Page 95 - An Introduction to Political Communication Third Edition

5

THE MEDIA AS

POLITICAL ACTORS

This chapter:

• Describes the key ways in which media can seek to
influence and intervene in the political process
• Outlines the different forms of political journalism, such
as punditry, editorialising and access programming.

Chapter 1 included, in its list of political actors, media institutions
and those who work in them. This draws our attention to the
fact that in contemporary liberal democracies media institutions
perform not only cognitive functions of information dissemination
but also interpretative functions of analysis, assessment and
comment. Not only do the media report politics; they are a
crucial part of the environment in which politics is pursued. They
contribute to policy discussion and resolution, not only in so far as
they set public agendas or provide platforms for politicians to make
their views known to the public, but also in judging and critiquing
the variety of political viewpoints in circulation. In this chapter we
examine the many formats in which the overtly interpretative work
of the political media is done.

DEFINING POLITICAL REALITY

We begin at the most general level, noting that the media are active
in defining political ‘reality’. Through the processes of news-
gathering and production described in the previous chapter, the
audience is finally presented with a ‘finished’ articulation of what

74