The Role of Public Relations in a Modern Liberal Democracy - Essay Example

? Critically evaluate the role of public relations in a modern liberal democracy Introduction From a general viewpoint, there exists a close relationship between democratic theory and theories of the public sphere (Garnham 1986). Democratic theory is based on liability and receptivity within the decision-making process while theories of the public sphere are based on the role of public communication in assisting or contravening this process. The concept of the public sphere centres on the creation of a free and easily accessible realm, where each voice gets equal priority and public sphere is the channel using decisions within a democratic process are reached. In the last few decades, various innovative developments within the media have been used to transcend theoretical contentions within the theories of democracy. In this context, some experts contend that the extent to which media works as a public sphere, representing the civic populace, while remaining free and accessible to all, works as a chief indicator of democracy within a political order. This stems from an old tradition that positions media at a juncture between the governed and the governors. Thus, from this viewpoint democracy appears as a relative concept, where its nature is dependent on the movement of public information. This in turn helps to ascertain to what extent the citizens can take steps grounded on informed decisions to make the governors liable for their activities. From the perspective of the orthodox democracy theory, public sphere is a realm between the two distinctly separate two areas, civil society and the state, which ensures protections for each individual within the society. According to the Liberal theory, public sphere is equal to the political sphere, and the mass media’s public role is delineated in relation to the state. The liberal theory theorizes on the virtues of civil society's ascendency over the state (Curran 1991). Along with this, it also views the market as the process optimally suited for addressing all information requirements of society. However, as market led information tend to move through privatisation, conglomeration and deregulation, after a certain limit it fails to meet the requirements necessary for maintaining democratic ideals of freedom and equal accessibility (Garnham 1986). Major contentions to the liberal press theories have faced challenges from the other democratic theory pertaining to the Marxist viewpoint. From the position of an orthodox Marxist, within capitalist societies, the public sphere tends to disguise the ascendency of media that does not directly confront the liberal nature of the public sphere. Instead of breaking out of the dichotomy that exists between a liberal civil society and the state, Marxism rejected all reforms within the public sphere and considered socialist transformation as the only solution. In this context, to overcome the weak points as seen within the orthodox liberal democracy theory and Marxist theory, Curran suggested amalgamation of the collectivist approach with a general market approach, for democratisation of public sphere by making it more representative and accessible. Analysing mass media as a part of the public sphere from a modern perspective has helped modern liberal democracy theory to transcend the traditional civil society-state polarisation that has dictated all media debate until recently (Dahlgren 1991). Orthodox democratic theory rejected the method in which differences were made between public and private domains, which currently is the chief factor in the definition of public sphere within the realms of liberal democracy theory. The mediation role of mass media and broadcasting currently encompasses almost all areas extending from the home to the workplace (Curran 1991). The essay in this context will critically evaluate the role of public relations (using mass media) in a modern liberal democracy. Discussion Role of mass media as a part of public relations with society As conceptualised by the liberal democracy theory and frequently debated within media literature, it has been widely held that mass media deals chiefly with production and dissemination of knowledge. This media generated knowledge allows the civic populace to gain experience on the surrounding social world ascribing specific meanings (McQuail 2000). The information generated and disseminated by the mass media, which includes sounds and images and sounds, thus helps an individual to learn about past incidents, present social conditions, hence helping to create an own identity. Therefore, it is evident that the media helps to create and develop definitions and perceptions of social reality, and delineated what is socially termed as normal, thus in turn becoming a source of norms and rules to be followed by the society in general (McQuail 2000). Thus, media within the public sphere becomes the point of contact for civic populace to understand social reality. As O’Shaughnessy and Stadler framed it, mass media helped to create a picture and “make sense of the world for us” (2008, p.34). In their paper, the authors identified three core processes that the media work on: Evaluation: they ascertain certain values on specific issues thus providing them with different identities of their own, which allows for an evaluative framework; Representation: they become the primary source through which the civic populace becomes aware of their social surrounding; and Interpretation: through the process of representation, media provides a comprehension of the social issues and events that are taking place for the public (O’Shaughnessy and Stadler 2008). Using these processes thus, the media can create patterns that individuals living within a society would use to make sense of issues such as race, gender, along with religious, cultural, and national identities. McCombs, Shaw and Weaver (1997) in their agenda setting theory suggested that the issues as selected by the mass media for their agenda turns into an audience agenda too, thus slowly developing into a ‘public agenda’. However, the point of contact where media offers understanding of social reality, there are involved various routes. It starts with the reporting of issues, social conditions and events that not all members of the society can observe directly, therefore providing a third party view. Next, it takes into consideration the different efforts that other social institutions and actors make to as per their requirements to contact the civic populace that would serve their own purposes (McQuail 2000). This distinctly reveals the use of agenda setting by the media to define social reality. Thus, clearly various social actors and institutions can use the mass media to create and maintain a form of public relations with the civic populace, in a manner they desire. However, from the liberal perspective a theoretical approach that contradicts this agenda setting perspective of media used in its public relations. Liberal theorists believe that, instead of acting as a mediator, mass media simply reflects the current society. This translates into the fact that information is selectively chosen and offered as news within a framework of socially constructed norms and regulations. Thus, news items are comprehended through a precise system that is ‘symbolic’ in nature and further enhanced by the society, and this system comprises of various assumptions, images and concepts, which are all a part of the tradition and culture of a particular society. Furthermore, news is also framed by a particular category of news reporting, that vary from society to society and are also seen to gradually evolve with time, thus from this perspective it can derived that news is shaped by the social tradition and culture where it is produced and disseminated (Curran 2002). In this context, Watson (2008) focused on the fact the aspect of reality as offered to society by mass media through the dissemination of news, encompasses a cultural or traditional disposition right from the time of inception, and is modified to meet the requirements of the on-going situation. Thus, clearly again one can use mass media to set up cultural and tradition based public relations, to meet their requirements. However, here the liberal democratic theory acknowledges the importance of various factors within the news that a member of the civic populace receives. These involve sources used by the journalists and their modus operandi in gathering facts, various organizational processes and an effective public relations management team (Curran 2002). Media can also be viewed as the authenticated judges of the activities of the members from the civic populace (Watson 2008). They ‘speak’ within the rule and norms as framed by the society and consider themselves as society’s conscience, while concurrently acting as an agency of order. Observations reveal that all societies tend to ‘enculturalise’ its members and by doing so by they inculcate social values, which in turn create certain patterns of behaviour considered acceptable by the society in general. Language being the main mechanism using which these norms values are created and spread, while media remains the most effective way to communicate. This shows the importance of mass media within public sphere and its potential in forging good public relations. To summarise, if the intended words have the potential of reaching the largest number of people (in this case through mass media), one also has the potential to yield maximum control over public sphere, thus showing the power of media and its use as a public relations tool (Watson 2008). If one reviews from a sociological perspective, the functionalist approach as suggested by Lasswell (1948) helps us to comprehend the actual role of public relations and mass communication within a modern democratic liberal society (McQuail 2000). The functional approach considers that all significant tasks performed by public relations and mass communication for social maintenance is aimed at creating continuity, integration and maintaining normality. In this context, it can be suggested that public relations and communication has three main roles: surveillance: of the surrounding social environment, where it reviews and identifies components of social threats and opportunities; correlating: the components in order to present a suitable response to the social environment; and transmitting: the social (cultural and traditional) inheritance (Lasswell 1948, p.51). The functionalist theory can be related to the notions of public interest, which characterises democracy that is viewed as the “sum of private interest” (Stankiewicz 1976, p.33). McQuail (2000) claimed that this basic concept is the chief attribute of all media activities, hence is the underlying factor in public relations within a modern liberal democratic society. Therefore, the mass media should also function on basis of the similar principles that govern the society, in reference to cultural and traditional and cultural values, equality, justice and democracy. The social theory also presents principles where the media system must function towards serving society for an overall beneficial effect, which prioritises socio-political targets over organizational ones. Thus, public relations via mass media, is important in a social order, since it gives a scope for the civilians to make informed decisions and hold those in power responsible for their activities. In this regard, mass media can make significant contribution towards effective functioning of a modern liberal democracy, by helping to create a better understanding of the varying viewpoints. However, in an authoritative society, governors can manipulate the same mass media to forge a public relation that would help them to yield maximum control over the civic society (the governed). Conclusion From a study of the various articles, it can be suggested that the content matter of mass media stems from the interaction between various players and negotiation between different elements that symbolise the media. It also reveals how this interaction outcome is significant within the realms of a liberal democratic society. In the last few years, various developments within mass media have taken place, wherein it can be contended that the extent to which media works within a public sphere, representing civic society giving freedom and easy accessibility to all, is a prime indicator of democracy within that socio-political order. Here media is placed at a juncture that is positioned between the governed and the governors. From this perspective, democracy is dependent on movement of public information, which helps to determine to what degree the citizens can take measures based on information to make the state liable for their activities. Thus, here it is important for the democratic state to maintain good public relations with the civic society to keep the latter satisfied with their work. On the other hand, an authoritative state can use mass media and manipulate public relations to yield control over the civic society. Reference Curran, J., 1991. “Rethinking the media as a public sphere,” in, P. Dahlgren and C. Sparks (eds), Communication arutCiu'zenship. London: Routledge. Curran, J., 2002. Media and Power. London: Routledge. Dahlgren, P., 1991. “Introduction,” in, P. Dahlgren and C. Sparks (eds) Communication and Citizenship. London: Routledge. Garnham, P., 1986. 'The media and the public sphere.' In, P Golding, G Murdock and P Schiesinger (eds), Communicating Politics: mass communication and the political process. Leicester: Leicester University Press. Lasswell, H., 1948. The Structure and Function of Communications in Society, in Bryson, L., (eds.) The Communication of Ideas. NY: Harper & Co. McCombs, M., Shaw, D., and Weaver, D., 1997. Communication and Democracy: exploring the intellectual frontiers in agenda-setting theory. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. McQuail, D., 2000. McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory. London: Sage Publications. O’Shaughnessy M. and Stadler, J., 2008. Media and Society. Oxford University Press, Melbourne. Stankiewicz, W., 1976. Aspects of Political Theory: classical concepts in an age of Relativism. London: Collier MacMillan. Watson, J., 2008. Media Communication: an introduction to theory and process. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. Read More