Today, the permanent and instantaneous flow of information pass through a wide range of channels, called 'the media'. There are two types of channels: print media (e.g. newspapers) and broadcast media (e.g. television, radio). It is precisely the capacity to create information, that is at the very heart of the issue of power of the media. What is the exact political role of the news media? The media is an instrument of major importance for the citizens who must control their government and grant it legitimacy. Therefore, the existence of the media is constituent of a free and democratic society. However, the media is not only a sum of mediums, it is also a political actor. The way a topic is chosen, treated and presented to the audience implies a lot of political choices, when there are at the same time a painful war where civilians are dying and a terrible economic crisis, choosing one of these events to be in the headlines of a newspaper is indeed a choice. That is why newspapers, and more generally the media, are called the 'fourth estate', or, more unequivocally, the 'fourth power'. But is the media really a power in the sense that it could make an event happen or prevail over an individual despite his or her resistance? If it is, who is deciding the use of this power, and over whom is this power exercised?
[...] Conclusion The news media can survive only by selling information to a broad audience, that is to say by satisfying society's interest. As we showed it, the news media can be very powerful as it can manipulate its audience and control the political agenda. But because of the legal, moral and economic constraints, the media's power is framed; moreover, because the media is an economic actor, in a free society, no media can totally control society: another media will always compete with it to provide a better information and attract its audience. [...]
[...] The news media has a political role within society: because individuals have decided to cede their natural rights (social contract theories[4]) to the State as a sovereign authority, in order for it to ensure peace and security within civil society, they need to be sure that the State won't abuse its power and to stay permanently informed about how the State uses its power to protect citizens and to deal with matters of public interest (education, health, etc.) The media is an instrument of major importance for the citizens who must control their government and grant it legitimacy. [...]
[...] The media may be seen as a twofold actor: not only is it a political and social actor, because of its influence on society, but it is also an economic actor that has to be economically viable These constraints make it impossible to conceive a powerful news media elite and allow us to figure out the limits of the concept of the news media power The media as a political and as an economic actor The media is an entity evolving within the frame of an environment society that has its legal rules and its moral rules, both limiting the scope of the news media power. [...]
[...] It is thus a potent political actor: by selecting a topic and publicizing it, the news media can control the political agenda. But the use of the media's power is not so legitimate, as the media may not deliver raw information or may not be objective in the way investigations are held or information is presented. To begin with, most of the media do have a political orientation, may it be openly recognized (e.g. French leftist newspaper L'Humanité) or subtle (cf. [...]
[...] The media doesn't not only try to meet with a demand for example to satisfy the tremendous and unhealthy of human nature by publishing news in brief about crimes, etc, they sometime also create a demand, by creating itself stars out of normal people and by broadcasting their lives. Thus, the media's power depends on its audience. Denis McQuail's built a model to explain why individuals consume media (uses and gratifications model[21]). According to him, there are four main reasons: the need for individuals to identify with the images carried by the media; the need for an interaction with other individuals; the need for security (media provides information and gives a point of comparison); the need for entertainment. [...]
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