Media as a Watchdog of the Political Process - Essay Example

Media as a Watchdog of the Political Process and Replacement of Parliament Roll No: Teacher: 3rd May 2009 Media as a Watchdog of the Political Process and Replacement of Parliament Mass media has several main functions, all of which have at least political insinuations: reporting, entertainment, socializing new generations, identifying public problems, making profits and providing a political forum. The role of media as the government’s watchdog has been a subject of great interest and controversy (Weinstein, 2004). It is known to play a central role in informing people. Therefore, media influences the formation of attitudes and beliefs. The following sections are dedicated to the study of the media in relation to government business and processes, and will consider the interaction between media and the government in daily life. Media sometimes acts, as a watchdog of the political process and in it’s this role, it tries to take the place of parliament. Media is specifically designed to serve a large audience. The term “media” was coined with the advent of radio networks, magazines and newspapers in the 1920. Television, manuscripts and books, internet, pre-recorded video and speech, music, film, mobile phones and video games are today regarded as media. Hollywood executives have in the past admitted that media wields extraordinary power to entertain, educate and inform. In addition, Media in the process of entertaining, educating and informing the masses, is known to play a major role in forming or changing people’s attitudes towards subjects or objects. However, the role of media as the government’s watchdog has been a subject of great interest and controversy. Media is known to play a central role in informing people, therefore, influences the formation of attitudes and beliefs (Newton, 2001). The commonwealth Parliament is the branch of government that deals with legislative issues in Australia. According to Australia’s constitution, the Australian parliament has three components: the House of Representatives, the Senate and the Queen. As far as the House of Representatives is concerned, it is commonly known as the lower house currently consists of 150 district representatives who are elected to their seats by the electorate. However, the senate or upper house consists of state representatives who are elected proportionally. Senate was intentionally created in the constitution with a primary role of protecting the interests of states, which had less representation in the federal parliament (Newton, 2001). Consequently, this has ensured that legislative decisions do not come only from representatives of populous states. The core function of the parliament of Australia is to legislate or pass laws. Senators or members of parliament may introduce a bill in parliament with one exception; money bills must be introduced in the lower house. Parliament therefore enacts, and amends laws that are applied in the country. Furthermore, Parliament has roles in discussing urgent motions, which are deemed to be of public importance, as well as in questioning the government’s performance and its use of state power. Balances and checks are necessary in government systems to insure against abuse of individual power. The parliament of Australia acts as a check for the executive and ministries, therefore, it ensures that the government of the day remains answerable to the governed. The Australian parliament has the power to force the federal government to give accounts of its activities by rejecting appropriation bills and hence withholding finances from it. Therefore, Senate, which is part of parliament, can judge and scrutinize the government’s policies, legislation and activities. In print media, political discussions are unavoidable just like political stories cannot miss on television everyday (Chadwick, 1998). Political news and political announcements are regularly encountered on all forms of media and more especially during campaigns. Media also provides a forum for the public to discuss topical issues, which are of national interest. Overall, media remains an important means through which, people get information regarding the performance of their governments on top of other products that it offers. Though the role of media as the government’s watchdog cannot be undermined, it is also noted that, sometimes media presents information in a biased way to influence the public in making decisions which may or may not be for their good. Mass media has several major functions of which, many have at least political insinuations: reporting, entertainment, socializing new generations, identifying public problems, making profits and providing a political forum. When it comes to government activities, the media has even greater influence than it has during political campaigns. Therefore, this brings to fore the fact that both president and media need each other. In Australia, radio, television and newspaper remain the most commonly used sources of news and current affairs with most cable television news and internet services (which are less commonly relied on) being owned mainly by traditional media owners (Doyle, 2000). Media concentration and ownership for many governments across the globe is a vital policy issue. As a result, this is accepted primarily that media plays a crucial role culturally, socially and politically. In Australia, for example, the 1992 Broadcast Services Act states that a company can only acquire a license for one media form (television, radio or newspaper) in a specific license area. This means that these regulations were enacted with an aim of supporting competition and discouraging concentration in the media industry. In addition, it was aimed at ensuring that democracy would function properly with the entire society having access to a wide range of fairly presented and relevant information and views It is widely accepted that for democracy to function properly, there must exist diverse and free exchange of ideas, viewpoints and information (Champlin and Knoedler, 2006). So, the influence that mass media has on public life ethics as characterized by press’s watchdog function of monitoring actions of government officials, is generally taken to be of great importance to democracy. In many cases, the effectiveness of press’s watchdog duty is not understood clearly though; partial answers can be found by diagnosing press’s history including its ethics, controls, organization, laws, news content and laws. Much like reporters discuss rarely their ethics in terms of deontology and teleology, the press does not consider its impact on public employees’ ethics. Traditionally, it finds motivation from common belief in successful watchdog models. As news values, reporting techniques and partisanship evolve, press’s effectiveness varies. Therefore, it is quite clear that a focus on media trends across the world indicates towards the press’s focus more on political presidents and campaigns rather than on county clerks and government process respectively. Great power is known to accompany media owners – they have control over the content of printed or broadcast news. According to Newton (2001), common knowledge states that mass media wields the power to break or make politicians and even entire governments. In fact, the television, radio, newspaper and internet combined have become the leading factor in fundraising and political communication. Consequently, it is quite clear that public press no longer carries simple news; it has power to shape and influence public opinion and policy (Newton, 2001). The media has often joined activist groups in calling for vital changes in the way government does its activities (Hoynes and Croteau, 2001). In United States, for example, a press conference was held calling for government action. Afterwards, it was revealed that the Department of Health and Human Services paid thousands of dollars to advocate Gallagher Maggie under condition that allegedly breached both ethics and federal laws. Issues of corruption, environmental pollution and degradation, soil erosion, poverty, violence, discrimination have constantly been raised by media in the wake of government silence in many countries. By going through government documents on behalf of the public, media has uncovered discrepancies and cover-ups in government dealings, processes and procedures, a role that would typically be done by parliament. Similarly, by highlighting legal proceedings and judgments that may have been made without due regard to law, media has helped in bringing sanity to many legal systems across the world (Doyle, 2000). Balances and checks are necessary in government systems to insure against possible abuse of office and individual power. The parliament of Australia generally is meant to act as a check for the executive and ministries, and therefore to ensure that the government of the day remains answerable to the governed. It has the power to force the federal government to give accounts of its activities by rejecting appropriation bills and hence withholding much needed finances from it. In addition, the Senate, which is part of parliament, can judge and scrutinize the government’s policies, legislation and activities. The influence that mass media has on public life ethics as characterized by press’s watchdog function of monitoring actions of government officials is generally taken to be of great importance to democracy. Moreover, it provides a forum for the public to discuss topical issues, which are of national interest such as corruption, environmental pollution and degradation, soil erosion, poverty, violence, discrimination among many others. While parliament enjoys great power that is meant to be used in keeping the government in check, this role is shared by the media, which acts as a second albeit informal watchdog. Parliament is a place where representatives of the people can discuss topical issues and make laws that govern the country. Media, though lacking the capacity to make formal laws that will govern the people, plays a great role in airing the public’s views on different issues that affect the country as a whole. Therefore, media’s part in acting as a watchdog of government cannot be negated. References Media matters 2005, Media watchdog, government ethics and advocacy groups call for action. http://mediamatters.org/items/200501270003 retrieved on 16th April, 2009. Chadwick, P 1998, Do Media Help or Harm Public Health Australian and New Zealand, Journal of Public Health, vol. 22, no 1. Champlin D Knoedler J 2006, The Media News and Democracy Revisiting the Dewey-Lippman Debate, Journal of Economic Issues, vol. XL, no 1. Broadcasting Services Act 1992, Retrieved http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/bsa1992214/ retrieved on 16th April, 2009. Hoynes W and Croteau D 2001, Corporate Media and the Public Interest, Pine Forge Press, USA. Doyle G 2000, A Study of the Case Favouring Deregulation of TV and Newspaper Ownership in UK, Journal of Cultural Economics, vol. 24, pp Newton K 2001, The Transformation of Governance. In B Axford and R Huggins, New Media and Politics, Sage, London. Weinstein R 2004, Media Ownership Regulation and Program Variety Stanford, Journal of Law Business and Finance, vol. 10, no1. Read More