{"id":74895,"date":"2020-04-15T15:38:36","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T15:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essays.homeworkacetutors.com\/does-the-media-have-too-much-power-in-democratic-society\/"},"modified":"2020-04-15T15:38:36","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T15:38:36","slug":"does-the-media-have-too-much-power-in-democratic-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/does-the-media-have-too-much-power-in-democratic-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Does the Media Have Too Much Power in Democratic Society?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Does the media have too much power in modern democratic
\nsocieties?<\/h4>\n

In modern day, there have grown to be many
\nsources of power but one that can be found in nearly every state in this world
\nis the power of media. In the last century, humankind has witnessed a
\nrevolution in society\u2019s means of communication and the birth of electronic
\nmedia has changed the game of politics, in more ways than one. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe way people act is conditioned by what they
\nthink and feel, and that what is thought and felt is affected by the picture of
\nthe world conveyed by the mass media,\u201d (Street, 2017) Manuel Castells (2009)
\nshared his working hypothesis, stating that \u2018the most fundamental form of power
\nlies in the ability to shape a human mind\u2019 and although this power may not be
\ntranslated directly, we have yet seen anything influence thought the way media
\ndoes.<\/p>\n

Although one might question, is the power of
\nmedia coming to a decline?<\/p>\n

It is said that with the establishment of
\ndemocracy comes the decline of the media. As of today, media distrust is at
\nit\u2019s all time high, credibility has been reaped and reputation tarnishing. The
\nglobal audience is no longer as impressionable as they might have been in the
\npast.<\/p>\n

This essay will argue that the media does carry
\na lot of power within modern democratic societies but not to the point it is
\nharmful to the public, as of current day, people are more aware and well
\neducated, not quick to believe what is said by the media and are more cautious
\ninto not allowing themselves into being manipulated. <\/p>\n

The media is often regarded as the fourth branch in the government<\/a> and that without it, the government or any political party would not be able to act effectively. It was built with the original purpose to inform the public on current events and global affairs and ultimately, the media has the power of information. Retrospectively they get to decide what we see, what we hear and what we know and often times the information released to the public may be distorted or manipulated. <\/p>\n

The most evident time to witness when and how
\npower is exercised over a democracy is during the elections, the media\u2019s
\nbusiest season. During elections, the government and political parties would
\nuse multiple media sources to introduce their candidates and persuade potential
\nvoters, who happen to be the most principal group the media seeks to influence.
\nDemocratic elections are impossible to conduct without the media, to have a
\nfair election is furthermore than just having the freedom to vote but also
\nabout guaranteeing the people\u2019s fundamental freedom of information, the crucial
\nprocess where voters receive adequate information about the parties, policies,
\ncandidates and engage in public debate in order to make well-informed
\nchoices.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis large-scale individualized collective action is often
\ncoordinated through digital media technologies, sometimes with political
\norganizations playing an enabling role, and sometimes with crowds using layers
\nof social media to coordinate action,\u201d (Bennett, 2012) once upon a time the
\ntraditional role of the media during the elections was that of a watchdog, to
\nprotect the public against the deceitful, corrupt and incompetent but today,
\ntheir role is conflicted with meeting the new demands of having to act as the
\nmiddle man who brings candidates and voters together. <\/p>\n

The media is no longer only asked to keep an eye out for
\nwrongdoings, today they are expected to guide the voters\u2019 decisions by
\nscreening the potential nominees for presidency and deciding which campaigns
\nare worthy of attention (Graber, 2011). <\/p>\n

But the question arises, why does the
\ngovernment care so much about what the people think if they\u2019re in control
\nanyways? It is simply because a democracy is by definition, a government by,
\nfor and of the people. Within a democracy, people are the main political force,
\nexamining their power through their ability to vote officials in and out of
\noffices, policies and engage in debates about relevant issues. So in having the
\npower to influence the thought of the people would actually mean the media has
\nthe power to affect or even decide the results of an election. <\/p>\n

The media tells people what\u2019s important, the
\nmore significant the information the more media coverage is placed and namely
\nin a news story there are many angles that can be found within the story, which
\nangle the media chooses to frame the story in is important. It then decides how
\nthe story is told, how it is painted and how significant the story will be to
\nthe public. <\/p>\n

The media possesses the ability to provoke
\npeople or interest groups into mobilizing just by highlighting a specific
\nissue. It could direct potential voters to turn against an electoral candidate just
\nby releasing sensitive information that defames the candidate. <\/p>\n

McCombs and Shaw (1972) recognised that the mass
\nmedia carried a significant influence over what voters considered to be the
\nmajor issues of a campaign. They were the first to suggest that the media sets
\nthe public agenda, in a manner where they aren\u2019t out rightly telling you what
\nto think but they may tell you what to think about. <\/p>\n

This is better referred to as agenda-setting,
\nthe ability of the mass media to bring information to the attention of the
\npublic. The more attention the media places on an issue, the more the public
\nwill perceive the issue as important. <\/p>\n

The first level of agenda-setting is the media
\ntelling us \u201cwhat to think about\u201d but the second level of agenda-setting is the
\nmedia telling us \u201chow to think about it\u201d, this is done through framing. How a
\nstory is presented, or \u201cframed\u201d to the public greatly affects the way the
\npublic feels about it. <\/p>\n

The September 11 attacks to some were an act of
\ncrime and to others an act of war, and in a paper by Edy and Meirick (2007),
\nthe effects of framing a news story was measured.
\nWhether news sources used a \u2018crime frame\u2019 versus a \u2018war frame\u2019 to address the
\nattack, influenced how the public identified the act and what they believed was
\nthe appropriate solution. It seemed that the consistent adoption of a war frame
\nwould be closely associated with support for military action in Afghanistan. <\/p>\n

This is more or less, what the public would
\nlabel as propaganda. The actual definition of propaganda is still up for debate
\nbut to cite the Cambridge dictionary, it is defined as, \u201cinformation,
\nideas, opinions, or images, often only giving one part of an argument, that are
\nbroadcast, published, or in some other way spread with the intention of
\ninfluencing people\u2019s opinions.\u201d<\/p>\n

This often comes in to play when covering up
\nconflict, negative advertising in elections or selling a story during wartime
\ncoverage. Propaganda is not always false, if it serves their purpose a
\npropagandists would happily tell you the truth but what truly matters to them
\nis to promote the message they are trying to sell. It is a powerful tool to
\nrally people behind a cause but it comes with the costs of exaggeration and
\nmanipulation. <\/p>\n

In electoral campaigns, propaganda can be found
\nwhen the media tells you only the good in a candidate, leaving out otherwise
\nimportant information, which would cause the public to believe that the candidate
\ncan only do good things and during an election, a
\ncandidate\u2019s ability to frame a story more successfully than his competitor is
\nwhat would almost guarantee to put him in the lead, doing so by working to
\nframe the story for their own gain or to minimise their own damages. <\/p>\n

War and propaganda are inseparable, to garner
\nthe support of their people, statesmen will reinforce the negative image of the
\n\u201cenemy\u201d and persuade their nation that the act they aim to do is for the
\ngreater interest of everyone. Often this means demonising the country being
\nattacked and praising their own to convince themselves that the war is just,
\nframing it to be just another story of \u201cgood guy\u201d versus \u201cbad guy.\u201d <\/p>\n

The media has shown how capable they are of
\nexercising power over a democracy but in present day, it seems that the media\u2019s
\naudience is no longer responding the way they used to. Back in the 1970\u2019s, it
\nwas noted that not only were the media favorably perceived but the level of
\npublic confidence was quite possibly higher than that of any other political
\ninstitutions at the time. The people were satisfied with the overall
\nperformance of the news outlets and public criticism of the news media remained
\nfairly limited but in the 1990\u2019s, the media were no longer so favourably
\nviewed. By examining the yearly General Social Survey (GSS), out of all institutions,
\nthe press had suffered the steepest decline (Gronke and Cook, 2007). <\/p>\n

The decline came accompanied with criticism of
\ngovernmental intervention, favouritism and political bias within the media. <\/p>\n

The public started recognising the media was
\nnot reflecting reality but rather reproducing the views from their primary
\nsources, and these tend to be high government officials. In order for the media
\nto fully fulfill their roles, they would have to offer a great variety of
\nopinions and viewpoints, encouraging citizens to choose among them but in
\nallowing politicians to set the agenda they have narrowed the public discussion
\nand ultimately diminishing democracy (Schudson, 2008).<\/p>\n

Last year it was reported that, with the aim to
\nhelp Donald Trump win the presidency, fabricated stories were spread online. The
\nresearch and data company, Kantar, conducted a survey in the United States,
\nBrazil, Britain and France and out of those 8,000 people surveyed, 58% said
\nthat as a result of becoming aware of fake news they had less trust in social
\nmedia news stories about politics or elections and for mainstream media, the
\nfigure was 24% (Shirbon and King, 2018). <\/p>\n

Fake news was damaging the credibility of the
\npress and what the media is to fear is not that the public will believe those
\nlies but rather when the public stops believing in anything at all the media
\nsays. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Transparency
\nand trust were no longer associated with the media, as it is no longer seen as
\na neutral party whose purpose is to inform and edify \u2013 it is seen as a
\ncontrolled weapon. Although the power of the media may not be very well respected,
\nthere seems little threat to the continuation of that power. The audience is
\ndefinitely not as impressionable as it once was but it will be a long time till
\nthe people stop listening. <\/p>\n

To
\nconcatenate my thoughts, the media does exercise a lot of power over a
\ndemocratic society but not to the extent that it is harmful or damaging to the
\nfreedom of the people. <\/p>\n

The media carries the power of information, as they are the number one source for current news and global affairs for the people and in today\u2019s modern democracy, the media also has to play the role of the middleman who brings the government and it\u2019s citizens together. The media also has the power to mobilize interest groups and provoke people, having the capabilities to incite negative reactions by releasing the kind of information needed to do so. One of the most powerful tools in media is setting the agenda, aimed to tell the people what to think about by putting more attention and emphasis on a specific issue, doing so will make the issue seem important and significant. Second to that, is the media\u2019s ability to frame a story, deciding how a story should be perceived and received would ultimately influence how the people would feel about it. <\/p>\n

Since
\nthe 1970\u2019s, the media has lost a lot of respect and credibility yet the
\naudience still remains. The public has grown to be more aware and educated now,
\nin comparison to nearly five decades ago, so the media does have the power to
\ninform but they do not have the overt power to decide what the people think
\nanymore instead the public takes in what the media says and decides for
\nthemselves what they think and how they feel about it. <\/p>\n

Bibliography:<\/h2>\n
    \n
  • Castells, M. (2009). Communication power.
    \nOxford [u.a.]: Oxford University Press.<\/li>\n
  • STREET, J. (2017). MASS MEDIA, POLITICS AND
    \nDEMOCRACY. [S.l.]: PALGRAVE.<\/li>\n
  • Meyer, T. and Hinchman, L. (2010). Media
    \ndemocracy. Cambridge: Polity.<\/li>\n
  • Bennett, W. (2012). The Personalization of
    \nPolitics. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,
    \n644(1), pp.20-39.<\/li>\n
  • Graber, D. (2011). Media power in politics.
    \nWashington, DC: CQ Press.<\/li>\n
  • McCombs, M. (2014). Setting the agenda.
    \nCambridge: Polity.<\/li>\n
  • Edy, J. and Meirick, P. (2007). Wanted, Dead or
    \nAlive: Media Frames, Frame Adoption, and Support for the War in Afghanistan.
    \nJournal of Communication, 57(1), pp.119-141.<\/li>\n
  • C Gronke, P. and Cook, T. (2007). Disdaining
    \nthe Media: The American Public\u2019s Changing Attitudes Toward the News. Political
    \nCommunication, 24(3), pp.259-281.<\/li>\n
  • Schudson, M. (2008). Why democracies need an
    \nunlovable press. Cambridge: Polity Press.<\/li>\n
  • Shirbon, E. and King, L. (2018). Fake news
    \nhurts trust in media, mainstream outlets fare better \u2013 poll. [online] U.K.
    \nAvailable at: https:\/\/uk.reuters.com\/article\/uk-media-fakenews\/fake-news-hurts-trust-in-media-mainstream-outlets-fare-better-poll-idUKKBN1D002O
    \n[Accessed 24 Feb. 2018].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Does the media have too much power in modern democratic societies? In modern day, there have grown to be many sources of power but one that can be found in nearly every state in this world is the power of media. In the last century, humankind has witnessed a revolution in society\u2019s means of communication […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5798],"tags":[9845,5294,9887,9867,9888,9889,9890,9886,9885],"class_list":["post-74895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","tag-1-dissertation-writing-service-in-uk","tag-bishops-writing-bureau","tag-cn","tag-create-a-paper-using-the-following-criteria","tag-homework-help-assignment-answers","tag-in-1050-word-essay","tag-in-a-4-to-6-page-essay","tag-in-a-page-paper-assignment","tag-write-an-essay-in-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74895\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}