The Media and Politics - Assignment Example

Dossier of Response to Course Questions Name Class Unit 1. WHY IS POLITICAL JOURNALISM IMPORTANT Political journalism is a very vital field in a country. One of the functions of political journalism is the concern with the functioning of democracy and freedom. For good citizenship to exist there is a need for political journalism. Journalism serves a very vital part in democracy functioning of the public sphere. As the coverage of the media on the politics has advanced, their relationship to the democracy has increased. The media and politics are intertwined by the political journalism (McNair, 2000). The manner in which media reports and interpret the political based events, efforts of the politicians to create influence and how politician strive to shape the political opinion is related to the study of democracy. The public manifestation of the politics can only reach the public through use of political journalism. The electorate can only be informed through political journalism. Having an informed electorate is very vital in a mature democracy. The media is able to help in scrutinizing critically the actions of the competing parties, government and state which is critical for uniting the political spectrum (McNair, 2000). In a democracy, the media have three main roles. The roles are; giving the citizens information which helps them to shape their opinions. The media also form part in critique. This is a function where the media are able to actively scrutinize those who are in power and analyse their actions and statements. The last function is publicity forum. The media acts as publicity for the different representatives. In the past, politics disagreements were carried out through insider politics and through backroom deals. This has however changed with the advance of journalism. The politicians are now supposed to settle their disagreements in the public court of opinion through use of media. They have to use weapons such as press conferences and new releases. The communication of the politicians is reaches the target audience through mass media (McNair, 2000). For the politicians, the role of media is to ensure that they are able to reach to the electorate and gain their support in order to remain in the office. The journalists’ uses media politics to have stories that will enable them gain large audiences and also empathise on the significant of their voices in democracy. The citizens are able to benefit from political journalism since they can be able to monitor the politics and have the possibility to have them accountable without use of extra efforts. Each of the three groups has their own goal which in some cases can lead to conflict. The politicians want to use the media to help them convey messages in a neutral way. Despite this, journalists want to convey their messages in a manner that will show their distinctive contribution (Bennett, 2010). This involves use of investigations and analysis which the politicians hate. For the public, they want to hold the politicians accountable. This is made easy through the competition between the journalists and politicians to get attention. Despite the importance of political journalism in enhancing democracy, it has been criticized for several reasons. The reasons are; dumbing down, infotainment, political information overload, elitism, an excess of interpretation, hyperadversarialism, excessive balance and its impact on the public relations in its various manifestations (McNair, 2000). 2. DOES POLITICAL JOURNALISM ILLUMINATE OR OBSCURE THE POLITICAL PROCESS? Political journalism plays an important role in illuminating the political process. According to the media logic, media forms an important part in sense making mechanisms that are used in elections campaigns. It is hard to conduct free and fair elections if free media is not involved. The politicians uses media channels to convey the message to the public and through media analysis by political journalists, it becomes easy to make decisions. Through fair coverage of politics, journalism is able to illuminate the political process. The media have several roles to play which enhances illumination of the political process. One of the roles is educating the voters on the ways in which they can exercise their democratic rights (Lester & Hutchins, 2012). When voters are educated, it becomes easier for them to make informed decisions. The voters are able to avoid instances where their rights are abused by the politicians who are concerned with their personal gains. The media have a role to report on the development of elections in areas such as policies and budgets. For the political process to be successful there is need for the political parties to communicate their message to the electorate in an efficient manner. Political journalism provides a channel through which the politicians can communicate their message successfully. Political parties are also given a platform where they can debate with each other to enhance democracy (Norris, 2001). When the elections are taking place, it is the mandate of political journalism to give results and provide vote counting. The fairness of an electoral process can only be known through use of political journalism. The media plays a major role of critically evaluating the electoral process and determining whether it was fair, efficient and probe it (Coleman, 2011). According to Mazzoleni, media have four main roles in the electoral process. The roles are information, propaganda, spectaculization and topicalisation. During political campaigns, media and politicians are in contest on political control and media scrutiny. According to media logic, they argue that political coverage should always be compatible with their scheduled time, values and the appropriate images for the target audience. The political logic involves the structural and cultural assets that are able to govern the communication that is enacted by political parties. Using the media logic, political journalism plays a leading role and presents that politics in the mass communication format. In instances where the media logic is in control, the politicians puts a lot of energy in complying with ways the media wants them to act than on how to communicate to voters (Coleman, 2011). Through media, voters are able to make choices on the right candidate based on their preferences. The information provided by the media helps the voters to associate themselves with parties that they prefer. It is important thus to note media have the capability to sway an election. Through media, it is possible to guide the public agenda. Using political journalism, it becomes easier to illuminate on leadership. Through use of opinion polls, political journalism gives insights into winners and losers in an election (Coleman, 2011). 3. DO JOURNALISTS SHAPE THE WAY THAT THE PUBLIC THINKS ABOUT POLITICS? Journalists have a great impact on the way we think about politics. The role of media as an agenda setter is very vital in this. The media have the capability on shaping what the audience thinks about (Matthews & Brown, 2012). The tendency of the media to structure the voters’ perceptions leads to bias. The media enable the public to determine what is of interest to them. Through the use of media, the public agenda is set which determines what they think about (McNair, 1999). Public debate is shaped by the ideological battles which take place by the powerful groups in the society. Media acts as a source for the public opinions on the politics. What the citizens know about the politics is through the use of mass media. It has been proved that the media priorities are in most cases the priorities of the public. The public agenda is related to the news covered over the past days. For example, the image that the public have about the political leaders is influenced by the media. Having the capability to focus the public attention is very important to leaders as they seek political power. The public attitudes and behaviours are determined by the cognations. This is what the public knows and believe in (Entman, 2007). Through use of journalism, it becomes possible to prime the public opinion. Through making some matters more important and ignoring others, the media make it possible to set a platform where the politicians are judged by the public. Journalism thus forms selective attention platform for the public. During the time for important political decisions such as voting, citizens rely on agenda based on salient objects on their mind. This is an agenda that have been shaped through mass media. This has been proved in several instances such as the 1986 voting in German. The voters’ party of preference was mainly influenced through news coverage. There has been evidence of media being able to change public opinion on a public figure (Vallone, Lee & Mark, 1985). For most people, the events do not take place within their area. The individuals get news on these events based on media which enlighten them. Media presents people with different images on the event which helps them to have knowledge on it. Reporting of an event by media has the capability to change a policy. The more attention media gives to a particular event, the more the public perception on the event is changed (Renner & Lynch, 2008). The society is also able to determine the most pressing issue facing them and associating it with the politician who they believe can help in tackling it. A good example is the US public agenda on War on Terror. The media was able to influence the public perception and raise their awareness (McNair, 1999). 4. IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JOURNALISTS AND POLITICIANS COLLABORATIVE OR ADVERSARIAL? Politicians and media should form a strong relationship which is based on mutual respect and having an environment where they recognize each other. The relationship should not be too close or adversarial. This is due to fact that if the relationship is adversarial or too close, their functions will be undermined. The public will be denied the right to access the right information and hence risk making the society uninformed. Media is an important source of information and helps the public to get the information. To enable this, media should collaborate with the politicians to deliver fact based news. A democratic society can only be achieved if the public is well informed (Press & VerBurg, 1988). Politicians are supposed to work in ensuring that there is free and independent media. This helps a nation to have good governance and establishes democracy. The politicians are thus supposed to engage actively in legislation which supports free media. The politicians are supposed to ensure that there is freedom of speech while at the same time responsibility and decency are practiced by media (Sabato, 1993). The relationship between media and politicians should be good so that each can perform the duties appropriately. The media assists the public in making an informed choice on their representatives which are politicians. This is through provision of news on the acts of the politicians and their opinions (Tanner, 2011). When an adversarial relationship exists, the community loses. The politicians may fail to disclosure information while the media may report negative reports about the politicians. Journalists are supposed to keep the politicians accountable which should not be mistaken by being adversarial. On the other hand, if the politicians and journalists come too close, the journalists may become less critical to government. This may lead to democracy and good governance being undermined (Jamieson & Waldman, 2003). The relationship between the journalists and politicians should be professional. This is through each side involving the other in their business. The politicians should allow the media to report on is business while the media should be willing to give public opinion to the politicians. This enables communication to flow in two ways between the public and government. This type of relationship is beneficial to both the politicians and community they represent. Building a professional relationship founded on trust between politicians and media helps in eliminating mistrust by the public towards politicians. Politicians and journalists should have respect for each other so that they are able to gain respect from the public as source of accurate information. The politicians are thus required to allow the media access all information relevant to the public. Journalists should also report all the news on public policy without bias which can denigrate the politicians in their tasks (Tanner, 2011). The government should encourage the country to invest in free and independent media to enhance democracy (Graber, 2009). The relationship should enable the journalists not to rely on government or party run sources in order to gain accurate news. Thus the relationship should neither be adversely nor close. 5. IS THE INTERNET MAKING POLITICAL JOURNALISM OBSOLETE? The rise of internet has changed the nature of journalism a lot. The existing boundary between journalism and other forms of communication have vanished with the advance of internet. Political journalism is not going to end due to internet but it will change with changing technology (Jericho, 2012. Journalism has been transformed in the ways in which it is produced, supplied and utilized. There are new tools and practices that have come to existence through technology (Ursell, 2001). Political journalists are now working on digital platforms where they can access a lot of feedback and reach a wider audience. The platform is also capable of creating diverse perspectives on same issue. The diverse status in political journalism cannot be used to signify its end but an explosion in it. Internet has made it possible for the journalists to access news at high speed and also reaches a wider audience (Ursell, 2001). The crisis in journalism comes due to fact that traditional business models are being eliminated. The print and broadcasts forms of political journalism have been almost phased out by internet. There are social platforms where the public can give their voice and also create an interactive platform. The audience is able to access information from multiple sources where some are free (Hermida, 2010). The main crisis is in the media business but not on the political journalism. Despite this, some of the journalists feel that the field is in crisis. There has been a sharp increase in competition. The working conditions for the political journalists have deteriorated as the media owners have pressured them. Though there has been an increase in political journalism, most of them work in blogs and websites as freelancers (Flew & Wilson, 2010). Internet have brought about tools which can help journalism to avoid being obsolete. One of the tools is networked journalism. Journalists are supposed to work together in gathering information and disseminating it. The traditional idea of a journalist working alone gathering information have become obsolete. Another tool is crowd sourcing and use of user generated content. The journalists use collective information gathering technique and also combine with content made by members of the public. The public are becoming part of journalism and political journalism should be able to appreciate this. There is also use of visual journalism which has surpassed print journalism (Pavlik, 2001). By combining technology with the political journalism, the field is able to avoid becoming obsolete. Most of the public are able to access internet based news. They then use social platforms to discuss news and give their opinions (Flew & Wilson, 2010). For most media organisations, they have online channels where the audience participate in discussion (Jericho, 2012). The most important change is to ensure that political journalism utilizes internet to facilitate instant communication. A platform such as twitter helps the participants to give their views. Public figures and media houses have created online channels which have strengthened communication. There are channels which are dedicated to report on political events online. 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