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Media As A Shaper To Public Opinion On Government Activities

A greater percentage of information received and used today is relayed through the media. Today in the democratic society, there are critical roles plays by the media. Primarily, the media is expected to relay information to the public for them to make independent decisions. When one talks about the media, it can be newspapers, magazines, television programs, radio programs and social media sites. The media can give both correct and wrong information depending on the target audience, the director of the content and who is relaying the information. Through relaying of news, setting up of public forums, facilitating community building and finding solutions to societal problems, the media has helped shape public opinion on current government.

First, the media influences public opinion through the spread of news. The public obtains its news from the media and some people are vulnerable to the news whether right or wrong and some cannot differentiate the two. After being given an update on what is happening for example, president X offered support to a group of students at Harvard. The public then can make conclusions on the qualities of this president and the next time they are told to vote they will vote depending on what they were told by the media (O’shaughnessy and Jane 94). For instance, if the media becomes biased and does not air out the negative side of a given politician, less people will be aware of this fact and will give positive feedback on such a leader. Indeed, it is what the people are told that they use it to make decisions such as voting and rioting to remove a leader.

Further, the media shapes public opinion by setting up forums to discuss matters affecting the society/ nation and the type of leaders the people chose. Through these forums, people raise their views on their leaders, discuss them in detail and give a final vote whether a given leader is doing what is expected of him or her. In most cases, television channels will always arrange discussion forums with politicians and leaders where they discuss a certain topic for example; how well the government uses the public resources? It is from such discussions that people know the type of leaders they have elected to represent them (Wolfsfeld 2). Debates on media platforms shapes public opinion and later contribute to democracy since from the forums leaders are able to create an image of who they are. Without the debates and public forums, it is hard to know the characteristics of the leaders we elect.

Also, the media facilitates community building which in turn, affects the public opinion.by community building, it implies that the media educates the public on certain matters. For example, a certain media house can decide to teach people on qualities of a good leader. Through the teachings, people are able to judge politicians are later determining whether they are good leaders or not. Further, the same media houses are the ones who help in aiding community programs such as food aid and other programs. Through the programs the people are able to realize the gaps in the community and that their leaders have failed (Subrahmanyam and David 7). The media has played a great role in finding solutions to societal problems such as insecurity, drug abuse, poverty, lack of employment among other problems. These are the problems which leaders promise to solve but fail in the end. When the media highlights such problems other areas are made aware of what is happening in the country. Airing out problems in the society and how some have been solved influences the public opinion on the government and its leaders.

Not to forget, the media can be deceiving sometimes by airing out wrong information to the public. When such things happen, the government is always involved. There are some issues when told to the public they can affect unity thus they are not said. What is sad is that the public will always find out whether early enough or when it is too late. For example, there are dark secrets of the government that should not be told to the public, but at some point one person decides to leak them out which then can be used by the public against the government. Some media houses deceive the public by airing out what they are old and leaving important information that can cause problems. That is wrong since when one decides to inform the public, they should give all the information and let the people make their choices wisely.

Also, politicians use media platforms to market themselves which can be deceiving or not. There was a case during the 2016 campaigns where YouTube would redirect users to videos about candidate X (Besley and Burgess 633). When one makes a single search about a certain candidate, they could be given five or more videos and without realizing, one would get glued to watch more. Politicians use the media to tell people what they what to and asks them to hide other details. For example, when one is giving a press address, the video has to be edited to ensure the best part is given to the people. In short the press is used by the leaders to manipulate the public on what they feel it is right.

Conclusively, the press can choose to guide the people in the right direction or mislead them. The public take what they are told by the media seriously and through the information, they make decisions which can be long-term and short term. Democracy is the freedom to choose leaders and this can be interfered by the media when they give misleading information to the public to favour certain leaders or party. The media should be true to the public by giving the right information without hiding what they feel will affect the people’s unity or trust on certain leaders. There is freedom of press which should be utilised to give the people the information needed. All in all, the press does well in informing the public since it is the information given that affects public opinion on government and leaders.

Works Cited

Subrahmanyam, Kaveri, and David Smahel. Digital youth: The role of media in development. Springer Science & Business Media, 2010.

Besley, Timothy, and Robin Burgess. “Political agency, government responsiveness and the role of the media.” European Economic Review 45.4-6 (2001): 629-640.

O’shaughnessy, Michael, and Jane Stadler. Media and society: An introduction. Oxford University Press: Australia, 2002.

Wolfsfeld, Gadi. Making sense of media and politics: Five principles in political communication. Routledge, 2011.