Media Is a Form of Communication Such as Watchdog - Essay Example

Running Head: Media as Watchdog Media as Watchdog [Institute’s Media as Watchdog Media is typically, that form of communicationwhose responsibility lies in a mere fact of informing the masses about everything that encompasses in the world, which they live in. Thus, its primary social responsibility falls in the category of responding to the society’s requirements, in terms of informing them. To achieve this purpose, media tend to be vigilant about the activities of the government that influence the public policy. Thus, resultantly, become subject to imposition and laws in order to limit its power (Trappel, Meier, D’Haenens, Steemers & Thomass, pp. 14, 2011). This notion gained momentum after successive events like globalisation and the loss of authoritarian regimes that the general masses looked forward to the media to provide them with the real picture (Coronel, pp.1, 2008). However, before having a thorough analysis of the function of media as a watchdog, it is essential to note that this feature is highly influenced by the kind of media operated in each country. This indicates that there are countries in which government has full control over the content of media like China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba (Trappel, Meier, D’Haenens, Steemers & Thomass, pp. 33, 2011). When we argue that the element of investigative journalism primarily brings a collective change in the overall practice and even the public policy on part of the government, we mean that media is basically responsible to bring the real deeds of the government and state officials public and empower the general masses with this view. This means that if the wrongdoings are exposed and the public has an access towards this information then, they are in the right position to demand modifications and reforms (Coronel, pp. 2-3, 2008). The concept of freedom of speech, then, comes as handy and public either pursues media channels to convey their responses over particular matters or through other means of protests. Although, it is important to keep in mind that all such actions are dependent upon the nature and extent of political and social freedom that vary from one country to the other. The era of post-dictatorship in South Asia is a good example of the practice of watchdog journalism. The exposure of the corruption became part of the mainstream and tabloid press at the same time. Mostly, to get maximum viewer ship, the television in the broadcast media started giving sensational news, which eventually became a treat for the public. They took support of the hidden cameras and other resources exposing the government officials involved in unethical acts including receiving bribes and dishonesty with the state (Coronel, pp.6, 2008). This further gave room to the discussion forums in the broadcast media and the invitation of government on television channels to justify their stance. The phrases that narrate media as the fourth estate of the country and a watchdog of democracy have their roots in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when the European democracy was in its initial process (Trappel, Meier, D’Haenens, Steemers & Thomass, pp. 141-142, 2011). However, in its earliest forms, it is an observation that the idea generation took place even before 200 years (Coronel, pp.1, 2008). Moreover, as the liberal democratic orthodoxy (Coronel, pp. 2, 2008) suggests that this particular aspect of the media further strengthens the fair and transparent nature of governance, which holds answerable the ones who do not go parallel to the public interests. Albeit, in the later centuries, when on one hand people considered media as an active participant in exposing the governments’ wrongdoings to the public and empowering with the information that they are expected to be provided with, there have been the supporters of the Leninist views as well, on the contrary. This advocates that media, in this role, are skeptical of the doings of government and act as an opposite entity to the interests of the ruling authority (Coronel, pp.2-3, 2008). Conversely, it is surprising to note that even within the liberal school of thought; the watchdog part of the media has an extent of skepticism in it. Media scholars and critics in the U.S. cite that such form of media prevents the masses from building faith in their leaders and thus, is destructive for a democratic system to prevail (Coronel, pp. 3, 2008). A notable political scandal triggered by the media of the United Kingdom in 2009 was the expenses scandal, which targeted Members of Parliament. The whole conspiracy was leaked and it was subsequently narrated by the Telegraph Group. Following an investigation, it was published that the MPs were responsible to an alleged abuse of the allowances. The parliament further tried to put off the story from being the headlines and becoming public, but the strong hold of the Freedom of Information legislation did not permit them to do so. Thus, following this scandal, the MPs had to face a mass hatred, which caused most of them to resign (Gaber, 2009, pp.479-481). Subsequently, it led to a clear defamation with further liabilities upon the officials. The incident made public to look into the media matters more closely and the way they present the political scenario. Nevertheless, the whole situation received critiques over the activities of the media and their unnecessary involvement in the political matters. The argument goes with criticising the abuse of freedom of speech by the media (Gaber, 2009, pp.479, 484-486). The media are supposed to be responsible on behalf of the citizens and control the power controllers for citizens’ welfare. Contrarily, the more conservative view given to this notion is calling the media as scandalmonger that is always in the pursuit of astonishing the citizens and dramatising the way the facts are produced (Robinson, pp. 108-109, 2002). Thus, it is criticised that generally, during the election campaigns, media put to use their watchdog function in an otherwise way and give room to controversies rather than mobilising the masses to vote. As social scientists cite, media practitioners reflected the function of watchdogs in 2008 and 2009 in the wake of the deflation of the US sub-prime markets (Trappel, Meier, D’Haenens, Steemers & Thomass, pp. 142, 2011). The media kept their eyes open upon every elite and their subsequent practices that could have any impact upon the citizens. An independent media may be the one which is independent of the government control, nevertheless, the content is influenced by the source from which the overall monetary revenue is generated (Coronel, pp.4, 2008). Thus, it is dependent on either the state or the market that the inclination of the content bends upon. A less recent example in the UK happened to be one of the stories that got prominence by the name secret police officer. It happened in 2003 when the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on-aired a documentary that has been an undercover footage for sometime. The undercover reporter was Mark Daly who got a seven months training as a police officer. He spent a certain time span among the police officials and came to know about the racist attitude in the officials for Panorama (BBC News, 2008, n.d). The documentary covered all the activities of the police officials that revealed their racism. It got huge publicity among the masses that became eager to see the real pictures of the public servants. Following this episode, investigative journalism got a wide spectrum of being covered. It is a belief that the Watergate scandal of the United States of America during the 20th Century has become the major scandal in the political arena as far as media function is concerned. The event actually encompassed a break-in at the Watergate office in Washington D.C in 1972. This was backed by President Nixon and media became the whole conspiracy apparent to the public. Media did it so skillfully that the president was forced to resign from his post. The same episode took place in the Philippines in 2001 when a corrupt president, with media’s power, was forcefully made to resign from his powers (Norris, pp. 386-387, 2010). Recalling the Vietnam War, the media personnel were somewhat at liberty to use as much of the facts and pictures as they wished. An open portrayal of stigmatized victims and brutally wounded children came to the public. This created hostility between the US military officers and the media as their own people started protesting against the dehumanized operations. General William Childs Westmore-land, the then Commander of the US forces in South East Asia claimed that the press played a vital role in losing the war on their part (Rid, pp. 53-54, 2007). Here, media’s watchdog role is clearly visible, which on the grounds of humanity, gave merely the factual message. In addition to that, people also remember the vivid image that showed a naked woman running through the fields after the US Marines sexually abused her. Analyzing it critically, the very initiatives of the media further molded the perceptions of the masses about the US military of taking such a stance over Vietnam (Rid, pp. 59-60, 2007). However, the post-Vietnam War era totally changed the way media mobilized or was allowed to mobilize. For instance, in 1999 the foreign reporters were not permitted to move freely according to the demands of their coverage in the war of Kosovo. Application of the same rules took place during the struggle in Somalia. It is quite surprising to note that some form of watchdog reporting and investigative journalism paved its way in the media stream of Southeast Asia and Latin America (Coronel, pp.4-5, 2008). The prolonged oppressive attitude created a thirst for information among the citizens who readily accepted the fact that media should become a forum of self-controlled laws and the government became obliged to give the media their space. Talking about the Latin America, the monopoly of an ideological media continued for over two decades in the 1960s and the 70s, though, the mainstream media took over after that period brought forward the ideology of professionalism in the investigative and watchdog scenario of the media (Coronel, pp.8, 2008). In the same manner, Al-Jazeera among the Arab satellites made watchdog journalism enter a new phase of professionalism (Norris, pp. 386, 2010). Likewise, the example of Argentina in the decade of 1990s, reflecting the function of watchdog role of independent media is notable. During the presidency of President Carlos Menem, the watch dogging of media became popular (Coronel, pp.11, 2008). Newspaper like Pagina/12 was in the forefront to expose the corruption of the officials in that era. The first story that it carried was regarding the letter by the then US ambassador to Argentina that accused the government of receiving bribes from one of the US corporations. After that, multiple episodes that reflected disloyalty of the government officials became public and the head of a national agency had to resign on an unresolved accusation upon him. Thus, the media role as a watchdog did not limit itself to these scandals, but it continued to expose the wrongdoings of every subsequent official taking charge. In a nutshell, the independent role of media has always been despised by the government. This is why, since 2000, over 600 journalists having crime and corruption as their beats, became the target of violent and ghastly murders even in democratic nations (Coronel, pp.5-6, 2008). Literally, this function articulates that public should be protected while preventing the people with power to abuse their power. References BBC News. 2008. The Secret Policeman. Retrieved from www.news.bbc.co.uk Coronel, S. S. 2008. “The Media as Watchdog”. Harvard-World Bank Workshop. Harvard Press. Gaber, I. 2009. “The Slow Death of the Westminster Lobby: Collateral Damage from the MPs’ Expenses Scandal.” British Politics, 4. Pages 478-497 Norris, P. 2010. Public Sentinel: News Media & Governance Reform. The World Bank. Rid, T. 2007. War and Media Operations: The US Military and the Press from Vietnam to Iraq. Routledge. Robinson, P. 2002. The CNN Effect: The Myth of News, Foreign Policy and Intervention. Routledge. Trappel, J., Meier, W. A., D’Haenens, L., Steemers, J. & Thomass, B. 2011. Media in Europe Today. Intellect Press. Read More