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Political Influence On Media

Democracy is a deeply communicative brand of politics which it demands communication

and exchange of information and views, it demands dialogue and a public sphere in which

citizens can engage in the practices which define them as citizens and the society as

democratic Darin Barney, The Network Society, (Oxford: Polity, 2004).

The political role of the mass media historically the mass media have been the predominant

source of political information for citizens of a democratic society Ideally, the mass media

should fulfillment theirpolitical role by: disseminating the full range of political opinions,

enabling the public to make political choices and enter the national life. Mark Wheeler,

Politics and the Mass Media, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1997) .The mass media political role in

democratic societies is centre around: Acting as a fourth estate and public sphere Acting as

impartial, objective and independent brokers of information Acting with political andeconomic autonomy.

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The Public Sphere The political role of the mass media is centred on its role as a public

sphere The public sphere can be defined as: a discursive space in which individuals and

groups congregate to discuss matters of mutual interest and, where possible, to reach a

common judgment.

A few of the issues associated with this mass media in fulfilling their political role within a

democratic society: Can the mass media truly fulfill their political role? Agenda Setting

Political and Commercial Autonomy Access to Means of Production Do these issues impact

the mass medias ability to fullfill their political role?? Acting as a fourth estate and public

sphere Independent from political and economic bias Providing a wide range of information,

interpretation and opinion

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There were several challenges faced by the media agencies in the process of nationalist

integration. The most prominent challenges that accounted by the Malaysia media are the as

follows:

a. Most of the private media agencies are interested in making profit through media business.

Currently, there were 6 TV stations namely TV3, TV7, TV8 and ASTRO besides mainstream

media agencies TV1 and TV2. About 90 % of these TV station programs were more towards

entertaiment and little effort on the national integration.

b. Abuse of using computer and internet give a negative impact to Malaysia citizens. Too

much of attention to internet make our citizen especially the teenage does not interact each

others any more. As a result the citizens especially in Malaysia were towards self centered and

interest. This phenomenon is dangerous to the nationalist integration and to be civic

society. Therefore this is one of the factor that force the government to introduce national

service so that the national unity and integration back to it track.

c. Journalist at mainstream publications tend too much accommodate to the political culture in

which they operate. Usually mainstream media are owned and/or controlled by either the state

or the socio-economic elite. This caused most the news that they portrayed towards personalinterest and as the results the public do not have the accurate information.

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Meanwhile, in an age of timeliness and demand for information, the media plays a crucial

role in informing the public about politics, campaigns and elections. But while the public

demands information from the media, there is also an underlying cynicism in the American

culture against the media and politicians for negative campaign coverage and a perceived

media bias. What is often missed is the influence the government has on the media, and

equally, the influence the media has on the government. Additionally, the media helps

influence what issues voters should care about in elections and what criteria they should use

to evaluate candidates.

There is a cyclical relationship between the media, the government and the public and while

the media can occasionally shape public opinion, it has a greater influence in communicating

to voters what issues are important and less of an influence in convincing them what to think

about those issues. The media works more effectively by placing a spotlight on certain issuesthey feel the public should be concerned with. "A large body of evidence now indicated that

what appears in print or on the air has a substantial impact upon how citizens think and what

they think about: e.g., what they cite as 'important problems'". The government plays a role in

dictating the media's content through the media's regular use of public officials as sources in

the news. Just as the government influences the media, the media can help set the political

agenda by focusing on specific issues and influencing what issues the public and government

should be concerned with.