informing the Society. The media since its development has been used as a major source of information to the society. Today, it makes people aware of their political, economic and social happenings across the globe. Due to its growing active role in the society it is currently being used as a mirror which shows the citizens the truth and the realities of life. For instance it is through the media that politicians are reminded of their unfulfilled promises to the citizens. According to Calcutt and Hammond (2011, p132), the today’s news media makes an excessive coverage when there are general elections to help people know the type of politician they would elect to represent them by showing what they have failed in and what they have achieved. Hence most politicians today are on their toes to achieve their goals to avoid being embarrassed to the community. Socially, both Television and radio have participated in informing the illiterate people in the society by creating channels in various vernacular languages. This make sure hat even the illiterate are aware of what is happening in the society and take part where necessary , for instance during elections. The news media also makes people aware of social gatherings which are important in channeling their interest to the government hence democracy. The increased technology in the media has also played a democratic role in economic aspects of the society. For instance the internet has made access to various products at the click of a mouse Liebes and Curran (1998, 28). The individual are also capable of getting information about certain products through advertisements and the internet. It is also through the media where people are made aware of the government’s budget and stock exchange information. Representing the People within the Society Freedom of speech is an essential aspect of democracy. The media gives the people freedom to air their views during their discussions about contemporary issues facing the society. This way the media is capable of representing the will of the people to those responsible. Since not all people can be part of the media the few are privileged to be part of it also raise their concern on behave of the entire society. This representation of the citizens’ will is important because it is universal and diverse. The media also gives a chance to those groups who want to be heard in a special way to the society. The representation of the society by the news media is broad and requires the media to be honesty and objective in communicating on behalf of the society. In economic terms, the media is capable of marketing various products from different producers allover the world on their behalf. Media advertisement also embraces a sense of democracy in ensuring that every person becomes aware of different products in the market as suggested by Shamsi (2006, p39). This way the producer and the consumer needs are met sufficiently. Socially, many artists have been able to create their mage across the world through the media which represents them to the society. Acting As A Public Watchdog/Taking Public Responsibility The ability of the media to possess the power of communication makes it the media’s responsibility to protect the society. The citizen perceives the media as a system of checking for their welfare in the society. They support the media in checking how the societal power is utilized to avoid threat to security. It warns the society on any actions that the government may have to act on and their impact to them as a society. The media also plays a democratic role in ensuring that citizens are informed on any insecurity matters such as invasion of diseases, drought and other issues that affect the society. According to McNair (2003, 45), the media in maintaining democracy today, it acts as a watchdog to the three pillars of the government that is the legislature, judiciary and executive. Though, the news media today has been used by many politicians as instrument for themselves, it has tried to articulate the failure of the government in many projects. Since the society upholds and trusts the media for its news, it is important the media remains relevant and honesty so that it maintains its societal respect in maintaining their trust. In achieving this objective the media remains focused and committed to the societal life by taking the responsibility of speaking the truth (Wells and Hakanen 1997, 114). In maintaining democratic role of responsibility today, the media keeps the citizens informed of anything that is in threat of their piece such as wars, and political up-evils. The media has tried its best in guiding the society toward true development by encouraging them to participate in particular projects through advertisements. The role of taking responsibility has gone to an extent of engaging the community in discussions about what is facing the society. Being responsible or a watchdog as a democratic role for the news media today thus means it focuses on both the right and the wrong hence acts as society’s guiding force. Maintaining Social Unity The media as a tool for democracy in the world of today has played the role of unifying the society. The media has played a major role of distributing cultural values across the globe. For a society to remain unified there should be a sense of common culture and this has been the role of the media in upholding democracy. In as far democratic role of the media is concerned, media distributes cultural values through giving shared experiences to the mass population. The more the individuals feel that they have something in common with the rest of the society the more bonded they remain (Liebes and Curran1998, p28). At the same time, due to this unification of culture individual feel their responsibility for the other and thus maintain fairness so they can remain in peace with one another. The media unification has encouraged the society make democratic decisions for their common good. For instance the need to initiate and participate in development projects in foreign countries. Television as a form of media communication has played a major role in democratic unification, for instance broadcasting of peace making rallies in different countries thus promoting democracy all over the world. Developing Public Opinion The media has played a democratic role of molding public opinion on various issues in the society. The issue of public opinion is related to political aspects of the society. It this through this public opinion that development is enhanced as the views of the citizens are communicated to those governing them as suggested by Franklin (1997, p45). The aspect of public opinion may appear to be related to the aspect of representation as a democratic role in the society. However public opinion is more politically oriented as it represents mostly the political will of the community to leaders. Representation in news media is broad and can be in economic, social or even in political terms. The media is a major tool for democracy as it molds the opinion of the public and communicates it in more formal way to the leaders thus creating a sense of democracy which is implied under the freedom of expression (Wells and Hakanen 1997, p115). The media practices a democratic role today by showing the spiciest news, that what the majority feel is relevant. The media today has tried in upholding democracy through developing public opinion. The Main Criteria through Which the News Media Plays a Democratic Role in the Society Universal access is one of the criteria which employ the aspect of diversity. Society we live in is full of many diverse collections of groups, which possess different backgrounds, cultures and ideologies. As a result the news media has been made accessible to all these groups in different ways. For instance n more vernacular channels have been created (Fourie 2010, p52). Employment to the media is not selective on particular community but it is open to any community. To ensure democracy, the media allows all members despite their differences to access and participate in media discussions. The universal communication allows every person to communicate their message thus reaching the masses. This upholds the freedom of speech and expression which are important in promoting democracy. The issue of universal access involves the access to media reception. The media today goes out to the public and interact with them to listen to them and then represent their views (Fourie 2010, p352). This has ensured its success in fulfilling the democratic role in the society. This is enhanced by the fact that today’s media is not bias on basis of gender, social class, or disability as suggested by Tuchman (1978, p86). The news media also educates the society on basic media literacy to ensure that no one feels left out in critical issues of the society. The media commitment and its ability to engage in civic debates in a more intelligent and prudence manners is another criterion which upholds its democratic role. This can be attributed to the fact that, in such debates there is bias on those who make contributions. The citizens are also made aware of the vital arguments needed in such discussions and how the relevance of the discussion. Intelligence and democratic handling of the citizens information by today’s media makes them confident of what they are communicating to the media. The news media also engages in extensive research on the issue to be debated so as to ensure its democratic value to the society is relevant. For instance issues of civic debate which can threaten peaceful coexistence of citizens can be avoided before they are brought to the public (Liebes and Curran, 1998, p46). The media’s disregard on the ranking of those who present their ideas to the media is another criterion in ensuring democracy. This due to the fact the reputation of an individual as well as their authority is not likely to dictate the worthiness of their information. Therefore for the media to maintain fairness, all information is treated with a similar regard without valuing some news from some important figure in the country. The merit of the information as opposed to the merit of the informant is considered in new media to ensure a democratic role in communication of ideas. In upholding democracy in its activities the media encourages the society to be critical on what is presented by making it more relevant to the citizens. The ability of the media remain independent from the power structure is a criterion which ensures its democratic role in the society according to Curran (1997, 0p35). The role of the media as a watchdog which upholds democracy requires it to remain critical on the main power structures so it may not be used subjectively by the powerful. The powerful structures in the society include the government, wealthy families and corporations and they have the power to cause an effect on a larger population. Thus the modern media has ensured that it has not been used by these structures to cause this effect (Fourie 2010, p352). In so doing the media ensures it plays a democratic role of being the watchdog of the community. The media’s ability to remain responsive to the interest and concerns of the public is another criterion for ensuring democratic role to the society. One aspect of media democracy is to inform and represent the public. This representation in today’s media is ensured through close response to the interest of the public. The media today is trying to reach all parts of the society who are not in reach of them and establish their interest and concern so as to represent them. At the same time the current media has widened its area of coverage to ensure all individuals in the society are informed. The media also ensures priority is given to the most important and universal news according to Liebes and Curran (1998, p28). The most democratic role important in this criterion is the ability of the media to facilitate exchange of ideas instead of determining what is of interest. The last criterion is the creation and distribution of productions that are honest, accurate and objective. One aspect of a democratic communication is its accuracy since inaccurate information does not represent, protect or inform in the required way. According to McNair (2003), to avoid this and ensure a democratic role the media news is trying to be objective, accurate and honest in regard to the handling information. Conclusion The news media has tried its level best to a play a democratic role just as discussed in this paper. However many people have criticized the democracy of the media and argue that it is just a tool for propaganda. The media in the past has experienced such claims as reporting on questions of quilt even when the verdict has not yet been made. Many media reporters and presenters have also found themselves on the decks as a result of unfair communication to the public thus destroying people’s image. Corruption has also played a major part in destroying the democracy of the media, since the two aspects can not o together. Thus it is the responsibility of the news media to establish a way of maintaining a democratic role to the society. References: Calcutt, A. & Hammond, P. (2011). "Journalism Studies: A Critical Introduction. London: Routledge.Pg 103 McNair, B (2003). "An introduction to Political Communication" (third edition). London: Routledge.Pg 187 Franklin, B. (1997). "Newzack and News Media" London: Arnold.Pg 68 Tuchman, G. (1978). "Making News: A study in the Construction of Reality" New York, NY:Free Press.Pg 203 Curran, J. (1997). “Mass Media & Democracy Revisited” Mass media and Society. New York, NY: St Martin's Press. Pg 23 Shamsi, N. (2006). Mass media and democracy. New Delhi, India: Anmol Publications PVT. LTD.Pg56 Wells A. & Hakanen A. (1997) Mass media & society: Contemporary studies in communication, culture & information Communication. Ernest Greenwood Publishing Group. xxxx Fourie J. (2010) Media Studies: Media History, Media and Society. Juta and Company Ltd. Liebes L. & Curran J. (1998) Media, ritual, and identity: Communication and society. Routledge Publishers Read More