Page 38 - An Introduction to Political Communication Second Edition

POLITICS, DEMOCRACY AND THE MEDIA

activities, and of streamlining and guiding public discussion,
functions which are taken for granted in contemporary print and
broadcast journalism.

THE MEDIA AND THE DEMOCRATIC
PROCESS

From what has been stated thus far we may now suggest five
functions of the communication media in ‘ideal-type’ democratic
societies:

• Firstly, they must inform citizens of what is happening around
them (what we may call the ‘surveillance’ or ‘monitoring’
functions of the media).
• Secondly, they must educate as to the meaning and significance
of the ‘facts’ (the importance of this function explains the
seriousness with which journalists protect their objectivity, since
their value as educators presumes a professional detachment
from the issues being analysed).
• Thirdly, the media must provide a platform for public political
discourse, facilitating the formation of ‘public opinion’, and
feeding that opinion back to the public from whence it came.
This must include the provision of space for the expression of
dissent, without which the notion of democratic consensus
would be meaningless.
• The media’s fourth function is to give publicity to governmental
and political institutions—the ‘watchdog’ role of journalism,
exemplified by the performance of the United States media
during the Watergate episode and, more recently, the British
Guardian’s coverage of the cash-for-questions scandal, in which
investigative journalists exposed the practice of members of
parliament accepting payment for the asking of parliamentary
questions. ‘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.

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