The media has a great impact on politics in the world. Do you agree?

Often we see media as a form of freedom of expression of ideas and an offset from the most widely practiced ideology, democracy. However, little did we know that media is actually influencing the politics of different countries governments all over the world - completely contradicting its role in ensuring the freedom of the people is protected.

There are several instances where media played a dominant role in influencing and even shaping the political world. One such incident was during the 2004 elections in America where 41% voters received news about the 2004 election online and 21% of voters relying on the Internet for most of their election news. These information sources on the Internet may be biased, inaccurate or even manipulated by other people with ill intentions. However, the very fact that so many voters merely accepted the information online goes to show how the media has indeed affected the way we make political decisions.

Another instance of how the media affects politics is the impact on foreign media on the censorship laws in South Africa. In the past, there were strict censorship laws in South Africa where the government tracks down reporters that publish news that are deemed inappropriate by the authorities. But when foreign media was introduced to the country, people all over the world began to see the lack of respect for human rights in the country and South Africans, themselves, saw what they were deprived of for years. This led to violence and aggression in the form of rioting and uprisings causing political instability in the country. Furthermore, other countries began to pass economic sanctions on South Africa to pressurize the government to stop the abuse of human rights in the country.

There are several reasons why media has such a powerful impact on politics. As people become more exposed to politics through media, they are more aware of the political world around them. However, this knowledge is restricted by the media and the news sources that the people are in touch with. What the people lack is first-hand information of the political issues around the world. With information all over the world flowing so freely, there is a high possibility that news actually come from several different sources. As information is transferred from one source to another, the meaning and ideas will be inevitably changed as different news agencies give their view on the matter. Only by checking with several news sources can we truly get an accurate picture of the issue raised. The problem is that most people make themselves content with only one source that may be biased or inaccurate. This becomes extremely serious when the issue concerns political decisions such as voting.

As mentioned above, there will be several serious implications if we just allow media to influence the way we choose our leaders. Hence to prevent such problems from ever arising, we must always try to obtain first-hand knowledge about political issues around the world through footages or recordings of legislative debates, political rallies and speeches by the different parties.




Links
http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:ksBh1hVJsWwJ:americandemocracy.nd.edu/speaker_series/files/SnyderPaper.pdf+media+impact+politics&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=sg
http://www.cybercollege.com/intmed.htm
http://tapscottscopydesk.blogspot.com/2004/12/bennett-nails-new-medias-impact-on.html