Page 41 - An Introduction to Political Communication Fifth Edition

Intro to Politics Communication (5th edn)-p.qxp 9/2/11 10:55 Page 20

POLITICS IN THE AGE OF MEDIATION
scandal, in which investigative journalists exposed the practice of mem-
bers of parliament accepting payment for the asking of parliamentary
questions. The post-1997 Labour government of Tony Blair also saw its
relationship with lobbyists and financial backers subjected to critical
scrutiny. ‘Public opinion’ can only matter – i.e. have an influence on
‘objective’ political reality – to the extent that ‘the acts of whoever holds
supreme power are made available for public scrutiny, meaning how far
they are visible, ascertainable, accessible, and hence accountable’
(Bobbio, 1987, p. 83). There must be, to use Mikhail Gorbachev’s
famous formulation, a degree of ‘openness’ surrounding the activities of
the political class if the ‘public opinions’ of the people are to have any
bearing on decision-making.
• Finally, the media in democratic societies serve as a channel for the
advocacy of political viewpoints. Parties require an outlet for the articu-
lation of their policies and programmes to a mass audience, and thus the
media must be open to them. Furthermore, some media, mainly in the
print sector, will actively endorse one or other of the parties at sensitive
times such as elections. In this latter sense, the media’s advocacy function
may also be viewed as one of persuasion.

For these functions to be performed adequately, and thus for a real ‘public
sphere’ to exist (and, by extension, ‘real’ democracy), a number of conditions
have to be met. For Habermas, the political discourse circulated by the media
must be comprehensible to citizens. It must also be truthful, in so far as it
reflects the genuine and sincere intentions of speakers (one may, for example,
have disagreed with the politics of Margaret Thatcher, while acknowledging
that she genuinely believed in the positive effects of an unrestrained free
market). Hauser summarises Habermas’s views thus:

First, the [public sphere] must be accessible to all citizens. . . .
Second, there must be access to information. . . . Third, specific
means for transmitting information must be accessible to those who
can be influenced by it . . . [and] there must be institutionalised
guarantees for [the public sphere] to exist.
(Quoted in Cooper, 1991, p. 32)

In short, democracy presumes ‘an open state in which people are allowed to
participate in decision-making, and are given access to the media, and other
information networks through which advocacy occurs’ (ibid., p. 42). It also
presumes, as we have stated, an audience sufficiently educated and know-
ledgeable to make rational and effective use of the information circulating in
the public sphere.

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