Wollo University

College of Social Science and Humanities

School of Governance

Department of Political Science and International Relations

Course Material to the Course of Media Politics and Political Communication

Prepared By: Jemal Seid

Department of Political Science and International Relations

May 2022, May 2023

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 Media Politics and Political Communication

1. Introduction

Media is a problematic word. Contained within it are a number of conflated or mixed ideas that are
often contextually misinterpreted. It is a fleet-footed target for definition. To study and practice
complex storytelling in any media industry, some definitions need to be refined. Media as a carrier of
information and Media Politics are the subjects of concern here.

2. Meaning of Media and Media Politics

Media is the plural form of medium, which (broadly speaking) describes any channel of
communication. This can include anything from printed paper to digital data, and encompasses art,
news, educational content and numerous other forms of information. A press generally refers to print
media (i.e. off the printing press) like newspapers and magazines. "Media" is a broader term that
includes TV, radio, Internet etc. The mass-media refers to all those forms of communication where
large numbers of people are exposed to an identical message. The mass media provide the ideas and
images which help most people to understand the world they live in and their place in that world.

Media politics is about ―how the interests of politicians, journalists, and citizens shape the news‖
(Zaller, 1999). The politico-media complex (PMC), also referred to as the political-media complex)
is a name given to the network of relationships between a state's political and ruling classes and its
media industry. It may also encompass other interest groups, such as law (and its enforcement),
corporations and multinationals.

2.1.Types and Classification of the Media

There are different types of mass media that we are accustomed to in this day and age. There are
different ways to classify media.
1. Print media, non-print media, and electronic media
Print Media: books, journals, magazines, newspapers, workbook, textbooks
Non-print Media: projected and non-projected media
Electronic Media: Audio media, Visual media and Audio-Visual, the Internet
2. Projected media & non-projected media
Projected media: They require light source for projection. E.g.film projector slides etc

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 Non-projected media: They do not require light source. They include 3dimensional
objects, 2dimensional objects, prints, charts, models etc.
3. Audio media, Visual media & Audio-visual
Audio media: This form of media carry sounds alone. E.g. audio tapes, record player,
Visual media: These are the ones that can be seen. E.g. TV, computer, white board
Audio-Visual: This term refers to those instructional materials which provide students with
audio and visual experiences by appearing to the hearing and seeing senses at the same time.
E.g. TV, video tapes, closed circuit television (CCTV).
4. Hardware and software
Hardware: This the classification of machines or equipment used in the instructional process. It is
upon these gadgets that the software is transmitted. E.g. Television set, tape recorder etc.
Software: This classification consists of all materials used with the machine. They are the real
carrier of knowledge or information. They include, films, tapes transparencies.

Media

Overall, the classification or taxonomy of media is constantly evolving due to advances in technology
and changes in the way people consume and interact with media. Media is generally classified or
categorized in various ways based on different parameters. Here is a brief taxonomy of media:

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 Print media: This includes newspapers, magazines, journals, and books that are printed on paper
or other materials.
 Broadcast media: This category includes radio and television programs that are transmitted over
the airwaves or via cable or satellite networks.
 Digital media: Covers all media platforms and formats that have emerged with the advent of
digital technologies. This includes online news portals, social media platforms, video-sharing
websites, email, and messaging apps.
 Outdoor media: This category covers advertising billboards, posters, flyers, banners, and other
promotional materials that are displayed in public spaces.
 Cinema: This includes movies or films that are shown in theaters or cinemas.
 Interactive media: This category covers video games, online simulations, and other digital media
that allow users to actively participate and engage with the content.
 Alternative media: This comprises media platforms that operate outside the mainstream media
and tend to have a distinct perspective or agenda. This may include blogs, podcasts, community
radio stations, and other grassroots or independent media initiatives.

Based on generations and development, media can be classified as old and new.

 Old media (or traditional media): includes broadcast and print sources such as TV, newspaper,
radio, magazines and flyers.
- Typically one-way communication
- Delivered at a specific time
- Limited jurisdictional reach
- Strives to maintain journalistic integrity and standards
 New media: is easily accessible, such as online sources and social media platforms.
- Interactive
- User-driven
- Functions in real-time
- Borderless

2.2. History and Evolution of Media Politics

In the history of the world, we can identify three historical development phases of media-political
relations: absolutism, constitutionalism and parliamentary democracy. In the context of absolutism,
there was absolute separation of politics and media/press/ freedom with no common theoretical

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foundations, functional relations, and occupational interchange. There is an intension to protect
secrets of politics and the state and so that the press is not allowed to propagate ―sensational and
spectacular‖ political events which are subject only to its own effective media. For being from
different classes, the media and political institutions do not consider each other as relevant sources of
information.

In the history of constitutionalism, there had been a separation between the press/media and the
political institutions and the state, but some common theoretical foundations, functional relations, and
occupational interchange gradually appeared. Here, the politicians use media for some selected
information provision and acquisition purposes. Because of exchange of positions and roles between
politicians and journalists, the existing trend of state/political/ secrecy was gradually reduced.

In the last, the contemporary parliamentary/presidential/ democracy brought a fluid diffusion of

boundaries between and among issues of theoretical foundations, functional relations, and
occupational interchange. Here the media and political institutions show similarities and stresses the
importance of consensus than truth.

2.3. Goals and Functions of the Media in Politics

For three different actors, we may identify different functions the media plays. For example, in the
account of media politics, there are three principal actors: politicians, journalists, and citizens
animated by a distinctive motive.
For politicians, the goal of media politics is to use mass communication to mobilize the
public support they need to win elections and to get their programs enacted while in office.
For journalists, the goal of media politics is to produce stories that attract big audiences and
that emphasize the "Independent and Significant Voice of Journalists.
For citizens, the goal is to monitor politics and hold politicians accountable on the basis of
minimal effort. When we come to the functions of the media, there are diverse theoretical
explanations

A. Media Interventions: The Theories Behind the Idea

The foundational idea underpinning media interventions is that media can be used to inform and
educate populations on pressing and important issues and thus engage them in participating in society

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and governance. The media can be considered the fourth estate, a means to control governments and
counter authoritarian, illiberal or patrimonial regimes. In this way, an independent media is an end in
itself; it represents a cornerstone of a functioning democracy.
B. The public sphere: media as an end
The media is independent and journalists are able and permitted to examine and inform on those in
power, the media provides the foundation for population‘s engagement in governance. This theory
posits that the free flow of information will result in informing populations and empowering them to
phrase their demands and thus participate in governance (Habermas, 1974). The public sphere is
described as a space to discuss issues of social and societal importance, independent from institutions
such as governments and the church.
C. Media as a means to an end: Modernization Theory:
The use of media to distribute information that promotes causes is supported by modernisation
theory, which aims to answer the question of how societies develop. This meant helping them achieve
economic growth and prosperity and, eventually, democracy. Modernisation theory states that
economic growth inevitably leads to liberal democratic capitalism and stable polities, modelled on
Western examples. A condition for modernisation was understood to be a 'modern mindset' in the
population of developing countries; this ‗modern mindset‘ was to be achieved by overcoming
―traditional‖ beliefs (Lerner, 1958). For example,

Media in Learning
A learner‘s use of media is significant where the learning process consists of four essential
component processes: discursive, adaptive, interactive and reflective defined as follows:
(1) Discursive—allowing discussion between student and teacher, where each expresses
his/her conception of how some aspect of the world is to be described, and reacts to the other's
description;
(2) Adaptive—where, assuming a didactic intention, the teacher adapts the students'
interaction with the world to enable them to experience it from the teacher's perspective;
(3) Interactive—allowing students to interact with the world in ways that extend or enhance
their experience;
(4) Reflective—where students reflect upon their experiences and their relation to the
teacher's description and thereby adapt their own conception and their description of it.

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 Media in Development and Governance

There are many reasons why development actors currently invest in media support or believe support
for media is important. We can see three ways to distinguish between and among ways of defining
the media-governance relations.
 Governance through the media: use of the media for targeted campaigns concerning human
rights, the fight against corruption, information in times of conflict, political crises or natural
disasters, etc.
 Governance for the media: framework or enabling conditions for media‘s activity.
 Governance in the media: internal rules that the professionals impose on themselves.

Generally, media plays significant roles in ensuring good governance in all or more of the following
issues (not limited to these).
Democracy and human rights: To build an independent media sector as an intrinsic good,
essential to the functioning of a democratic society and a key platform for freedom of expression.

Accountability: To enhance the accountability of governments to citizens, often in order to:

improve service delivery, state responsiveness and state-citizen relations; support more informed
democratic/electoral decision-making or marginalised groups to assert their voice; or decrease public
tolerance of corruption or poor governance.

Stability and conflict reduction: To improve debate, dialogue and tolerance in fragile or conflict-
affected societies, often in order to: increase the availability of balanced, reliable and trustworthy
information; reduce the likelihood of hate speech or inflammatory media likely to exacerbate conflict;
and enhance social cohesion or build state legitimacy.

Communication for development: To create demand for services and use the media as an
instrument to shift behaviour or change the social norms that prevent such behaviour. For example,
improving immunization uptake.

The Media and Crisis

This is a very particular way of using the media for specific goals. We can distinguish three levels:

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Before the crisis: This means professionals instructing people how to react to a crisis before it arises
(how to address the public, where to find information, etc. Prevention of conflicts is a multi-
disciplinary approach. International cooperation and the media have a central role to play in this.
During the crisis: In civil war situations or in extremely violent situations, it is likely that
professionals will no longer be able to carry on the essential job of informing and conciliating. It
demands working «under fire» in collaboration with humanitarian aid organisations whose
communication needs are immense. Professional training and codes of ethics are important, but
fragile, safeguards at a time of crisis.

After the crisis: local professionals can relearn how to work more or less normally under difficult
conditions. That‘s when support programmes, covering issues such as reconciliation and material and
psychological reconstruction, are particularly opportune.

Propaganda Functions of a media

The function of a media may be extended to the level of propaganda purposes. But the use of free
media for propaganda purposes in essentially discouraged because:

First, propaganda, when it is pervasive, massive and systematic, is detrimental to freedom of the
media. This phenomenon destroys the core of the profession of journalism, establishes
authoritarianism that distorts pluralism and foundations of a democracy. Meanwhile, it affects the
public trust in the free media, in the values and the meaning of the profession.
Second, dangers of propaganda become a useful excuse for governments to restrict or even ban all
hostile messages, actual and potential, coming from abroad. Its threat gives a pretext for wider
intervention of governments in the media matters, such as licensing, transfrontier broadcasting, etc.

Third, the representative find that propaganda is especially dangerous when emanating from the
state-owned and state-run, also by proxy, media outlets. A use of public funds to impose a one-sided
view is a corrupt practice. The two world wars and the Cold War that followed have proven that
media in the hands of governments is a dangerous instrument.

Fourth, propaganda for war and hatred aims at erosion of the very foundation of the principle of
comprehensive security everywhere. The use of propaganda in times of conflict has the effect of
nothing less than throwing gasoline on an open flame.

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D. Combining theories
The conceptual difference between media as an end - supporting an independent media - and media as
a means - understanding media as a distributor of educational messages, broadly conceptualized - is
in theory clear-cut. There are considerable differences in the philosophy and practice of media
interventions. However, the approaches of media as an end and media as a means for peacebuilding
and democratization are conceptually interlinked and bound to access to information. Media cannot
be used as a means if media has not yet been intrinsically built. The justification is that for ―media as
an end‖ and ―media as a means for an end‖ are not mutually exclusive.

2.4. Theories/Models of the Media/Press

There are numerous theoretical explanations and models to media politics and its operation. Here the
below are short lists of explanations.

A. Soviet-Communist Theory
The Soviet-Communist Theory originated from the Soviet Union from Marxist, Leninist, and Stalinist
thoughts after the 17th century. Under the Soviet-Communist Theory, the state owns or in some way
controls all forms of mass media directly. The media‘s authority falls in the hands of a small group of
party leaders. The role of the media in countries applying the Soviet-Communist Theory is to act as
an instrument of the ruling party to unite people of the state, and to carry out plans of the party and
state, bringing about societal change to/by the working class/proletariat/ class.

Its predecessors, Marxist theorists see the media as a part of a superstructure closely linked to the
economic base the independent positions of the media are denied here. Marxist theorists Ralph
Miliband said the editors and the journalists in newspaper and other media organization depend on
the owners for their jobs and therefore will not use any apparent autonomy they may have to resist the
dissemination of bourgeois‟ ideology. The media is seen a part of the ideological state apparatus.
Technically, currently, no country‘s media is fully under the Soviet-Communist system. However,
certain countries‘ media possess characteristics of a Soviet-Communist media system.

B. The Authoritarian Theory

Authoritarian theory is developed in the 16th and 17th century in England. The Authoritarian Theory
is operationalized as strict control of content by the state and a general lack of freedom for the public
to criticize state policies. Under an Authoritarian media system, ownership of the media can be either

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public or private. Ownership of printing medias are mostly private, while broadcast and cinemas
usually remain in the hands of the government. The Authoritarian Theory describes the situation
where states view the mass media as an instrument at all times. The role of the media is to mainly
educate citizens, and acts as a propaganda tool for the ruling party.

The main difference between the Authoritarian theory and the Soviet-Communist Theory is that while
the former allows both private and public media ownership, the latter allows strictly only public
media ownership. Another difference is that while the Authoritarian medias are mainly used to
maintain societal status quo, a Soviet-Communist media is often used to bring about
societal changes /revolutions/. Countries whose media are practicing the Authoritarian Theory
includes: Myanmar/Burma/, North Korea, China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.

C. Libertarian Theory
The Libertarian Theory originally came from liberal thought in Europe from the 16th Century.
The Libertarian Theory describes societies that provide media with unrestrained freedom, especially
from government control, so that they are free to report a variety of views. There is no control or
censorship. Under a libertarian media system, ownership of media is mainly private. The media‘s
purpose, here, is to inform, entertain, sell, and serve as a ―watchdog‖, keeping the government in
check involving some innate distrust of the role of the government and the state, and a belief that
everybody has rights to information. The theory also sees people as rational enough to decide what is
good or bad and hence the press should not restrict anything. Even negative contents may provide
audiences with knowledge. Libertarian thoughts are exactly the opposite of the Authoritarian Theory.
An example of a country whose media system applies the Libertarian Theory would be Finland, nthe
Netherlands, and to a lesser extent, Hungary.

D. Social-Responsibility Theory
Social Responsibility theory is an outgrowth of the Libertarian Theory. However, the Social-
Responsibility Theory does not assume that anyone can use the media to publish anything like the
Libertarian Theory. Instead, this theory requires the media to adhere to professional standards and
codes of conduct when exercising their editorial freedom. Under the Social-Responsibility Theory,
ownership of media is mostly private and practice self-regulation according to standards, codes and
guiding principles. The media is relatively free of arbitrary government controls.

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Under a Social-Responsible media system, the role of the media is to serve the public, and in order to
do so, should remain free of government interference. The idea of this theory is that the media has a
moral obligation to provide adequate information for citizens to make informed decisions. However,
the different media can retain a liberal notion of healthy public disclosure. The media is also expected
to represent the diversity of cultures they represent, and should have high standards for
professionalism, truth, and accuracy. One example of a country that practices the Social-
Responsibility Theory is the United States of America, France, Germany, and Japan.

No Theory Definition and Explanations

1 Libertarian The media are free to publish what they like. Attacks on the government are allowed and even
(Commercial) encouraged in the interest of bettering society. Journalists and media organizations are given full
autonomy.
Role of audience: Can absorb all messages and decide what is important
Role of media: Provide all information deemed of interest
Primary perception of the audience: Consumers
Primary perception of journalists as: Information providers….e.g. in the US
2 Social The media are not completely free to publish what they like as they have certain obligations to
responsibility society to provide information and balance. The media should provide access to all groups. The
media and the government are partners in constructing civil society.
Role of audience: Given information to promote acting is responsibly.
Role of media: Provide information in a responsible manner
Primary perception of the audience: Citizens
Primary perception of journalists as: Gatekeepers………………e.g. UK

3 Authoritarian The media serve the needs of the state through direct governmental control. The media are not
allowed to print or broadcast anything that could undermine the established authority or give
offence to the existing political values. Control is by censorship and punishment of those caught
breaking the rules.
4 Soviet In theory, media serve the interests of the working class and the sense of limit/censorship is
imposed by the consciousness of the journalists in solidarity with the workers. In practice, the Soviet
media were controlled by the state as in the authoritarian model.

E. Rational Choice Theory.

That theory treats media politics as the product of goal-oriented behavior on the part of key actors in
the political system, namely, politicians, journalists, and citizens. A straightforward implication of

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rational choice is that individuals take account of the goal-oriented behavior of others with whom
they interact. Everyone in politics does what he or she does in significant part because of what others
are doing or expected to do. Thus, to take a commonplace example, candidates create the kinds of
campaign events they do because of their beliefs about how journalists are likely to cover the events.

 Models of Media Politics

As stated in (Daniel Hallin and Paolo Mancini, 2004), there are the following models in the
discussion of Media Politics.
A. The Government Model
The public broadcasting – which in this case approaches state broadcasting – is controlled directly
by the government or by the political majority. Many European countries approached this model in an
early phase of the history of broadcasting, but most eventually developed alternative institutional
forms that would insulate public service broadcasting to a substantial degree from control by the
political majority.
B. The Professional Model
It is exemplified above all by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), where a strong tradition
developed that broadcasting should be largely insulated from political control and run by
broadcasting professionals.
C. Parliamentary or Proportional Representation Model
There is a control over public broadcasting is divided among the political parties by proportional
representation, as part of what is known in Italy or in German-speaking countries where not only was
the board of directors appointed by proportional representation, but the three channels were also
divided among the political parties. The parliamentary model is only really distinct from the
government model in systems where coalition government and power sharing are typical.
D. The “Civic” or “Corporatist” Model
It is similar to the parliamentary model in the sense that control of public service broadcasting is
distributed among various social and political groups, but differs in that representation is extended
beyond political parties to other kinds of “socially relevant groups – trade unions, business
associations, religious organizations, ethnic associations, and the like. The Dutch ―pillarized‖ system,
in which broadcasting was run directly by associations rooted in diverse religious and ideological
subgroups, is the purest example of such a system.

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 E. The Elite Model:
The theory posits that a small minority, consisting of members of the economic elite and policy-
planning networks, holds the most power—and that this power is independent of democratic
elections. The six elite groups in societies are:
(1) The Military Elite: comprises the general officers in the armed services and the high officials in
the defense departments;
(2) The Scientific Elite: consists of leading figures in the natural sciences and in the professions of
medicine and engineering, including professors in universities and technical institutes and research
scientists employed by governmental bureaus and industry;
(3) The Cultural Elite: includes leading writers and artists, journalists, professors in the humanities
and social sciences, and prominent religious figures;
(4) The Labor Elite: is made up of the high officers in the labor union structure.
(5) The Government-Party Elite: The former includes those of great political power whether in the
Communist Party or in the governmental system or both;
(6) The Economic Elite: consists of those charged with economic planning in the Union government
or the republics and those managing large industrial enterprises.

F. The Market Model

The market model suggests that society's needs can best be met through a relatively unregulated
process of exchange based on the dynamics of supply and demand. This model treats the media like
all other goods and services. It is the dominant framework within the media industry, is a widely
familiar economic perspective that assesses media using the universal currency of business success:
profits. We call it the market model because, to varying degrees, assumptions about how ―free
markets‖ operate form the core of this perspective. As with other industries, the media are
conceptualized as primarily competitors in this marketplace. The market model, then, is especially
useful in understanding why media companies behave the way they do. It is the framework to which
most business people refer in explaining their actions.

The market model suggests that society‘s needs can best be met through a relatively unregulated
process of exchange based on the dynamics of supply and demand. It argues that as long as
competitive conditions exist, businesses pursuing profits will meet people‘s needs. As a result,

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advocates of this model generally call for private, unregulated ownership of the media. It is
consumers in the marketplace, not government regulators, who will ultimately force companies to
behave in a way that best serves the public.
The Advantages of Markets
The market model promotes the use of unregulated markets for goods and services.
Markets Promote Efficiency. Without the cumbersome bureaucracies associated with centralized
planning, markets tend to promote efficiency. Because they are constantly trying to increase profits,
companies must develop new ways to deliver goods and services at the lowest cost. This encourages
efficiency on the part of producers and ensures low prices for consumers. This efficiency is lost when
standardized models are implemented or vast regulatory procedures are established. They are also lost
if competition is inadequate, because there is no longer an incentive to reduce costs. For consumers,
uncompetitive markets tend to produce artificially high prices remaining as captive customers and
undermining the basic supply-demand balance that characterizes healthy markets.
Markets Promote Responsiveness. Markets operate on the principle of supply and demand. As a
result, they are responsive to what people want. In the marketplace, price serves as the key indicator
of supply and demand. When demand goes up, price goes up, until an increase in supply restores
equilibrium. The increase in supply materializes because companies, seeing the profits to be made,
either enter the market or expand their already existing production to meet the increase in demand.
Markets Promote Flexibility. Not only do companies in market-based economies respond to what
consumers want or do not want, the absence of centralized planning and control allows them to
quickly adapt to the new supply-demand balance. Thus companies operating in market-based
economies must be flexible in how they are organized and in what they produce so that they can
respond to new market conditions.
Markets Promote Innovation. In market-based economies, many different producers experiment with
new products and services. The incentive of big profits promotes innovation as companies try to
develop new products that will capture a larger market share or secure an untapped market segment.
This constant experimentation with new products, services, and production processes results in a very
dynamic and innovative industry. A lack of competition tends to discourage innovation.
The Limits of Markets
The Virtues and Limits of Markets. As we have seen, the market model suggests that by pursuing
profits, media firms simultaneously meet the needs of the audience. Thus the virtues of market

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dynamics will satisfy the public interest. However, the public sphere model of media shows the
potential conflict between profit making and serving the public interest and, more generally, the
significant limitations of markets.
Markets Are Undemocratic. Markets work by a ―one dollar, one vote‖ mechanism. Thus, despite
rhetoric to the contrary, markets are inconsistent with democratic assumptions. In markets, profits are
the measure of success and money is the measure of clout. The more money you have, the more
influence you have in the marketplace (media).
Markets Reproduce Inequality. Because markets are based on money, they tend to reproduce the
inequality that exists in society. Rather than being an even playing field where individuals compete,
players enter the market with widely unequal resources. The playing field is tilted in favor of those
who already have advantages. An individual who enjoys the privileges of inherited wealth, elite
education, or privileged social contacts has distinct advantages in the market. When it comes to
media, those parties with significant resources may own or disproportionately influence media
content.
Markets Are Amoral. Markets make no judgment about what is bought and sold. They do not
distinguish between products that might be good for society versus products that might be harmful.
The market is designed to supply whatever there a demand is for. The market does not prevent the
production and sale of child pornography, crack cocaine, snuff films, or rocket-propelled grenades. It
is society, through its government‘s regulatory agencies, that must make such judgments.
Markets Do Not Necessarily Meet Social Needs. There are some needs that are distinctly social and
unlikely to be met by the privatized market. If you could not afford the services of the private fire
departments, you were on your own in case of a fire. It quickly became apparent, however, that this
private market-based solution was no solution at all. In urban areas, fires could spread rapidly,
regardless of which homeowners could afford fire protection.
Public fire departments were established to address this social problem.
Markets Do Not Necessarily Meet Democratic Needs. Market forces and democratic goals may
diverge as much as they coincide. Even relatively competitive media industries can, and often do,
provide products that ill serve a democratic citizenry. Because of their inexpensive production costs
and relative popularity among consumers, market forces might lead to the production of an ever-
growing stream of light entertainment, pornography, or ―news‖ about titillating scandals.
The three main media business models are monopoly, oligopoly, and monopolistic competition.

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 No Level of Product Number of Supplying Firms
Diversity One or a Few Many
1 Low Homogenized Homogenized
monopoly Competition
2 High Diverse Diverse competition
monopoly

Homogenized monopolies are the least desirable from a market perspective because they are not
competitive and give consumers limited or no choices in products.
Diverse monopolies offer some advantage because they at least give consumers a wider variety of
choices, even though there are only one or a few companies owning those options
Homogenized competition presents its own set of problems. Imagine a number of competing theaters
all showing mainstream Hollywood action-adventure films and adolescent comedies.
Diverse competition is usually the market ideal. Here, numerous sellers offer a wide range of
products from which consumers can choose.

Here the below are the Hallin and Mancini‟s media models
A. Democratic Corporatist/Central European Model
In Liberal countries the mass-circulation press has been strong, but there has simultaneously been a
low degree of political parallelism. Only in Democratic Corporatist countries has a high degree of
political parallelism (the degree and nature of the links between the media and political parties)
coexisted with a strongly developed mass-circulation press. The fact that political parallelism has
declined does not change this fact. There is a historical co-existence of commercial media and media
tied to organized social and political groups. It recommends a relatively active, but legally limited
role of the state. There is strong professionalization, institutionalized self-regulation, state
intervention but with protection for press freedom; press subsidies, particularly strong in Scandinavia;
strong public-service broadcasting.
B. The Liberal/ North Atlantic Model:
It is characterized by a relative dominance of market mechanisms and of commercial media; the
Democratic Corporatist Model by a historical coexistence of commercial media and media tied to
organized social and political groups, and by a relatively active but legally limited role of the state. It
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is market dominated (except strong public broadcasting in Britain, Ireland). There is strong
professionalization; non-institutionalized self-regulation. Liberal model underlines relative
dominance of market mechanisms and commercial media, and recommends a relatively small role of
state. Eg. In Great Britain, Ireland, US. Reviewing the theorical context, it is seen that liberal theorists
say that media and democracy are complementary to each other. Here the media is an independent
agency. According to liberal thinkers‘ media are recognized as the fourth pillar of democracy.
C. Polarized Pluralist/Mediterranean Model:
There is integration of the media into party politics, weaker historical development of commercial
media, and a strong role of the state. In Polarized Pluralist countries, there is a high degree of
political parallelism. It recommends a strong role of the state; e.g. Mediterranean countries of
southern Europe. Strong state intervention; press subsidies in France and Italy; periods of censorship;
―savage deregulation‖ (except France), weaker professionalization and high instrumentalization trend
exists.

 Models of News Production

No Model Definition Benefits Flaws

1 Mirror News should be reflection of News is not distorted or biased by Unrealistic, impossible to cover
reality production all events. News
producers must make
choices about focus,
highlighting, filtering the
news, or there will be
information overload.
Discounts political bias
and pressures.
2 Organizational News emerges from Differing outputs from various Does not consider the fact that
pressures inherent in the media organizations provide actual events also will affect the
organizational processes and evidence for this (particularly as news. Discounts political bias and
goals of a news organization compared cross- nationally). pressures. Ignores the notion that
Observations of journalists journalists may have professional
suggest that they are constrained norms that can counter
by organizational factors. organizational behaviour.
3 Political News reflects the ideological Provides strong support News becomes a powerful tool
biases of individual for a regime. Fits for oppression , doesn‘t consider

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 journalists as well as that of evidence from some the fact that actual events will
media outlet. Only high media systems also affect the news (except for
status approved people particularly well. authoritarian regimes)
covered by news; those who
don‘t support the system are
ignored or vilified
4 Professional News making viewed as an Consumer-driven and apolitical Skilled professionals may act as
endeavour of highly skilled filter of unpleasant or unpopular,
professionals. Events albeit important news. Leaves out
selected for importance, element of civic responsibility,
attractiveness to media such as hearing about dull, yet
audiences, and balance. critical economic policy or
election campaigns. Could lead to
dumbing-down and pandering to
the audience.

 Additional Theories on Media Politics

There are several theories of media politics. Some of these theories are:
A. Agenda-Setting Theory: This theory states that mass media determines the issues that concern
the public rather than the public‘s views. The issues that receive the most attention from media
become the issues that the public discusses, debates, and demands action on.
B. Media Logic Theory: This theory states that common media formats and styles serve as a means
of perceiving the world
C. Uses and Gratifications Theory: This theory states that people use media to fulfill certain needs
or desires, such as entertainment or information
D. Cultivation Theory: This theory states that exposure to media over time shapes a viewer's
perception of reality
E. Social Learning Theory: This theory states that people learn from observing others, and media
can serve as a source of these observations
F. Framing Theory: This theory states that media has the power to frame issues in a certain way,
which can influence how people perceive those issues.
G. Political Economy Theory: This theory emphasizes the role of economic and social structures in
shaping media content and ownership.

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 2.6.1. The Concept of Media Independence
2.6.1.1. Dimensions Media Independence in Media Politics

According to Hallin and Mancini, there are four dimensions directly related to media systems:
1. The structure of media markets and the development of a mass circulation press: Some societies
are more newspaper-centred whereas other societies are more radio- or television-centred, historically
and today. Moreover, in some societies the newspapers are mainly addressed to an elite, whereas in
other societies they are mass circulated.
2. Degree of political parallelism: that is the extent to which the media system is rooted in and
reflects political or other social divisions in society. One component, and perhaps the most important
one, is the degree to which the media content reflects political orientations in their news reporting.
3. Degree of journalistic professionalism: a concept which primarily refers to the degree of
journalistic autonomy, the existence or strength of distinct professional norms and of a public service
orientation among media workers.
4. The role of the state: in particular the degree of state intervention in the media system. Such state
interventions might include subsidies to newspapers in order to stimulate a plurality of newspapers,
the existence and governance of public service media, and laws enabling or restricting journalistic
gathering and presentation of news.

The five dimensions related to the political context of media systems are:
o The role of the state: most importantly the scope of its responsibilities and activities within
different societies. Here a basic distinction can be made between welfare state democracies, in
which the state is seen as having a responsibility for the welfare of the society, and thus has a
right to intervene in various sectors of society, including the media system, and liberal
democracies, in which the role of the state is narrower. In the latter countries, more faith is
usually put in the capitalistic market and the capacity of the market‘s “invisible hand” to
coordinate resources in society, whereas in the former type of countries, there is usually a stronger
skepticism towards the market and its capacity to strengthen the common good.
o Consensus versus majoritarian democracy: refers to and includes type of government as well as
electoral system and political culture. Majoritarian democracies usually employs a first-past-the-
post electoral system, where the winner in each voting district takes all, usually leading to a two
or few-party system and clear distinctions between the governing and opposition party or parties.

19
 Consensual systems, in contrast, usually employ proportional electoral systems, leading to
multiple parties, coalition governments and compromise and cooperation between the parties.
o Individual versus organized pluralism: This dimension refers to whether political representation
mainly is conceived and organized in terms of the relationship between governing institutions and
individual citizens and a plurality of special interests groups (individualized pluralism), or in
terms of collective and highly organized social groups which enjoy advantaged positions in the
relationship to the state (organized pluralism).
o The development and strength of rational-legal authority: as opposed to clientelism. By rational-
legal authority is basically meant ‖a form of rule based on adherence to formal and universalistic
rules of procedure‖ which access to social and economic resources is controlled by patrons or
powerholders which deliver them to clients in exchange for deference.
o The distinction between moderate versus polarized pluralism: that is the extent to which there are
many or few political and social cleavages in a particular society, and how deep these cleavages
are.
3. Measuring Characteristics of Media Systems: Media Freedom

Discussions of media freedom are deeply rooted in both the political science and the mass
communication literature. For example, listed freedoms of association, information, and
communication as essential components of democracy are indicators. Gunther and Mughan (2000)
called mass media the “connective tissue of democracy.” Without the freedom of communication
mass media provide, the foundation of democratic rule is undermined. Early definitions of the press
freedom focus primarily on freedom from government control.

3.6. Media Independence: Mediatization and Interventionism

Mediatization has become an important concept for understanding the impact of media in modern
society. Mediatization is widely defined as a process where the media increases their influence at the
expense of other actors in society. A key aspect of mediatization in political communication is that
news media constitutes the most important source of information and communication channel
concerning politics in contemporary society. Media interventionism can shape and reshape politics as
it is covered by news media. Media interventionism refers to the discretionary power of the media as

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they play a formative role in shaping news content. Accordingly, four dimensions of media
independence for mediatization and intervention are identified:
 The first is concerned with the extent to which the media is the most important source of
information and channel of communication,
 The second with the degree of the media’s independence from political institutions,
 The third dimension with the degree to which media content is governed by political or media
logic, and
 The fourth with the degree to which political actors are governed by political or media logic.

Professional journalism, apart from political journalism, can thus be increasingly active and in-
dependent of political actors when producing news, and journalists can be professionally motivated to
increase their influence and control over news stories.

What kind of relationships lie behind Politics and Media?

Close and distant it is. The relationship between the political elite and journalists is about power –
who is able to get attention and influence the public image of politics and political actors. It is also
about conflicting interests as well as mutual interests, when both sides are dependent on one another.
This power-based relationship is ultimately about the control of information and access to the
public‘s attention. In this complicated relationship, there is no good or evil – both groups have
legitimate interests in their struggle to influence the image of politics in society. However, as there
are conflicting interests as well as mutual interests in the relationship, the balance of power shifts
depending on the situation.

3.6.1. Persuasive Role of the Media in Politics

Media as the Fourth Estate?: The persuasive role of independent media confirms that Media is the
Fourth Estate. The derivation of the term Fourth Estate arises from the traditional European concept
of the Three Estates of the Realm: The clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. This was first coined
by a Victorian writer, Thomas Carlyle. In today‘s connotation, it is to mean executive, legislative,
judiciary and the media (from the First to the Fourth Estate). The media in advanced democracies
like the United States (US) is regarded as the ―fourth branch of government,‖ providing information
that the people need to make sense of public problems. We start by considering the extent to which
independent media outlets—those over which politicians exert limited control via ownership or

21
operational control—can alter citizen behavior. There are three ways a non-captured media can
influence and affect political outcomes
A. Sorting: A process where politicians are selected to hold office via creation of motivations
B. Discipline: It exposes long hidden corrupt happenings and deters the politician from doing this
C. Policy Salience: it cultivates government responsiveness through giving bold emphasis to salient
community problems (e.g. drought, flooding, disease outbreak…) that are no longer abated. So
politicians will get it easy to run to the ballot box.

Theories of media effects on voter attitudes and behaviors draw from three main traditions of belief
updating.
The first tradition, which is rooted in the communications literature, rests on the idea that media
outlets can control the political agenda and persuade voters to change their beliefs and preferences
The second tradition is Zaller‘s (1992) Receive-Accept-Sample (RAS) model. In its first step,
voters may be exposed to a message and may process that message. They next decide whether to
accept the message, by incorporating its content in the corpus of facts and arguments that they
consider acceptable, on the basis of how persuasive the message is and cues about the credibility
of the message‘s sender older messages that are not reinforced exit this corpus.
Finally, when expressing an opinion, voters sample from this corpus, such that the likelihood that
they express a view on an issue reflects the fraction of such facts and arguments in their corpus.
The electorate can then be divided into three main types of voters:
 Uninformed voters,
 That never receive,
 Or do not process.

3.6.2. Political Advertising (Political Ads)

Political advertising (Political Ads) is a crucial aspect of any political campaign. With the advent of
social media, radio, television, and other forms of advertising, political campaigns have adapted to
the times. Political advertising can be used to reach and sway voters leading up to Election Day.
Political advertising is regulated by state and federal laws, which require certain disclosures and
notices on political advertising. For example, most political advertising must include a message that
explains who paid for it, known as sponsor identification. Additionally, there are restrictions on the

22
use of broadcast media to broadcast political advertising, and campaign advertisements can only be
broadcast during the official campaign period.

Here are some ways political advertising has evolved over time:

 The expansion of the mass media landscape and the fragmentation of audiences have led to
changes in how political ads are thought out, conceived, and delivered to the public
 Historically, advertising strategies for political campaigns primarily used tried-and-true
approaches for getting out the vote, focusing on mass reach via broad buys on prime time and
news programming, automated calling, and direct mail. However, in recent years, advertisers have
increasingly relied on cable television
 Political advertising has become essential to campaign strategy (at least in major campaigns), and
many regard it as far more intrusive than commercial advertising
 With the advent of radio and television all the way to display and podcast advertising, political
campaigns have adapted with the times
 Political marketing began in the 1950s when marketing experts realized the potential of selling
the value of their candidate, party, and specific initiatives through a systematic process now
known as "political marketing".

Political advertising refers to the use of advertising campaigns through various media channels to
influence political debates and voters. There are several types of political advertising, including:

Positive Candidate Image Ad: This type of political ad promotes the candidate's positive
qualities and achievements, often through personal stories and testimonials
Negative Attack Ad: This type of political ad attacks the opponent's character, record, or policies
Issue Ad: This type of political ad focuses on a specific issue or policy, often promoting a
candidate's stance on the issue
Comparative Ad: This type of political ad compares the candidate to their opponent, often
highlighting differences in their records or policies
Endorsement Ad: This type of political ad features endorsements from prominent individuals or
organizations, often used to lend credibility to a candidate
Satirical Ad: This type of political ad uses humor or satire to poke fun at the opponent or
highlight flaws in their record or policies

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 3.6.3. Bots in Media Politics and Political Communication
Bots in Media Politics and Political Communication are automated social media accounts that are
designed to influence political conversations and spread political propaganda.
 Bots can be used to increase the audience of online content for specific users, and they play a
central role in the exchange of significant content on social media platforms like Twitter.
 Bots can be used for political disinformation, and they often have a small but strategic role in
political conversations.
Studies have shown that bots interact with human users and influence conversational networks on
Twitter, and they can create the appearance of a virtual community around political messaging.
However, the number of bots affecting political discussions is limited. In terms of modeling bot
activity in online political communication, there is a new agent-based model that takes into account
the participation of bots in political conversations

1.7.2. The Contemporary Challenges of the Media

1.7.2.1. Editorial Biases
 Reporting Bias: This occurs when an article is written with a particular tone or "spin" so that
readers will perceive it in a certain way without applying skepticism or comparing the piece to
other news outlets with a different ideology or perspective.
 Advertising Bias: This occurs when stories are selected or slanted to please advertisers.
 Omission Bias: This occurs when certain words or information that favor one side of the story are
left out.
 Selection Bias: This occurs when certain events or stories are selected to be reported while others
are not.
 Placement Bias: This occurs when the placement of a story in a newspaper or on a website is
used to indicate its importance.
 Complexity Bias: This occurs when an article is written using the who, what, when, where, why,
and how rubric, which can make it difficult for readers to understand the complexity of the issue
being discussed.
 Editorial Bias: This occurs when the editor or author of a news article consciously or
unconsciously inserts their opinions into the "news" as facts.

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 Confirmation Bias: This occurs when journalists or news producers seek out information that
confirms their pre-existing beliefs or biases.
 Publication bias: This occurs when the results of a study influence the editor's decision to publish
the article.
 Latent bias: This occurs when positive results are published before those with negative results
 Decision-making bias: This refers to the impact of the motivation, frame of mind, or beliefs of
the journalists or editors on their writing.
 Distortion bias: This occurs when the fact or reality is distorted or fabricated in the news
 Mainstream bias: This refers to a tendency to report what everyone else is reporting and to avoid
stories that will offend anyone.
 Partisan bias: This refers to a tendency to report to serve a particular political party leaning

2.2.1.1. Post-Truth Media and Post-Truth Politics

American author Ralph Keyes (2004) observes that society has entered a post-truth era. Deception
has become a defining characteristic of modern life, and is so pervasive that people are desensitized
to its implications. The fact that ambiguous statements containing a kernel of authenticity, but falling
short of the truth, have become the currency of politicians, reporters, corporate executives, and other
power-brokers.

Post-truth media refers to the phenomenon where objective facts are less influential in shaping
public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. It is a media and communication studies
phenomenon associated with public truth statements in specific media contexts, such as commentary
on major broadcasting networks, podcasts, YouTube videos, and social media. Post-truth politics
has developed from a short-hand label for the abundance and influence of truth-telling, including
intentional rumors, lies, conspiracy theories, and fake news. Here are some key points related to post-
truth media from the search results:
 Social media's role: Social media platforms have played a significant role in spreading
information in the post-truth era. However, social media has also been used to manipulate
information and mislead people.
 Importance of objective facts: Post-truth media has led to the irrelevance of objective facts and
truth in shaping public opinion.

25
 Instead, people's personal opinions and emotions: play a more significant role in shaping their
beliefs.
 Populist movements: Populist movements and leaders have been associated with post-truth
politics due to their use of social media and fake news websites.
 Challenges for media organizations: In the post-truth era, mainstream media organizations must
maintain their identity and credibility while facing challenges such as false balance in articles and
the spread of misinformation.
 Fake news: Post-truth media is closely related to the concept of fake news, which refers to
fabricated news disseminated to earn money through clicks and views or to mislead and
misinform people.
 Ethics and journalism: The post-truth era raises ethical questions about the role of journalism
and communicators through traditional and digital media, and the purpose of ethics in the context
of post-truth media.

2.2.1.2. Fake News (Misinformation, Disinformation and Mal-Information)

The most extreme illustration of the concept of post-truth reporting is the rise of fake news. The
concept of fake news was attached to fictitious stories made to appear as if they were real news
articles. It is widely recognized that different media outlets provide content underpinned by different
political positions. Fake news is false or unverified information that is circulated through traditional
or social media, often with the intent to deceive people.

This is generally reflected in three classes of editorial control.

First, ―news‖ may distort the facts by misrepresenting true events.
Second, news may be truthfully, but selectively, reported; this form of agenda setting entails
filtering the set of possible news stories.
Third, news may be truthfully reported, but subject to emphases or framings that seek to influence
how consumers view the news within a grander narrative. Such biases or slant may be, at least
somewhat, known by voters. Just like independent media outlets, government-based media bias
can be achieved through distortion, agenda-setting, and framing.

26
Types of Fake News:

 Pure Fabrication: Completely made-up news stories with no basis in reality.

 Manipulated Content: Stories that are technically true but are distorted or taken out of
context to create an inaccurate or misleading impression.
 Imposter Content: Content that is created to look like legitimate news, but is actually
propaganda or advertising.
 Satire or Parody: Stories that are meant to be humorous or ridiculous, but are sometimes
mistaken for real news.

As mentioned before, it is inclusive of dis-information, misinformation and mal-information.

Fake News Type Defining attributes

Disinformation Disinformation is information that is false, and the person who is disseminating it knows
it is false. ―It is a deliberate, intentional lie, and points to people being actively
disinformed by malicious actors‖
Misinformation Misinformation is information that is false, but the person who is disseminating it
believes that it is true.
Mal-information Mal-information is information that is based on reality but it is used to inflict harm on a
person, organization or country.

A. Impact of Fake News:

 Misinformation: Fake news can spread false information that can lead to confusion and
misunderstandings.
 Undermining Trust: Fake news can undermine trust in legitimate news sources and lead to a
decline in public trust in the media.
 Polarization: Fake news can polarize people by reinforcing existing beliefs and widening the
gap between different groups.

4. Strategies to Address Fake News: -

 Fact-Checking: Checking the accuracy of news stories to identify false or misleading

information.
 Education: Teaching people to evaluate news stories and distinguish between credible and
unreliable sources.
 Media Literacy: Developing critical thinking skills to understand how media can influence
beliefs and attitudes.

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2.2.1.3. Media Clientelism
It is a pattern of social organization in which access to resources is controlled by patrons and
delivered to clients in exchange for deference and various kinds of support. It developed in Southern
Europe as the traditional institutions of feudal society broke down, persisted because of the weakness
of the universalistic forms of social organization associated with liberalism – the market, the
bureaucratic state, and representative democracy. The earliest forms of clientelism, which involved
the personal dependence of the rural population on landowners who controlled their access to
resources of all kinds, has been transformed with modernization, without being entirely displaced.
With the development of mass parties, the old political bosses were displaced to a significant extent,
and their monopoly ofpower gave way to a more competitive structure. But the parties incorporated
many of the particularistic forms of patronage that had been part of classic clientelism. Clientelism is
generally seen as destructive of ―horizontal‖ forms of organization such as mass parties and voluntary
organizations.

2.2.1.4. Media Bias vs. Political Bias

Media bias and political bias are related but distinct concepts. Media bias refers to the bias of
journalists and news producers within the mass media in the selection of many events and stories that
are reported and how they are covered. Political bias, on the other hand, refers to a political viewpoint
that colors how someone reports or interprets information.

Media bias can take many forms, including the selection of news stories, the language used to
describe them, and the sources consulted. It can be influenced by a number of factors, such as the
ownership of the media outlet, the political views of the journalists, and the pressures of advertisers
and sponsors. Political bias can be present in both the media and other forms of communication, such
as social media. It can arise from personal beliefs, political affiliations, and ideological agendas.
Political bias can influence the way information is presented, the language used to describe it, and the
sources consulted.

It is important to be aware of media and political bias when consuming news and information. Media
bias charts can be a helpful tool to understand the political leanings of various news sources, but it is
important to also pay attention to the quality of reporting and writing. To get a comprehensive view

28
of different perspectives and political leanings, it is recommended to read news across the political
spectrum.
2.2.2. The Role of the State in the Media
The state plays a significant role in shaping the media system in any society. But there are
considerable differences in the extent of state intervention as well as in the forms it takes. The most
important form of state intervention is surely public service broadcasting, which has been present in
every country in Western Europe and North America except the smallest (e.g., Luxembourg), and in
most countries has until recently been the only or the primary form of broadcasting. There has, of
course, been a strong shift toward commercial broadcasting in recent years, but public service
broadcasting remains quite significant in most of the countries.
Public broadcasting has been the most important form of state ownership of media (in most countries
the state until recently also ran the telecommunication infrastructure). However, in many countries
the state has also owned news agencies, newspapers, or other media-related enterprises, either directly
or through state-owned enterprises. Forms of state intervention include:

Press subsidies have also been present in most of the countries covered here, and have played
an important role in many.
Hate-Speech Laws: Defamation, libel, , slander, privacy, and right-of-reply, dehumanization,
demonization, blasphemy,……)
Professional secrecy laws: for journalists (protecting the confidentiality of sources) and
Conscience laws: (protecting journalists when the political line of their paper changes);

2.2.3. Media Regulatory Frameworks, Ownerships, and the Enabling Environment

A. Regulatory Forms
At least three principal regulatory forms have evolved during the history of the print and broadcast
media.
The first regulatory form is state monopoly ownership and media control. State authorities
directly supervise the media system, and no voice can be heard without the permission or consent
of the state.
The second is called a public or public service monopoly. In this instance, the media (usually the
electronic broadcasting system) is in public, not private, hands, but the governors of the system

29
 enjoy substantial autonomy and are not under the direct rule of the executive or legislative
branches of government.
Finally, there is private ownership, usually accompanied by some degree of state regulation, the
amount of such regulation varying from state to state and from cycle to cycle. More and more,
these three systems overlap substantially and come in various combinations. Although there have
been (and continue to be) some cases of pure state monopoly, pure public service monopolies
have become rarer, while increasingly mixed systems have arisen in which there are both private
and public broadcasters.

B. Balance between Private and Public Service Media: One frequently asserted view is that the
principal goal should be a competitive, privately owned media with low market entry hurdles.
However, all but the most ardent of advocates of a private sector recognize a retained and important
civic function for public service broadcasting.
C. Competition among Media: There are three forms of concentration that are relevant to regulatory
issues in the information society:
Horizontal concentration: (e.g., domination in the newspaper sector or among television
stations);
Cross-ownership: occurs between different media sectors, particularly print media and
electronic media; and
Vertical concentration: that involves integration of different stages of the production and
distribution chain.
D. Foreign Ownership: Pluralizing opportunities for external programming is increasingly possible
because of new technology, including satellites and the Internet.
E. Media Ownership by Religious or Political Organizations: Some societies prevent religious
organizations, political parties, or government agencies from owning radio and television stations or
newspapers. In others, often those that are in an early stage of transition, channels of communication
are controlled, directly or indirectly, by these very entities. As media channels become more and
more abundant (through satellite and cable and transfer to digital broadcasting), restrictions on
ownership may become less important.
F. Viewpoint Domination by a Single Broadcaster or Owner

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Another mode of structural regulation, relevant to the enabling environment, is the extent to which
any single broadcaster or owner of licenses can reach large segments of the population. If the goal is
to have competition and many voices, it is also important to have some sort of end game vision. What
if the result of privatization is that there are two remaining broadcasters and that the stronger of the
two gains 70 percent of the audience? That may not necessarily be inconsistent with democratic
norms, but such a dominant position should raise alarms.

G. Access and Right to Impart Information

Structural regulation does not require government, generally, to make invidious interventions,
deciding whether certain programming is fair or not fair or whether certain political viewpoints have
been adequately expressed. These issues are dealt with, at least abstractly, by the theory that supports
a diversity of owners (or, a diversity of voices through rules designed to guarantee access to media
outlets) as one of the most important ways to reinforce democratic institutions.

H. Government Subsidies
Governments may appear to have, formally, a neutral approach to particular speakers, but they may,
through the use of financial support (sometimes hidden), render one group or one medium far more
powerful than others. Discriminatory access to a monopolized distribution scheme is one method that
can be used for this purpose. Favored accreditation for compliant reporters is another.
I. Government as a Market Participant
The state can use its purchasing power to place advertising (ads) only with those media that are
supportive, and the state‘s advertising budget may dwarf that of any competitor. Also, state
broadcasting may use its subsidized position to undercut private media in the market for advertising,
rendering it difficult for free and independent media to develop and it might harm its private
competitors. That argument led critics to claim that the move would suffocate commercial television
by depriving it of revenue.

J. Government Funding

Some systematic structural interventions occur when states have policies that shape media
development. These kinds of interventions may be ubiquitous and only in certain instances have
deleterious impacts. A state may take the market away from competing multi-channel distribution
where that could open up the competition to less controlled competitors.

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 2.2.4. Regulations and Rule of Law
Why: Concepts and Models
It is said that ―The law is the media’s good grandfather.‖ The task of laws is the following:
Regulating access to government information;
Regulating media concentration, ownership, and competition;
Regulating political communication, particularly during election campaigns; and
Broadcast licensing laws and laws regulating broadcasting content, including those dealing
with political pluralism, language, and domestic content.

The rule of law does not simply provide yet one more vehicle by which government can wield and
abuse its awesome power. To the contrary, it establishes principles that constrain the power of
government, oblige it to conduct itself according to a series of prescribed and publicly known rules.
The government has a duty to act in compliance with the constitution and the law. The military and
police are accountable to civilian authorities. Legislation should be considered and adopted by
transparent procedure. Administrative regulations must be published as the condition for their
validity. Effective means of redress against administrative decisions and the provision of information
to the person affected by the remedies, an independent judiciary, protection of the independence of
legal practitioners, and detailed guarantees in the area of criminal procedure must be available. There
is also an element of justice based on the recognition and full acceptance of the supreme value of the
human personality, guaranteed by institutions providing a framework for its fullest expression. So,
rule of law can be measured through:
A. Clarity and Accessibility: There are three main benchmarks for evaluating the language of
media-related statutes in terms of the rule of law: simplicity and clarity, dissemination, and
accessibility.
B. Legal Norms: Public administration must conform to legal norms and act only under their
authority. All laws are functions of the administration that enforces or supervises them.Perhaps the
gravest threat to the exercise of media freedoms comes not from bad laws, but from administrative
acts that apply the laws arbitrarily or are completely outside the boundaries of the laws.
C. Administrative Process (Fairness, Impartiality, and Objectivity): The administrative process
must be grounded in a commitment to fairness for all participants. Rule of law precepts should
permeate the fabric of governmental decision making. The process for licensing news media outlets

32
such as radio or television broadcasters must be open, objective, and fair, with the authorities acting
according to prescribed legal procedural standards and substantive criteria that are applied impartially
to all participants in the process.
D. Judicial Support
An independent, effective judiciary is essential for the oversight required under the rule of law. We
shall see, for example in the material on access to information and content regulation, how important
a role the judicial system can play in determining the meaning and impact of media laws. Judges
must be prepared to rule against the public authorities if they act improperly. They must enjoy job
security.

2.2.5. The Legal Environment for News Media Activity

A. Legal Environment
Four aspects of the legal environment in which news media operate and where law is a factor either
promoting or impeding news media independence and effectiveness warrant attention:
(1) Newsgathering
(2) Content-based regulation
(3) Content-neutral regulation that has the potential to influence content indirectly; and
(4) Protection of journalists in their professional activity, including protection against physical
attacks.

I. Newsgathering
One can conceive of a system in which journalists are independent in that they can print what they
wish and constraints they face across the following measurements.
A. Access to Information (Documents)
Access to information should perceive and embrace the following principles
 Presumption of Openness: This places the burden of justification for refusal to disclose on the
public custodian.
 Application of Freedom of Information to Public Institutions: This would give journalists the
opportunity to inform the public of crucial determinations made at the committee level, rather
than only at the plenary level when the important policy debate and judicial proceedings might
already have been concluded.

33
 Exceptions to the Right of Access. Exceptions to the right of access must be limited to those that
are expressly and narrowly defined in legislation, and are necessary in a democratic society to
protect legitimate interests that are consistent with international norms.
 Criminal, Civil, and Administrative Liability. Journalists should be insulated from criminal, civil,
or administrative responsibility for publication of secret documents or information from those
documents, Accountable they are if knowingly participate to obtain the documents in an illegally
and knew that the documents were lawfully protected against disclosure.

B. Access to Government-controlled Proceedings and Institutions

In addition to access to documents, an enabling environment requires that news media representatives
have reasonable opportunity to observe, and therefore report to the public on, the workings of
governmental agencies, including legislative bodies, the executive branch, and the courts.
 Presumption of Openness
Journalistic effectiveness are those which establish a presumption of openness, subject to clearly
defined, narrowly tailored exceptions grounded in legitimate public and private interests whose
protection is necessary in a democratic society.
 Self-governance of the Journalistic Profession
Effective self-governance within the journalistic profession can play an important role in advancing
development of an enabling environment. The establishment of voluntary ethical codes of
professional conduct and systems for professional self-governance can be important steps in
promoting journalists‘ public responsibility and thereby advancing the goal of journalistic
independence.
 Journalists’ Right of Access to Legislative Proceedings
Few exceptions should exist to journalists‘ right of access to legislative proceedings. The creation and
amendment of legal norms by the representatives of the people lies at the heart of democratic
governance. This principle is sometimes set forth as a norm of legislative process, not as a right of
access guaranteed, to the mass information media or the public as a whole via constitutional
provisions
 Live Broadcasting of Legislative Sessions
Governments should strongly consider permitting live broadcasting of legislative sessions. Some
countries have addressed the questions related to television or radio broadcasting of legislative

34
activities. In some of these countries, state broadcasters are required by legislation to make a certain
amount of airtime available to the legislature.
 Presumptive Right of Access on Executive Proceedings
A presumptive right of access should also apply to executive branch proceedings and institutions
under the control of the executive branch. This includes administrative agencies, where important
policy decisions are often made (e.g., a session of the broadcasting licensing authority).

 Presumptive Right of Access on Judicial Proceedings

A presumptive right of access should also apply to judicial proceedings. This area strikes at the core
of some very sensitive currents of public concern, often, creating direct conflicts by
countervailing/fighting/ any impeding constitutional and legal system.

C. Protection of Confidential Sources

In addition to the aforementioned principles and procedures, there should always be protection of
confidential sources and also exceptions that journalists shouldn‘t reach. .
o Recognition of the societal value of protecting confidential sources
o Exceptions to journalists‘ protection on confidential sources
D. Licensing of Journalists and Democratic Governance
Licensing of journalists poses risks to democratic governance. A number of countries, many of them
in response to proposals from UNESCO in the 1970s, have recognized the practice of journalism as a
licensed profession. According to its proponents, licensing promotes journalistic ethics and
responsibility and takes the form of prohibitions against the unlicensed practice of journalism and the
establishment of qualifications in the form of educational standards, such as graduation from a
recognized journalism training program. On the other hand, detractors of licensing maintain that it
can operate as a form of censorship by allowing the authorities to license only those journalists who
do not incur the government‘s displeasure.

II. Content-based Regulation

Universally, it is understood that freedoms of speech and of the press are not absolute. All legal
systems tolerate content regulation to some extent, in order to advance certain state, collective, and
individual interests. Much such regulation takes place through the mechanism of direct regulation of
content, effected through legislative, executive, and judicial acts.
Pre-publication Review
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The exercise of the right provided for in the foregoing paragraph shall not be subject to prior
censorship but shall be subject to subsequent imposition of liability, which shall be expressly
established by law to the extent necessary to ensure
. Respect for the rights or reputations of others
. Protection of national security, public order, or public health or morals
Subsequent Punishment
Systems of subsequent punishment must be consistent with generally applicable international
standards governing criminal and civil procedure. Systems of subsequent punishment for alleged
abuses of news media freedoms are often found in the form of criminal sanctions, thereby triggering
the need for recognition of international standards in criminal law and procedure (including
presumption of innocence). In addition, as to protection of individual interests, they are often in the
form of civil procedure. It is subsequent punishment that poses the threat of self-censorship;
therefore, the fundamental propositions of fairness, impartiality, and objectivity set forth above are
applicable.
Registration Systems
Media registration schemes where content is a criterion under which the authorities in their discretion
may refuse registration are suspect in an enabling environment. A number of legal systems require
some form of registration of media outlets.

Protection of State Interests

Throughout history, governments have sought to impose controls on the flow of information and
opinions in furtherance of a range of state interests. This is to be expected, because much of
constitutional law represents the effort to find a balance between the exercise of constitutional rights
and the state through the preservation of:
A. National Security
B. Prevention of disorder, including criminal prosecution of virulent expression
C. Laws protecting honor of government institutions, officials, and symbols
D. Election laws
E. Protection of judicial administration

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 Protection of Collective Interests
Laws in this broad category seek to accomplish a number of objectives through fundamental
propositions of fairness, impartiality, and objectivity must apply. The national law and practice
should take account of the fact that reporting on racism, xenophobia, islamophobia, anti-Semitism or
other forms of intolerance is regulated, e.g. in the EU.

Protection of Individual Interests

Legal systems throughout the world seek to protect what are viewed as the individual personality
rights or interests of good reputation, privacy, and dignity. Generally, these protections take the form
of criminal and civil proceedings in defamation, privacy protection, and insult. Once again, this
interaction between competing rights and interests must be subject to the fundamental propositions of
fairness, impartiality, and objectivity.
a. Recognition of sensitive issues and values
b. Issues in Defamation Law
c. Protection of individual dignity
d. Protection of individual privacy
e. Right of reply or correction

III. Content-neutral Regulation: Risk of Manipulation

An enabling environment will be one in which legal institutions are able to provide media with
sufficient substantive and procedural protections against indirect manipulation. These methods of
indirect influence can occur by way of both substantive rules and their application. There are many
ways in which the public authorities can seek indirectly to influence media content.

Subsidies Taxation, general anti-competition laws

Customs regulations Public access requirements, and
Copyright Access in election campaign
Newsprint availability requirements
Costs of doing business with state
entities (publishing houses)
IV. Protection of Journalists in their Professional Activity
This portion may include,

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 Internal press freedom
Physical protection

2.2.5. The Broader Enabling Environment

A. New Technology and the Enabling Environment
Member states should encourage public authorities at central, regional, and local levels to provide the
general public through new communication and information services with the following basic content
and services:
Information of public concern
Information about these public authorities, their work, and the way by which everyone can
communicate with them via new communication and information services or through traditional
means
The opportunity to pursue administrative processes and actions between individuals and these
public authorities such as the processing of individual requests and the issuing of public acts,
unless national law requires the physical presence of the person concerned
General information necessary for the democratic process technologies are concerned.
B. Role of Civil Society and NGOs
In modern democratic societies, the process of developing appropriate and stable institutions
increasingly relies on associations and groups that are independent of government. Civil society
cannot flourish where there are inadequate legal assurances of their ability to operate autonomously
from government.

C. Education in the Importance of Rights

There are those who believe that the imposition of a rights structure will only be temporary if such a
system did not arise from the expressed willingness of the people. An occupation army can impose a
set of laws, put judges in place, and decree a rule of law.
D. Copyright and the Enabling Environment
An area of growing interest and importance for the enabling environment is copyright law. Attention
to copyright law has a certain justice to it, and, of course, respect for copyright law is an integral
aspect of respect for law generally. In that sense, copyright becomes a key determinant as to whether
the society is moving towards becoming a rule of law society. There can be heavy costs associated
with being a rogue state with respect to intellectual property.

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E. Background and Foreground Factors
Indeed, media independence may depend on the capacity of the audience to treat information wisely
and critically and draw inferences from it. There is a special kind of literacy that might be demanded,
not just literacy in the conventional sense, but literacy that encompasses a desire to acquire, interpret,
and apply information as part of a civil society.

Resources and Techniques for Enhancing the Enabling Environment

The major resource for enhancing the enabling environment is indigenous talent because, ultimately,
the answers must almost always be local.
A. Technical Assistance
One consequence of the aid pattern is that a number of organizations that specialize in providing
technical assistance have developed. To some extent, this specialization has been along industrial
lines. Some organizations foster independent broadcasters, while others are more expert in dealing
with newspapers and other print publications.
B. Resort to Constitutions and to International Instruments
Aside from technical assistance, a number of techniques have been used to encourage states to
provide a regime of law and policy more consistent with human rights and free speech principles.
Such techniques reflected a characteristic that is often called ―conditionality‖.

2.3. Monitoring International Organizations and Entities

Three organizations currently are producing measures for the protection of Media Freedom.
I. Freedom House
The best known and most widely used measure of the press freedom is that of Freedom House. A
non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C., Freedom House was founded in 1941 to
promote democracy globally. For Freedom House, the concept of interest is press freedom, which it
links to Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 19 holds that everyone has
the right to freedom of opinion and expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to seek,
receive, and impart information and ideas through any media. Freedom House says it seeks to provide
a picture of the entire ―enabling environment‖ in which the media in each country operate and to
assess the degree of news and information diversity available to the public in any given country, from
either local or transnational sources.

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 II. International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX)
IREX was founded in 1968 by U.S. universities to promote exchanges with the Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe. A non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., IREX focuses on higher
education, independent media, Internet development, and civil society in the United States and
internationally.
III. Reporters Without Borders (RWB)
Reporters without Borders (RWB), based in Paris, defends journalists and media outlets by
condemning attacks on press freedom worldwide, by publishing a variety of annual and special
reports on media freedom, and by appealing to governments and international organizations on behalf
of journalists and media organizations.

3. Media Politics and Political Communication

3.1. Media Politics
By media politics, it is to mean a system of politics in which individual politicians seek to gain office,
and to conduct politics while in office, through communication that reaches citizens through the mass
media. Thus defined, media politics stands in contrast to the older system of ―party politics,‖ in
which, by conventional definition, politicians seek to win elections and to govern as members of
party teams. Although party politics is by no means defunct, it now shares the political stage with
media politics, an emerging system whose properties are only beginning to be understood.

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 3.2. Political Communication
Here are some important notes on political communication:
 Political communication can be defined as the process by which information is disseminated and
shared among individuals, groups, and institutions in order to influence public opinion, attitudes,
and behavior towards political issues, candidates, and policies.
 There are multiple channels of political communication, including mass media (e.g., television,
newspapers, radio), interpersonal communication (e.g., conversations, debates), and digital media
(e.g., social media, online blogs).
 The goal of political communication is to create awareness, facilitate discussion, mobilize
support, and affect political outcomes. Political candidates, parties, interest groups, and other
stakeholders use political communication strategies to articulate their views, persuade and recruit
followers, and counter opposition arguments.
 Political communication can have positive and negative effects on democratic governance. On the
one hand, it can foster political engagement, informed decision-making, and accountability. On
the other hand, it can also lead to partisanship, disinformation, polarization, and even violence.
 Some commonly used political communication techniques include advertising (ads) (e.g., TV
spots, billboards), public relations (e.g., press releases, speeches), grassroots organizing (e.g.,
door-to-door canvassing, rallies), and digital campaigning (e.g., social media ads, email
campaigns).
 Successful political communication depends on a number of factors, such as the quality and
relevance of the message, the credibility and charisma of the communicator, the receptiveness and
diversity of the audience, and the context and timing of the communication. Political
communicators must also navigate legal and ethical constraints, such as regulations on campaign
funding, disclosure, and transparency, as well as norms of honesty, integrity, and fairness.

From a social systems perspective, political communication can be described as a continuous

relationship between political institutions and actors, media institutions and actors, and people as
citizens, voters and media consumers. Thus, according to Blumler and Gurevitch (1995, p. 5), the
main components of a political communication system can be located in
Political institutions in their communication aspects
Media institutions in their political aspects

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 Audience orientations to political communication, and
Communication relevant aspects of political culture
Hence, as long as there are communication aspects of political institutions, or political aspects of
media institutions, or as political power and legitimacy are won through open and democratic
processes, then politics and the media will be inextricable linked together. Furthermore, as long as
this is the case, it is necessary to include studies of the media in order to understand political
phenomena, and to include studies of politics and political processes in order to understand media
phenomena. In the end, any theory with regards to political phenomena is “half-blind” if it does not
include the media, and vice versa. The same is true with regards to theories of democracy: they are
necessarily incomplete and by definition unrealistic if they do not take the media and communication
processes into consideration (Stromback, 2005). Stressing the intentionality of it, political
communication can be defined simply as purposeful communication about politics. This incorporates:
All forms of communication undertaken by politicians and other political actors for the purpose of
achieving specific objectives.
Communication addressed to these actors by non-politicians such as voters and newspaper
columnists.
Communication about these actors and their activities, as contained in news reports, editorials,
and other forms of media discussion of politics
Increased interest in and prominence of political communication research on an international level
grew in the United States. It is still only a small, although expanding research area compared to its
parent disciplines: political science and media and communication science.

The concept of political communication refers to both a set of professional practices and a theoretical
and scholarly discipline. As a professional practice, the term ―political communication‖ suggests a
series of communication processes that have been given labels as varied as propaganda, electoral
marketing, political marketing, political campaigning, and political public relations. Political
communication has developed into an academic field of inquiry, with foundations in theories and
methods from communication, political science, sociology, psychology, marketing, history, rhetoric,
and other fields. Its multidisciplinary nature explains the difficulty in finding a straightforward
definition. But it is agreed that political communication focuses on interaction between political
actors, the media, and citizens, which is marked by its persuasive and strategic character.

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The question posed by Lasswell (1927) on the effects of propaganda in the United States—―who says
what to whom via which channels with what effects?‖—is shared by a great deal of research in the
political communication field. This simple question imposes and highlights the basic lines of analysis
for the communication process in general and political communication in particular. Talking about
who means analyzing the communicator who controls the information. Content analysis of the
messages makes it possible to find answers to what, and media analysis, which may involve a direct
medium, using political advertising (e.g., posters or leaflets), or an indirect medium (e.g., editorials or
opinion pieces in newspapers or on TV), reveals the channels used in the communication process.
Effects analysis, to study the impacts of the communication process on audiences (whom) and
normally focuses on voting behavior (using polls, for instance).

The Old Political Communication

The Lasswell communication model assumes that the communicator always intends to influence the
receiver, that all messages have effects, and that the process is unilateral in the downward direction.
For a long time in history, political communication was in fact seen simply as a linear process of
information transmission from political actors, as parties or candidates to citizens, which could be
direct but also mediated by the media. The direction of communication being caught by the media
and then channeled out again, what is now known as the mediatization process. However, from this
traditional point of view little or no communication takes place in the upward direction that is from
social groups to the political sphere.

The New Political Communication

Thanks to the democratization of most political systems, the nature of political communication has
changed. Political communication shifted to the public sphere when people, mostly as a result of
increased access to information, became involved in political activity. The simple act of voting is no
longer enough and voters have become active citizens who are able to organize and become involved
in political causes, thereby developing horizontal communication among political actors and citizens
and giving rise to actions and protests that are increasingly covered by the media. The growing
struggle for media space, whether by official elective political agents, such as political parties or
candidates, or by non-official organizations, such as new social movements or even terrorist groups,
demands more and more complex models and theorizations to understand contemporary political

43
communication. Nowadays, the communication process is also in the upward direction—from public
opinion to the political sphere.

The field of political communication therefore deals with the construction and dissemination of
messages that may potentially have a direct or indirect impact on politics. Classically, political parties
are the most important political organization in political communication and policy-making
processes. But they are not the only significant organizations in the political communication context.
Message communicators may be other organizations, such as think tanks, nongovernmental
organizations such as churches, unions, environmental organizations, human rights organizations, or
other interest groups. Journalists are also very important agents in political communication processes,
as are new social movements.

The Political
Sphere The Public

Citizens
Political Parties
The
Pressure Groups Voters
Media
News Media Social Groups
Movements

The Future of Political Communication

Currently changing conditions of public communication seem to call for yet further revision of ideas.
The trends of the time (not least because of the economic-industrial imperatives noted) are towards a
multiplication of channels of all kinds, more choice for the ‗consumer‘, less regulation and control,

44
more commercialization of media systems. Politics has to compete, in the same ‗audience market‘,
with more popular communication goods.

As the international dimension of political communication has increasingly come to be played out on
the public stage of television, it has been argued that we are entering a new type of society—the
Information Society—in which information of all kinds becomes the key economic resource and
where information work is the central economic activity.

3.2.1. Theories of Political Communication

Political Communication is an interdisciplinary field, so scholars approach the concept from various
backgrounds ranging from political science to communication, psychology, rhetoric, sociology, and
history. In the communication setting, the mass media is a very important channel through which
information reaches a large audience. The mass media makes communication possible by providing
communication means in the form of; radio, television, magazines, and newspapers, including the
people involved in their production. Certainly a communication process involves a sender, message,
channel, and a receiver. The sender sends the message through the channel to the receiver who in turn
sends feedback to the sender. Most often, messages are encoded by the sender and decoded by the
receiver. The transmission model of communication indicates the fact that effect.‖ (Lasswell, 1948).
Here are some of the theories of Political Communication:

A. Political Communication Theory

This theory emphasizes how the content and flow of communication between political elites, the
public, and the media create and reflect power. It includes the study of political campaigns, media
effects, and propaganda, among others.
B. Normative Theories of Political Communication
This theory explores the question of how political communication should be structured in a
democratic society. It includes the study of democratic theory, rationality, participation, equality,
dissent, and the societal flow of information.
C. Agenda Setting Theory
This theory suggests that the media have the ability to set the public agenda by influencing which
issues are considered important. It argues that the media does not tell people what to think, but rather
what to think about.

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D. Framing Theory
This theory suggests that the media influences how people perceive issues by emphasizing certain
aspects of the issue over others. It argues that the media can shape public opinion by framing issues in
a particular way.
E. Priming Theory
This theory suggests that the media can influence which issues are important to people by priming
them to think about certain issues. It argues that the media can set the agenda by making certain
issues more salient in people's minds.
F. The magic bullet theory: is the belief that an originator's media message may convince an
audience by directly inserting an idea. This means that the originator makes the presumption that
they will be able to affect their audience by directly injecting a message into the audience's brain.
G. Spiral of silence theory: The main idea is that people influence each other's willingness to
express opinions through social interaction. According to the spiral of silence theory, individuals
will be more confident and outward with their opinion when they notice that their personal
opinion is shared throughout a group. The spiral of silence theory explains the dynamic process
by which individuals‘ willingness to express their opinions publicly may change in response to
the perceived majority or minority viewpoints. Spiral Of Silence Theory Examples:
 Hesitancy to express political views: An individual may be hesitant to express their support for a
certain political policy if they perceive that the majority of their community is opposed to it. The
individual may fear being ostracized or perceived as an outsider if they go against the perceived
majority opinion and remain silent. This could lead to a spiral of silence, in which the minority
opinion is suppressed and ultimately disappears from public discourse.
 The town hall meeting: During a town hall meeting, a resident may be hesitant to express their
opposition to a proposed development project if they perceive that the majority of their neighbors
support it. The resident may fear being ostracized or isolated by the community if they go against
the perceived majority opinion and remain silent rather than speak out against the project.
 The silenced employee: An employee at a large corporation may be less likely to express their
support for stricter environmental regulations if they perceive that the majority of their coworkers
and superiors are opposed to such regulations. The employee may fear being ostracized if they go
against the perceived majority opinion and self-censor.

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 The college minority: A college student may be hesitant to express their support for a
controversial speaker on campus if they perceive that the majority of their classmates are opposed
to the speaker‘s views. The student may fear being ostracized or perceived as an outsider if they
go against the perceived majority opinion and remain silent rather than speak out in favor of the
speaker.
 The political minority: During a political campaign, an individual may be less likely to express
their support for a minority party candidate if they perceive that the majority of their community
is supporting one of the two main political parties. The individual may fear being ostracized or
perceived as an outsider if they go against the perceived majority opinion and choose to self-
censor their views.
 Social media debate: In a social media discussion about a controversial issue, an individual may
be hesitant to express their minority viewpoint if they perceive that the majority of the comments
are opposed to their stance. The individual may fear being ostracized or perceived as an outsider
if they go against the perceived majority opinion and remain silent rather than speak out.
 The pandering journalist: A journalist may be more likely to cover and amplify the viewpoints
of certain political candidates or parties if they perceive that those viewpoints align with the
majority opinion among their readership. The journalist may fear that expressing minority
viewpoints or giving equal coverage to all candidates would result in a loss of readership or
backlash from their audience, and as such, they may choose to self-censor their coverage to fit in
with the perceived majority opinion. This thought process undermines their powerful role as a
gatekeeper.
 Businesses getting political: Small business owners may be less likely to express their support
for certain social or political causes if they perceive that such views would be unpopular among
their customer base. The business owner may fear losing customers or facing backlash if they go
against the perceived majority opinion, and as such, they may choose to self-censor their views.
 Regulations debate: During a discussion about government regulations, an individual may be
hesitant to express their support for stricter regulations if they perceive that the majority of their
social circle is opposed to such measures. The individual may fear being ostracized or perceived
as an outsider if they go against the perceived majority opinion, and as such, they may choose to
remain silent rather than speak out in favor of stricter regulations.

47
 The politicized NGO: An employee at a nonprofit organization may be less likely to express
their support for a certain political candidate or policy if they perceive that the majority of their
coworkers and superiors disagree with that candidate or policy. The employee may fear.

H. Media Dependency Theory: This theory states that the more dependent an individual is on the
media for having his or her needs fulfilled, the more important the media will be to that person.
Media dependency theory, also known as media system dependency theory, has been explored as
an extension of or an addition to the uses and gratifications approach, though there is a subtle
difference between the two theories. This theory holds that "society produces broad strata of
people with sufficient uniformity of social circumstances that they share many problems and
concerns in greater or lesser degree in spite of individual differences" (DeFleur & Ball-Rokeach,
1975).

4. News Media and Professionalism

4.1. News Values in Journalistic Writing
Galtung and Ruge first developed a model of News Values in 1973. Some of the important News
Values are:
Timeliness: It would mean that an event/story/issue or controversy that is happening right now is
worth covering as it helps the readers keep themselves updated about the current happenings in their
surroundings and the world.

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Proximity: A story becomes more newsworthy when it is happening close to the reader. Here, the
proximity may mean in a nearby area, same state, country or even a neighbouring country. However,
it is not just about the physical location of the story but also about the story's emotional closeness that
impacts the readers and hooks them to read the story.
Prominence: Any news story becomes important and worth covering if it involves prominent or
essential people such as politicians, sports figures, actors and actresses, reality TV stars, government
officials, business icons and other celebrities
Conflict: Conflict always makes headlines as it arouses emotions in the people, seeks rights and
challenges the status quo. Conflict in various forms is comprehensively covered by the media, such as
wars, protests, court cases, violence and crime, and referendum.
Impact: Impact means making a judgment regarding how the story would affect the life of the
readers. It also takes into account whether the effects would be temporary or permanent. In other
words, it could merely mean the "consequence" of a news story. The more significant the impact of a
story, the more critical it becomes.
Novelty/Human Interest Stories: This news covers the bizarre stories, events that took place for the
first time, or the story's uniqueness. Human Interest stories mainly focus upon different emotions,
curiosity and concerns.

4.2. Professional Media and Journalism

Different forms of journalistic writing
There are five main types of journalistic writing:

 Investigative journalism: aims to discover the truth about a topic, person, group or event. It may
require detailed and in-depth exploration through interviews, research and analysis. The purpose
of investigative journalism is to answer questions.

 News journalism: reports facts, as they emerge. It aims to provide people with objective
information about current events, in straightforward terms.

 Feature writing: provides a deeper look at events, people or topics, and offer a new perspective.
Like investigative journalism, it may seek to uncover new information, but is less about
answering questions, and more about simply providing more information.

 Columns: are the personal opinions of the writer. They are designed to entertain and persuade
readers, and sometimes to be controversial and generate discussion.

 Reviews: describe a subject in a factual way, and then provide a personal opinion on it. They are
often about books or television programmes when published in news media.

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 Types of Journalism
Journalism plays a crucial role in democracy and development process. A society needs the mass
media because governance and the wellbeing of the people cannot be entrusted to politicians, the elite
and the bureaucrats. This underscores the watchdog role of the press to ensure checks and balances
that make the society work. Often times, most politicians, the elite and the bureaucrats are seen as the
scum of the earth primarily interested in what they can grab for themselves. Journalists as the Fourth
Estate of the Realm (the other three being the three arms of government – Executive, Judiciary and
Legislature) plays the checks and balance function that makes public office holders accountable.

While media is considered as a fourth estate of the realm, it is also a part of the civil society arena
which is well known to overlap other functional areas of democracy and governance. There are
societies where antagonistic relationship between media and government facilitates a vital and
healthy element of fully functioning democracies. In post-conflict or ethnically homogenous
societies, a tension ridden relationship may not be appropriate, but the role of the press to disseminate
information as a way of mediating between the state and all facets of civil society remains critical. So,
the press play different roles when viewed from different perspectives.

Metaphors are expressions used to conceptualize reality. They also explain how the social world and
the identities and relations in this world are constructed. This also applies to journalism. The dog
metaphor is used to explain the relationship between journalists and the society. Media advocates,
critics and scholars have used a variety of canine metaphors to describe the relationship between the
media and other institutions in society. Dogs are used as a metaphor to explain the various ways
journalists carry out their duties in the society.

A. Lap Dog Journalism

This is a model of journalism where journalists are seen to be licking the hands of those in society
with power. Most states have state correspondents of National and local newspapers on their payroll
(monthly allowances) and this could affect objectivity especially while covering events or happening
affecting the state government.

Under the lapdog model, the journalists lack power to bite or hold public office holders accountable.
The role the media play here is that of a civic booster. They are afraid of losing support of the elite

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they get advertisements from. This approach to journalism counters journalists‘ self-proclaimed
‗watchdog‘ responsibility. It suggests that news media are channels through which the agenda of the
society‘s elites are achieved. The media are accused of supporting and perpetuating the exploitation
and social inequalities on which they profit under this model.

The basic tenets of the lapdog theory hav been captured in the following three assumptions. First, the
news media do not have independent power so they rely on government, corporate and elite sources
for both information and economic support. Second, journalists show neither understanding nor
interest in the opinions, attitudes and information requirements of any other group other than those of
society‘s elite establishment. Third, the news media are characterized by a consistent argumentative
and political bias to the benefit of these social and corporate authorities to the extent that they appear
to act as their trained pooch. This is a disturbing approach to journalism which is detrimental to the
success of democracies as the participatory and representative approaches which characterizes such
systems is not upheld by the media.

B. Watch Dog Journalism

This is central to the role of independent journalism in a democratic society and most journalists take
pride in adopting this role by following the principles of fairness, truth, balance and accuracy in their
reporting. In all fairness and honesty, there are several journalists and media organizations play the
watchdog role effectively in the country. Several administrations make accountable or exposed for
corrupt activities at various times. That is not to say that there are no bad examples journalists who
practice other forms of journalism detrimental to the safety and sanity of society.

To effectively perform the watchdog role requires ample independence and professional autonomy on
the side of journalism. This is a highly valued and shared ideal among journalists that allows them to
self- affirm and legitimize their task and its contribution to democracy. The watch dog model of
journalism plays the Fourth Estate of the Realm function in the society. Here, journalism is able to
allow and force people with power, governments in other words, to meet their obligations to the
public by publicizing several issues such as a scandal, corruption, and failure to address needs of the
public. This is believed to be the primary and professional function journalism should play in any
society.

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 C. Attack Dog Journalism
This is a model of journalism where most journalists and news anchors play attack dogs when they
interview public office holders. First, they ask them pointed questions like a courtroom lawyer, and
halfway through their answers, they suddenly cut them off. When some journalists want to put public
office holders on the hot seat especially regarding failed implementation of policies in the society
they also use this model to elicit answers. Trial by media also comes under this model.

D. Guide Dog Journalism

This is one of the new models in the society. This is a kind of journalism that not only gives people
news and information but also encourages them to fulfill their responsibility as good citizens. It
challenges them to get involved in resolving problem. This kind of journalism does not allow for
passiveness of audience members but urges them to take action. Citizen journalists are noted for this.
Under this model the media do not just report about bad governance or such issues but also call on the
audience to take action to correct the anomalies.

E. Junkyard Dog Journalism

This is a kind of reporting that is harsh, aggressive and intrusive, anything goes philosophy. It rarely
cares about the principles of fairness, truth, balance and accuracy which are the basic tenets of
professionalism in reporting. It stemmed from the concept of yellow journalism which is
characterized by sensationalism and largely unethical practices.

Junkyard journalism is also called junk food news reporting, junk news journalism or junk
journalism. This is a sarcastic used to describe news stories that deliver sensationalized,
personalized, and homogenized inconsequential trivialities, especially when such stories appear at the
expense of serious investigative journalism. Under this model, journalists do not give the public
straight, well-documented, understandable information about those things that make societies ill
economically, politically or physically. Instead, the news consists of sensationalized, personalized
and unprofessional content. This practice is majorly characterized by biased presentation of news.

F. Guard Dog Journalism

The Guard Dog Theory suggests that mass media and journalists basically support dominant political
institutions, major economic groups, and their values, but can and do criticize those organizations,
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especially when elite class members of those groups violate system values or when they criticize each
other. It is quite different from lap dog journalism (where the journalist is totally loyal to the elite
class). In this scenario, journalists provide support for the existing power structures, even while
occasionally producing content critical of it and elites.

In contrast to a passive ―lapdog,‖ the guard-dog media occasionally attack an individual in power, but
they focus the blame on the individual, not the system. Journalists rely heavily on official sources and
explanations of events in news writing. They use official sources to make stories look robust and well
investigated when in actual sense they are protecting the elite class.

This theory is premised on the middle ground between the Watchdog and Lap Dog models. It claims
that mass media are neither lap dogs of the powerful, not watchdogs of the weak and oppressed.
Because elites primarily control the media agenda and provide most news and information to the
journalists, the media act as a guard dog not for the entire community, but for political and special
interest elite groups that hold political and economic power.The guard dog model posits that
journalism is characterized by three features.

 First, the news media act as protector of particular groups within the power elites.
 Second, the focus and approach of the news media are shaped according to who is being
protected and who is defined as the threat (external/internal, political/racial, etc.).
 Third, in times of political conflict and/or scandal it is common for the guard dog to turn on
one of the masters.

While the lap dog gives total protection to the elite class the guard dog might attack them
occasionally. The distinct difference between a guard dog and a personal protection dog is that a
protection dog takes its lead from the owner and acts on command while a guard dog will maintain
their duties on their own. This is why occasionally journalist operating this model may write stories
that are not favorable to the elite class they are protection but could blame the elite for such stories,
not the system.

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4.3.1. Dimensions of Professionalization
For the purpose of this course, we primarily focus on three fairly closely related dimensions of
professionalization.
Autonomy: Autonomy has always been a central part of the definition of professionalism. This is one
of the key reasons why many occupations try to ―professionalize‖ themselves, to justify greater
control over their work process. There is a strong presumption that certain kinds of decisions can only
be made by professionals, and that outside interference is inappropriate.
Distinct professional norms: Professions, as Collins (1990) puts it, ―are occupations which organize
themselves ‗horizontally,‘ with a certain style of life, code of ethics, and self-conscious identity and
barriers to outsiders.‖ An important part of this ―horizontal‖ organization is the existence of a set of
shared norms distinct to the profession.

Some of the characteristic traits of a profession are:

 It requires extensive training of an intellectual character.
 Its services are vital to society‟s well being.
 Its practitioners usually have a high degree of autonomy in deciding how to carry out their
job.
 Practitioners must undergo a process of certification or licensing by the state in order to be
eligible to carry out certain tasks or provide certain services. Licensing gives practitioners an
exclusive legal right to provide those services.
 Professionals are usually organized in “societies‖
 Promulguâtes ―ethics codes.”

A profession is an area with:

o Extensive knowledge o Regular payment
o Technical expertise o Controlled entry (GR.
o Clear ranks Berridge, 2002)
Public service orientation: Another important element of the concept of ―professionalism‖ is the
notion that professions are oriented toward an ethic of public service. Siebert, Peterson, and
Schramm‘s social responsibility theory of the press belongs to this era in the scholarship on
professionalism. Plus, the ―altruism‖ of the professions needed to be understood

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There are 10 elements common to good journalism

Journalism‘s first obligation is to the truth

Its first loyalty is to citizens
Its essence is a discipline of verification
Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover
It must serve as an independent monitor of power
It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise
It must strive to keep the significant interesting and relevant
It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional
Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience
Citizens, too, have rights and responsibilities when it comes to the news

4.2.1. Professionalism at Risk?

Independent journalism, also called independent media, is at risk because it gives people information
that may be critical of the government or other powerful elites, thus threatening their popularity and
power. When governments control what the people see and hear, they are able to craft a narrative that
is always fawning of the government. This helps them stay popular and stay in power. They are able to
feed false or distorted news to the people, and with no counter voice to refute this ―news‖ it comes to
be seen as credible and factual by the people.

Again, journalism is under threat, even in regions with traditionally strong democracies like the
European Union. Authoritarian governments like those in Poland and Hungary have prioritized media
capture—that is, the government taking over media outlets, either directly or through wealthy cronies
buying them up, in order to ensure that their reporting supports its positions or takes aim at the people
or entities the government opposes. This means that the news content given to the public may not be
factual, or may be outright falsified. This in turn gives voters a distorted view of politicians, policies
and generally what‘s happening in their country, thus limiting their ability to make informed decisions
on election.

Populist authoritarian governments use state-owned companies to buy up independent media outlets,
thus exerting indirect but binding direction over outlets. Or wealthy friends of the government buy
independent outlets and either turn them into government mouthpieces or abruptly close them.

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Regulations can be changed to determine which outlet gets the frequency, which outlet appears on the
cable television channels, what sort of funding or government-financed advertisements a station
receives, or changing the tax rate on advertising revenue in a way that makes it impossible for an
outlet to survive financially.

The media ecosystem is also changing in a way that directly threatens independent journalism. The old
financial model that supported good quality journalism was shattered by news aggregators like
Facebook and Google, who have taken a lot of the advertising revenue that media outlets previously
relied on. That means there‘s less money for good quality and independent investigative journalism.
Journalists face a race to report stories and keep up with internet news aggregators, meaning they have
less time on their hands and thus rely more on press releases. They can‘t check their stories and many
outlets end up running the same story bought from agencies like Reuters and Agence Presse. It also
means news outlets are tempted to be more sensationalist in their reporting so that they can attract a
wider audience.

Other threat to independent journalism is frivolous litigation. Lawsuits known as SLAPPs—Strategic

Litigation against Public Participation—are filed against independent outlets or individual journalists
in an attempt to silence them. Often the claim is libel or defamation, but the intent of the lawsuit is not
to win. The mere threat of expensive and time consuming legal action, even if the targeted journalist
would surely win in the end, is often enough to force their silence. These cases are proliferating across
Europe and pose an existential threat to independent journalism and democracy.

4.3. The Concept and Practice of Media Capture

Media and communications scholars have long looked at questions of commercial influence,
ownership, the role of government, and other sources of political bias in shaping coverage. The way
that sources shape coverage through developing relationships with reporters is media capture which is
the full range of forces that restrict or bias coverage. As per Alina Mungiu-Pippidi (2013), media
capture phenomenon is a situation in which the media have not succeeded in becoming autonomous in
manifesting a will of their own, nor able to exercise their main function, notably of informing people.
Instead, they have persisted in an intermediate state, with vested interests, and not just the government,
using them for other purposes‖

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 4.4.1. Classifications of Media Capture

We divide our analysis of capture into four broad, and somewhat overlapping, sections.
Capture by ownership: Ownership is the one way in which media capture differs from standard
regulatory capture. One cannot directly and openly buy a regulator but wealthy individuals and corpo-
rations can and do buy media-also called oligarchs. They do so not just as a business proposition, but
sometimes out of a sense of public spirit—or at least to advance their political philosophies. Many
purchase newspapers because of the possibility that the media give them to influence thinking,
perceptions of events, and therefore politics itself.

As Schiffrin and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen note elsewhere in this volume, the rise of the Internet increased
hopes that lower barriers to entry would democratize the media market so that media ownership would
no longer be dominated by the wealthy and powerful. There is, of course, a distinction between
government ownership and government ―capture.‖ The BBC and other public broadcasters are an
example of successful government ownership in that programming is balanced, objective, and
representative of diverse viewpoints.

Capture through financial incentives: The media face a variety of incentives, as per Besley and Prat,
the media are ―Handcuffs for the Grabbing Hand. The incentives of advertising and access and how
these incentives can result in the media becoming de facto captured. Even when media owners have
non-economic objectives, they are concerned about profits (or losses), and hence worry about both
advertisers and subscribers. The financial press thus becomes captured by the financial sector partly
because it might lose both subscribers and advertisers were it not to reflect the viewpoints of that
sector.

Censorship and capture: Governments lacking freedom of the press do not have to own the press to
make sure that the press reflects their views—i.e., is ―captured.‖ They can simply censor what is
written. While using the word ―capture‖ to describe government-media relationships in such a world
adds no insights and provides no new perspectives on what is going on—indeed, it seems to soften
what is a hard relationship—self-censorship is practiced in many parts of the world, and not just
toward governments, but also toward corporates. Concern about losing advertising revenues (whether
from the government or the private sector) or subscribers, as well as access to vital news that is
necessary if they are to remain competitive, induces media organizations to pull their punches, to
soften what they might say, and not to undertake some investigations that they might otherwise have.

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Cognitive capture: In many ways, cognitive capture is the most interesting aspect of capture—the
most subtle, the hardest to prove. It relates to how reporters perceive the world, and therefore how they
write about it. One of the reasons that the subject is so important is that cognitive capture by media can
lead to cognitive capture by society. The media help shape the views of the members of society, and if
the media are captured, their reporting can give rise to the acceptance of views within society that
reflect those interests. Rather than being the ―fourth estate,‖ set apart from the rest of society to
provide the checks and balances necessary to make society function well, the media are embedded
within society, and are little more than a reflection of the views widely shared within it. Indeed, they
can become part of the echo chamber that amplifies and solidifies conventional wisdom.

If a strongly held conventional wisdom develops (when and how that happens is a matter of interest in
its own right), then it is hard for any individual to stand against this weight of opinion, against the
seeming collective wisdom. Few, if any, individuals have the capacity to weigh all the evidence
relevant to any particular issue; we have to rely on others. It is precisely in such circumstances that
there is the need for an independent press and its voice of skepticism, or at least agnosticism. But
individuals are social beings so don‘t like to be the odd person left out. Cognitive capture is
impossible to fully prevent. And yet because it is the subtlest form of capture, it is the most corrosive:
in principle, readers can guard themselves against some of the more blatant forms of capture, such as
that associated with ownership. They take what is written on the editorial page with a grain of salt. But
cognitive capture is pervasive and often unintended. And yet, cognitive capture undermines the ability
of the media to fulfill their societal mission just as much as do the other forms of capture described in
this book.

Competing Forms of Media Capture in Developing Democracies

Media capture by the state: The first, and most historically dominant, form of media capture is
capture by the state. Even where media are not state-owned, however, they can be subject to
substantial capture by the state. It is widespread in Africa and Middle East.

Plutocratic capture: In the 1980s and 1990s, many developing countries sought and received aid
from international financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
These organizations demanded policy changes from governments who received their funding. In the
first wave of programs—called ―structural adjustment‖—recipient countries had to privatize and
deregulate the media industry. In the second wave, which placed more focus on so-called ―good

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governance,‖ borrowing countries were asked to democratize by cracking down on corruption and
expanding the role of civil society groups. In theory, the media industry was to benefit from both sets
of reforms, with liberalization, deregulation, and the expansion of civil society contributing to a more
diverse, democratic press. Indeed, during the democratization boom, many countries introduced media
policy reforms.

Yet across the developing world, and contrary to what international financial institutions expected,
privatization did not lead to greater diversity in media ownership, but to the concentration of media
ownership among wealthy individuals and families through media conglomerates with ties to these
elites. Plutocratic capture occurs when media reformers focus on the goals of privatization and
increasing the quantity of media available to consumers at the expense of other metrics of a strong free
press. In this way, donor-funded democratization has replaced state ownership of media—an explicit
form of capture—with more indirect forms of capture by politically connected plutocrats.

Corporate capture: In many ―third wave‖ countries, economic liberalization also created a new class
of corporate elites, who can impose a third form of capture on journalism. Media liberalization has
placed power in the hands of corporations who fund print and television news through advertising and
so that it frees news organizations from state capture

Intersecting capture: This suggests that new platforms and liberalization will not reduce media
capture. Indeed, they may not even replace capture by the state: instead, different forms of capture can
combine.

Media Capture Motivators and Rationales in the Digital Age

Consider the three basic rationales for owning and operating media.

 The first is power. All sorts of media are or have been subsidized by other actors to exercise
power—to change the world, or to keep it exactly as it is, to get a bigger slice of the pie, or to
defend what one has.
 The second is public service. Public service is about politically mandated delivery of a service to
the public, in whole or in part funded with public resources; in the case of media, this is
accomplished through organizations that aim to serve a broad audience and enjoy a degree of
autonomy from government (those publicly funded that are not independent of government are

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 better seen as state media operated to exercise power). It can also take the form of non-profit
media indirectly benefiting from public support through, for example, favorable tax legislation.
 The third is profit. Private enterprise invests in many different kinds of media, from upmarket
financial newspapers to tabloids, from talk radio to television documentaries, to make money. So,
here, media may be:
o Paid Media: Publicity gained through paid advertising.
o Earned Media: Publicity gained through efforts other than advertising, such as news
coverage.
o Owned Media: Internally managed promotional platforms, such as a website, blog, Twitter
feed, YouTube channel and Facebook page.

4.4. Media Policy and Political Communication

Media policies take a wide variety of forms, varying especially along a dimension of degree of state
control. Previous Soviet and Eastern European regimes placed all media under state supervision.
During the Cold War, Novosit Press Agency (NPA) was a big contributor to Soviet white propaganda
while Radio Moscow was primarily used to support the USSR. In the US and Western Europe,
regulatory frameworks have been legally established to maintain strong, although democratic,
supervision of radio and television, often by way of public monopolies. Example, during the Cold War
or after, they established Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of American as the two most
popular stations.

4.5.1. Media and Policy Relations

On a theoretical level there are two main approaches, highlighting the extremes of the debate that deal
with the relationship between news media and policymaking: the ‗manufacturing consent’ thesis and
the ‗CNN effect’ thesis.

B. The „Manufacturing Consent‟ Thesis

The ‗manufacturing consent‘ thesis holds that policy-making is the prerogative of informed elite, with
the media in a subordinate status. Political elites impel newsmakers to ‗read‘ global events in a
particular way. Therefore the media are influenced by government and government policy.
Consequently, the media‘s agenda reflects the priorities of policy-makers. This view is most notably
argued by Chomsky and Herman (1988: 23) who claim that powerful sources regularly take advantage

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of media routines and dependency to ‗manage‘ the media, to manipulate them into following a special
agenda and framework. This is the idea that news media coverage is ‗indexed‘ to the frames of
reference of policy elites. Robinson (1999a) labels this interpretation of manufacturing consent as the
‗elite version’ describing it as claiming that news media coverage conforms to the interests of political
elites. Within the framework of the manufacturing consent thesis Robinson (1999a: also identifies an
‗executive version’. It posits that news media reports conform to the official agenda and do not
function to criticise or challenge the executive policy line. Hence the implicit claim here is that the
news media are prevented from influencing the executive policy.
Overall, in their original versions both the elite and the executive versions of the manufacturing
consent thesis oppose the existence of an independent news media effect on policy either by denying it
completely or by not really exploring the possible media role.

C. The „CNN Effect‟ Thesis

The other extreme thesis within the media-policy relationship debate is known as the ‗CNN effect‘. In
essence, it claims that news can make policy. Yet, the term is understood and used differently both
inside and outside the media. Some of the definitions of the CNN effect are more general, such as the
interpretation of the CNN effect as ‗the way breaking news affects policy decisions‘ (Schorr, cited in
Gilboa, 2003: 6). Some definitions of the CNN effect focus on the question of ‗political control‘
(Robinson, 2002a)– that is the responsibility for setting the news agenda. As Livingston and Eachus
(1995) argue, ‗the question at the heart of the CNN effect is ―who controls that capacity [to
influence]‖. This interpretation of the CNN effect is concerned with news sources as a way of
determining if non-governmental actors have control over the policy process.

4.6. Social Media Politics

4.6.1. Social Media: Origin, Development and Typologies
The origins of Social Media are: Early forms of social media can be traced back to the creation of
Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) in the 1970s. The first true social media site was Six Degrees, launched
in 1997. Other early social media platforms include Friendster (2002), MySpace (2003), and LinkedIn
(2003).

In the expansions and development of Social Media, the proliferation of smartphones, tablets, and
mobile devices has dramatically increased social media usage. Social media has become a major tool

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for both personal and business communication. The rise of influencer marketing and social media
advertising has made social media a valuable asset for businesses looking to promote their products or
services. Hope that helps!

Social media has different types. The types of Social Media are:
1. Social Networking Sites: (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter)
2. Microblogging Sites: (e.g. Tumblr, Snapchat)
3. Media Sharing Sites: (e.g. YouTube, Instagram) 4. Discussion Forums (e.g. Reddit, Quora)
5. Review Sites: (e.g. TripAdvisor, Yelp)

4.6.2. Social Media: Political and Geopolitical Purposes

o Social media has revolutionized the way people access and consume information. In many
countries, it has become the primary source of news and information for a majority of people.
o Social media has been used extensively during political campaigns and elections. It allows
politicians and political parties to reach a larger audience, and engage with them directly.
o Social media has been used to mobilize protests and revolutions. The Arab Spring protests in 2011
were largely organized and coordinated through social media platforms.
o Social media has also been used by governments to suppress dissent and control the narrative. In
countries like China and Russia, the government heavily controls social media platforms and
censors content that is deemed critical of the regime.
o Social media has been accused of spreading fake news and propaganda. During the 2016 US
presidential elections, social media platforms were used to spread false information and manipulate
public opinion.
o Social media has also played a role in exacerbating geopolitical tensions. The use of social media
by political leaders to make controversial or inflammatory statements has led to diplomatic
tensions between countries.
o Finally, social media has also been used as a tool for cyber-attacks and espionage. Foreign
governments have been accused of using social media to gather intelligence, spread
disinformation, and launch cyber-attacks against other countries.

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 4.7. Media Literacy
Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a variety of forms,
including print, television, radio, film, social media and other digital technologies. The purpose of
media literacy is to enable people to critically evaluate the media messages they encounter and to
become more informed and engaged citizens.

Media literacy is an expanded conceptualization of literacy that includes the ability to access and
analyze media messages as well as create, reflect and take action, using the power of information and
communication to make a difference in the world. Media literacy is not restricted to one medium and
is understood as a set of competencies that are essential for work, life, and citizenship. Media literacy
education is the process used to advance media literacy competencies, and it is intended to promote
awareness of media influence and create an active stance towards both consuming and creating media.

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There are several classifications of media literacy, including:
1. Basic Literacy: This includes the ability to read, write, and understand language, as well as basic
digital literacy skills such as the ability to use a computer, navigate the internet and use social media.
2. Functional Literacy: This includes the ability to decode and interpret media messages, as well as
basic critical thinking skills such as identifying bias, stereotypes, and hidden agendas.
3. Interactive Literacy: This involves the ability to actively engage with media by creating content,
participating in online discussions, and using social media to share ideas and information with others.
4. Critical Literacy: This involves the ability to use media to promote social change and to challenge
dominant ideologies and power structures. It requires a deep understanding of media messages and the
ability to analyze, critique, and challenge them effectively. In conclusion, media literacy is a critical
skill for navigating the complex and varied media landscape of the 21st century. By developing media
literacy skills, individuals can become more informed, empowered, and engaged citizens who are able
to evaluate media messages critically and to use media effectively to promote positive social change.

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4.6.3. Roles, Impacts, and Trends in Media
There are some important experiences on the roles, impacts, and trends of media in global geopolitical
and power relations:

Roles of Media:
1. Agenda Setting: The media has the power to shape public opinion by determining which issues are
highlighted and which are ignored.
2. Framing: The media can influence how events are perceived by the public by providing different
interpretations or "frames" of news stories.
3. Propaganda: Governments and other organizations may use media outlets to promote their own
agendas and ideologies, often through the spread of misinformation.

Impacts of Media:
1. Internationalization of News: The globalization of media has made it easier for people to access
news from around the world, which in turn has led to a greater awareness of global events.
2. Increased transparency: The rise of social media has given citizens a direct voice in public
discourse, making it easier to share information and hold those in power accountable for their actions.
3. Polarization: In some cases, media coverage of global events can fuel division and polarization,
particularly when media outlets take partisan positions or promote sensationalized narratives.

Trends in Media:
1. Social Media Dominance: Social media platforms have become the primary sources of information
and communication, particularly among younger generations.
2. Disinformation: The prevalence of disinformation or "fake news" has increased as the ease of
sharing information on social media has grown, leading to greater attention on media literacy and fact-
checking.
3. Decentralization: The rise of alternative media outlets, such as blogs and podcasts, has challenged
traditional sources of information, leading to a more decentralized media landscape.

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 4.6.4. Hate Speech
The term "hate" can be misleading. When used in a hate crime law, the word "hate" does not mean
rage, anger, or general dislike. In this context ―hate‖ means bias against people or groups with specific
characteristics that are defined by the law. ―Hate speech” is any form of expression through which
speakers intend to vilify, humiliate, or incite hatred against a group or a class of persons on the basis of
race, religion, skin color, sexual identity, gender identity. In the United States, hate speech is protected
by the First Amendment. Courts extend this protection on the grounds that the First Amendment
requires the government to strictly protect robust debate on matters of public concern even when such
debate devolves into distasteful, offensive, or hateful speech. Facebook defines attacks as violent or
dehumanizing speech, harmful stereotypes, statements of inferiority, expressions of contempt, disgust
or dismissal, cursing and calls for exclusion or segregation.

Hate speech can be conveyed through any form of expression, including images, cartoons, memes,
objects, gestures and symbols and it can be disseminated offline or online. Hate speech is
―discriminatory‖ (biased, bigoted or intolerant) or ―pejorative‖ (prejudiced, contemptuous or
demeaning) of an individual or group.

A. Techniques/Elements/Forms of Hate Speech

Defamation: There are two basic categories of defamation: (1) libel and (2) slander. Libel
generally refers to written defamation, while slander refers to oral defamation, though much
spoken speech that has a written transcript also falls under the rubric of libel.
Dehumanization, Demonization and Morality Shifting: According to Roger Giner-Sorolla
(2011), dehumanization is a removal of moral concern; demonization is characterized by moralized
violence while morality shifting is about violence supporting in-group morality.
Blasphemy: The verb form of blasphemy is blaspheme, as in "those who blaspheme God." It
comes to English from the Late Latin word blasphemare. Blasphemy, in a religious sense,
refers to great disrespect shown to God or to something holy, or to something said or done
that shows this kind of disrespect; heresy refers a belief or opinion that does not agree with
the official belief or opinion of a particular religion. Both words are also sometimes used in
general, not necessarily religious, contexts. Although in certain senses of the word it may be
more common to use blasphemy in reference to speech, it may also be applied to writing.

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 Character assassination: Character assassination (CA) is a deliberate and sustained effort to
damage the reputation or credibility of an individual.

4.8. Media Evolution in Political Communication, Theory and

Practice
Indigenous media
Indigenous media otherwise known as folk media is the means and system of communication of the
ancient local people. This refers to conventional means of mass communication as practiced by
various global communities and cultures from ancient times. Some of these communication means
were ―the use of gongs, drum beats, town criers, puppet shows, dance, singing and masks which
actually influenced the Greek and the Roman civilizations.‖(Scannell, 2009). Other forms are through
artifacts, art works, and paintings etc. These several means are used to communicate and send
information across to the local people. According to Wilson (1999), these kinds of media are the local
means of communication that sustain the information needs of the people.‖ The indigenous media is
unique, original, and it is based on the traditions and culture of the people.

This is a clear indication that before the pre-media era of primitive writing, people who existed had
several means through which they communicated. This type of ―media‖ of the indigenous peoples
promotes their culture, and influences their social and political agenda. In this process of
communication, they retain social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct
from those of the dominant societies in which they live. In the indigenous setting where the indigenous
media operates, the magic bullet or hypodermic needle theory is seen to be relevant and effective. This
theory suggests that the mass media (indigenous media) influences the local people directly and
uniformly by feeding (shooting or injecting) them with information that is aimed at generating a
particular response. Both images (a bullet and a needle) used to express this theory suggest a powerful
and direct flow of information from the sender to the receiver. ―The media content is like a bullet,
penetrating the consciousness of everyone in the entire audience and shaping both belief and
behavior.‖ (Defleur, 2005).

The magic bullet theory graphically suggests that the sender sends the message (fires the bullet)
through the media (gun) to the receiver. With similarly emotive imagery the hypodermic needle model

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suggests that media messages are injected straight into a passive audience who are immediately
affected and influenced by the message. In the indigenous setting, the people or masses are powerless
to resist the impact of the message. Furthermore, this theory is applicable and relevant to the
indigenous media, it is clear that the people end up thinking what they are told due to the direct and
immediate effect of the message. Another relevant theory for the indigenous media is the dependency
theory where the people depend solely on the media for information. It is therefore very important for
a communication student or practitioner to be aware of the factors involved in the indigenous media,
how it operates and the impact it has on its consumers or audience. For example, if a communication
practitioner wants to send across a particular message to local or indigenous people, He or She will be
aware of the right media to use to enable the achievement of the desired result.

Traditional media
Traditional media involves the print and broadcast content that is transmitted or distributed to an
audience. This kind of media evolved from the use of newspapers as the means of conveying
information to the masses. Later the invention and establishment of electronic media (radio and
television) were introduced. These forms of media enable messages to move from a sender to a
receiver. The cultivation theory is relevant and applicable in terms of traditional media. This theory
was proposed by George Gerbner in 1976. Cultivation research is in the 'effects' tradition.

The cultivation theorists argue that television has a long-term in a small, gradual, indirect but
cumulative and significant effect on its audience. The cultivation theory looks at the mass media as an
agent for socialization and critically examines the implications and effects associated with the use of
mass media, thus; whether television viewers end up believing the television version of reality the
more they watch it.
Cultivation theory in its most basic form, suggests that television (a component of traditional media) is
responsible for shaping, or „cultivating‟ viewers‟ conceptions of social reality. It propagates the fact
that the mass media serves as the window of the world. The more people are exposed to information
through the mass media, it shapes their perception of social reality for individuals and their culture.
Gerbner argues that the mass media cultivate attitudes and values which are already present in a
culture. The traditional media sustain and promote these values amongst members of a culture. He has
argued that television tends to cultivate ―middle-of-the- road political perspectives.‖ (Gerbner, 1976).

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Cultivation theorists also differentiate between the levels of use of the traditional media. For example,
they indicate that there are two groups of television viewers: the heavy viewers and the light viewers.
The focus is on „heavy viewers‟. People who watch a lot of television are likely to be more influenced
by the ways in which the world is framed by television programs than are individuals who watch less,
especially regarding topics of which the viewer has little first-hand experience. Light viewers may
have more sources of information than heavy viewers. This simply implies that, the level of exposure
to the traditional media will determine the level of effect or influence on the audience.

A communication practitioner can use this piece of information about the traditional media and its
operations in several ways. If you intend to promote a particular idea through a traditional media, the
cultivation theory suggests that there should be repetition. In other words, the more you expose your
audience to that piece of information, they likely to be influenced in a small, gradual, indirect but
cumulative and significant way.

New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. This
refers to on-demand access to content anytime, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive
user feedback, creative participation and community formation in the mass media and around the
media content. Another significant feature of new media is the creation, publishing, distribution and
consumption of media content.

In recent times, there is an advantage of a high technological mass media which has a wide range of
information dissemination. Mobile phones, computers, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and the internet among
other digital devices are all part of the era of new media. The internet especially has over the few years
had a great impact in the mass media communication scene. Its invention has expanded the scope of
mass media. The use of the internet has created a lot of space for interaction and easy connectivity to
the world, thereby making the world a small place in terms of communication. A device such as the
mobile phone makes communication faster and easier. Today, a mobile device can also be used to
access the internet for all kinds of information. Some time back especially in the era of traditional
media, accessing information was not that easy as it is now. New media is a very important revolution
of mass media. This has provided easy means of communication to students and practitioners in the
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field (communication). As we are involved and interact with people in our everyday life, it is very vital
to be aware of the kind of media we access and use, and the influence it has on us.

Uses and gratifications theory is a very relevant theory in this era of new media. This theory seeks to
explain the uses and functions of the media for individuals, groups, and society in general. Everybody
uses the new media for one or more reasons. People may use the internet as a source of entertainment,
for news updates, for social interaction among others. This theory is an approach to describe and find
out why people actively seek out specific media outlets and content to satisfy specific needs. The
theory discusses how users proactively search for media that will not only meet a given need but
enhance knowledge, social interactions and diversion. New media is inevitable in terms of the
application of the uses and gratification theory.

This can be seen in the three major objectives with respect to the development of the uses and
gratifications theory. The first major objective of this theory is to explain; how individuals use mass
media to satisfy their needs. Secondly, to discover underlying motives for individuals media use; and
also to identify the positive and the negative consequences of individual media use. At the core of uses
and gratifications theory lies the assumption that audience members actively seek out the mass media
to satisfy individual needs. According to (McQuail and Blumler, 1972) the uses of different types of
media could be grouped into 4 categories: diversion, personal relationships, personal identity and
surveillance.

Social media
This type of media can be basically seen as advancement beyond the other types of media in terms of
usage. Its main component is the internet. ―As we enter a new millennium, there is considerable
evidence within popular culture of an increasing public preoccupation with the role of mass media in
social life, especially when the impacts of such media appear particularly intense.‖ (Bailey 2005).
Social plays a significant role and has great effect of people who use it. A 2010 study by the
University of Maryland suggested that social media services may be addictive. Social media is often
seen as a two way conversation. It is a powerful means of sending messages and provides a platform
for feedback and interaction. This interactive platform is provided through social networking sites like
Facebook, twitter, Skype, blogs and emails.

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The social cognitive theory is relevant in terms of social media. This theory explains how people
acquire and ―maintain certain behavioral patterns, while also providing the basis for intervention
strategies.‖ (Bandura, 1997). Evaluating behavioral change depends on certain factors such as
environment, people and behavior. Our everyday interactions with people affects and perhaps
influences us. On social media, people interact with eachother and are exposed to all kinds of
information with can, may or will affect them. Social media creates the environment for social
interaction.

There are social and physical environments. Social environment include family members, friends and
colleagues. Environment and situation provide the framework for understanding behavior (Parraga,
1990). The situation refers to the cognitive or mental representations of the environment that may
affect a person‟s behavior. The situation can be ―a person‟s perception and activity.‖ (Glanz et al,
2002).

The three factors environment, people and behavior are constantly influencing each other. Behavior is
not simply the result of the environment and the person, just as the environment is not simply the
result of the person and behavior (Glanz et al, 2002). The environment provides models for behavior.
Interaction between people on social media may lead to observational learning. ―Observational
learning occurs when a person watches the actions of another person and the reinforcements that the
person receives.‖ (Bandura, 1997). The concept of behavior can be viewed in many ways. Connecting
people, recommending resources, identifying expertise and distributing content are all benefits to those
who participate in and use the social sites.

4.9. Digital Citizen/ship in the Digital Age

As per Council of Europe, a digital citizen is someone who, through the development of a broad range
of competences, is able to actively, positively and responsibly engage in both online and offline
communities, whether local, national or global. As digital technologies are disruptive in nature and
constantly evolving, competence building is a lifelong process that should begin from earliest
childhood at home and at school, in formal, informal and non-formal educational settings.

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Digital citizenship and engagement involves a wide range of activities, from creating, consuming,
sharing, playing and socializing, to investigating, communicating, learning and working. Competent
digital citizens are able to respond to new and everyday challenges related to learning, work,
employability, leisure, inclusion and participation in society,3 respecting human rights and
intercultural differences. In other word, digital citizenship refers to the responsible use of technology
by anyone who uses computers, the Internet, and digital devices to engage with society on any
level. In the digital age, it is important to be mindful of our actions online and to navigate our digital
environments in a way that is safe, ethical, and respectful. Here are some key concepts related to
digital citizenship:
 Empathy: This involves understanding and respecting the feelings and perspectives of others
online. It also involves community-building and reaching out to help others who may be
experiencing cyberbullying or other negative online experiences.

 Understanding how the Internet works: This includes knowledge of how to use search
engines, how to evaluate online sources, and how to protect personal information online.

 Practicing digital literacy: This involves the ability to communicate effectively online,
including the use of appropriate language and tone. It also involves understanding how to
create and share content online in a way that is legal and ethical.

 Protecting privacy and managing reputation: This includes understanding how to protect
personal information online, such as using strong passwords and being cautious about sharing
personal information on social media. It also involves being mindful of how online activities
can affect one's reputation and future opportunities.

There are different types of digital citizens, including those who use information technology (IT) to
engage in society, politics, and government. People who characterize themselves as digital citizens
often use IT extensively, such as creating blogs, using social networks, and participating in online
journalism. Digital citizenship is important for business leaders, educators, governmental workers, and
advocates to understand how to use technology responsibly and ethically. Educators play a crucial role
in teaching digital citizenship to students. The Common Sense Education website offers a K-12 Digital
Citizenship Curriculum that includes lessons on topics such as online privacy, cyberbullying, and
digital footprints. By teaching students about digital citizenship from an early age, educators can help
students become active and responsible digital citizens who are equipped to navigate the digital world
safely and ethically.

4.9.1. Key Values of a Digital Citizen

The key values of digital citizens encompass a range of competencies and principles. These values and
elements of digital citizenship aim to guide individuals in using technology responsibly, engaging

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positively with others, and contributing to a safe and inclusive digital environment. Here are some of
the key values and elements of digital citizenship:

 Inclusive: Digital citizens should strive to create an inclusive online environment where everyone
feels welcome and respected
 Informed: Digital citizens should be knowledgeable about the digital world, including recognizing
fact from fiction online and being critical consumers of information.
 Engaged: Digital citizens should actively participate in the digital world, using technology to
engage in civic action and contribute positively to society
 Balanced: Digital citizens should strive for a balanced approach to technology use, ensuring that it
does not negatively impact their well-being or relationships.
 Alert: Digital citizens should be aware of potential risks and threats online, practicing online
safety and being vigilant about protecting their personal information.
 Digital Access: This element focuses on ensuring equitable distribution of technology and
understanding the limitations and consequences for those with limited access
 Digital Commerce: Digital citizens should make safe and informed decisions when buying and
selling goods online.
 Digital Rights and Responsibility: This element emphasizes the importance of understanding and
respecting the rights and responsibilities of individuals in the digital world.
 Critical Thinking Skills: Digital citizens should develop critical thinking skills to evaluate and
analyze information online
 Creativity: Digital citizens should use and create digital content in a creative and responsible
manner.

4.9.2. Competencies of a Digital Citizen

A. Knowledge
 Knowledge and critical understanding of the self
 Knowledge and critical understanding of language and communication
 Knowledge and critical understanding of the world: politics, law, human rights, culture,
cultures, religions, history, media, economies, environment, sustainability
B. Skills
 Autonomous learning skills
 Analytical and critical thinking skills
 Skills of listening and observing
 Empathy
 Flexibility and adaptability

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  Linguistic, communicative and plurilingual skills
 Co-operation skills
 Conflict-resolution skills
C. Attitudes
 Openness to cultural otherness and toother beliefs, world views and practices
 Respect
 Civic-mindedness
 Responsibility
 Self-efficacy
 Tolerance of ambiguity
D. Values:
 Valuing human dignity and human rights
 Valuing cultural diversity
 Valuing democracy, justice, fairness, equality and the rule of law

4.9.3. Digital domains of a Digital Citizen

To place these competences into the digital environment in which young people grow up today, and
drawing on research from frequently cited experts and organizations in the field, a set of 10 digital
domains have been defined as underpinning the overall concept of digital citizenship. These are
divided into three areas, which correspond to the three sections of this publication: Being online, Well-
being online and Rights online. The domains, as per Council of Europe, are described as follows.

A. Being online
 Access and inclusion: concerns access to the digital environment and includes a range of
competences that relate not only to overcoming different forms of digital exclusion but also to the
skills needed by future citizens to participate in digital spaces that are open to every kind of
minority and diversity of opinion. of challenges and opportunities that can affect wellness,
including but not limited to online addiction, ergonomics and posture, and excessive use of digital
and mobile devices.
 e-Presence and communications: refers to the development of the personal and interpersonal
qualities that support digital citizens in building and maintaining an online presence and identity as

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 well as online interactions that are positive, coherent and consistent. It covers competences such as
online communication and interaction with others in virtual social spaces, as well as the
management of one‘s data and traces.

B. Rights online
 Active participation: relates to the competences that citizens need to be fully aware of when they
interact within the digital environments they inhabit in order to make responsible decisions, while
participating actively and positively in the democratic cultures in which they live.
 Rights and responsibilities: are something citizens enjoy in the physical world, and digital citizens
in the online world also have certain rights and responsibilities. Digital citizens can enjoy rights of
privacy, security, access and inclusion, freedom of expression and more. However, with those
rights come certain responsibilities, such as ethics and empathy and other responsibilities to ensure
a safe and responsible digital environment for all.
 Privacy and security: includes two different concepts: privacy concerns mainly the personal
protection of one‘s own and others‘ online information, while security is related more to one‘s own
awareness of online actions and behaviour. It covers competences such as information
management and online safety issues (including the use of navigation filters, passwords, anti-virus
and firewall software) to deal with and avoid dangerous or unpleasant situations.
 Consumer awareness: relates to the fact that the World Wide Web, with its broad dimensions,
such as social media and other virtual social spaces, is an environment where often the fact of
being a digital citizen also means being a consumer. Understanding the implications of the
commercial reality of online spaces is one of the competences that individuals will have to deal
with in order to maintain their autonomy as digital citizens.
 Learning and creativity: refers to the willingness and the attitude of citizens towards learning in
digital environments over their life course, both to develop and express different forms of
creativity, with different tools, in different contexts.
 It covers the development of personal and professional competences as citizens prepare for the
challenges of technology-rich societies with confidence and in innovative ways.
 Media and information literacy: concerns the ability to interpret, understand and express
creativity through digital media, as critical thinkers. Being media and information literate is

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 something that needs to be developed through education and through a constant exchange with the
environment around us.
It is essential to go beyond simply ―being able to‖ use one or another media, for example, or simply to
―be informed‖ about something. A digital citizen has to maintain an attitude relying on critical
thinking as a basis for meaningful and effective participation in his/her community.

C. Well-being online
 Ethics and empathy: concerns online ethical behaviour and interaction with others based on skills
such as the ability to recognise and understand the feelings and perspectives of others. Empathy
constitutes an essential requirement for positive online interaction and for realising the possibilities
that the digital world affords.
 Health and well-being: relates to the fact that digital citizens inhabit both virtual and real spaces.
For this reason, the basic skills of digital competence alone are not sufficient. Individuals also
require a set of attitudes, skills, values and knowledge that render them more aware of issues
related to health and well-being. In a digitally rich world, health and well-being imply being aware

4.9.4. Guiding Principles for Digital Citizenship

All digital citizenship development initiatives are defined and shaped by the nine guiding principles
defined below, which can also serve as reference points or benchmarks for the assessment of progress.
They can be described as three types: contextual, informational and organizational..

A. Contextual principles considered as “preconditions” for digital citizenship

 Access to digital technology is important. Without it, even non-digital democratic citizenship has
become difficult as information and communication technology (ICT) is an integral part of
everyday life in today‘s society. Although most families aim to provide digital tools in the home,
balanced use of age-appropriate technology is important, and equality of access for all children
depends largely on provision of access in schools.
 Basic functional and digital literacy skills: is a second precondition, without which citizens are
unable to access, read, write, input and upload information, participate in polls or express
themselves in a manner permitting them to digitally engage in their community. School is
generally accepted as the key stakeholder in this area; however, policy makers play a large role in
ensuring that teachers benefit from the required tools and training, that the curriculum encourages
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 the use of digital technology in learning and that sufficient high-quality resources are available to
support classroom practice.
 A secure technical infrastructure: that enables citizens of all ages to have sufficient confidence
and trust to digitally engage in online community activities is another precondition. This third
precondition completes the first level of core guiding principles for digital citizenship. Although
the onus was traditionally on device owners or users and ICT co-ordinators to safeguard data
through protective software and personal good practice, platform providers and mobile operators
are ultimately responsible for providing safer digital environments and simplifying security
measures.

B. Informational – Three further principles

 Knowledge of rights and responsibilities: is key to actively engaging as a digital citizen. This
knowledge, which shapes and is shaped by values and attitudes, is implicitly and explicitly
developed at home, at school and in all on- and offline environments in which we learn, live and
interact. Both capacity-building efficacy and outcomes are difficult to measure with this principle,
given the huge variety of contexts in which they will be applied.
 Reliable information sources: are essential for positive active participation in community life.
Without reliable information sources, digital citizenship can morph into extremism, discourage
participation and even prevent certain sectors of the population from practicing their digital
citizenship rights. While schools and families play an important role in fostering discernment
through critical thinking and educational practices, digital platforms and mobile providers have a
large part to play too, in ensuring the reliability of information sources.
 Participation skills: depend on a range of cognitive and practical skills, the development of which
begin at home, then continue at home and school from a very early age. These skills combine
knowing when and how to speak out, empathy and cultural understanding to fully grasp meaning,
critical thinking and oral and written expression skills.

C. Organizational principles relating to “living digital citizenship” at a personal and societal

level
 Flexible thinking and problem solving: are higher cognitive skills that call on a broader
combination of all four areas of the CDC ―butterfly‖ than any of the previous principles. Problem

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 solving requires understanding of the issues at hand, analysis, synthesis, induction and deduction,
but above all it depends on learning activities from early childhood onwards that foster cognitive
development through exploration- driven activities. Besides learning contexts at home and school,
digital platform and mobile providers play a growing role, since the way we learn is also shaped by
the tools used to learn.
 Communication: the second organisational principle, refers to both the skills and tools used to
interact, disseminate and receive information. Schools and families play a critical role in
supporting and enabling children to practise their communication skills from an early age in face-
to-face situations, to help them understand and apply rights and responsibilities, empathy, privacy
and security before they begin using digital tools. This has considerable implications for
curriculum development and requires a greater effort on the part of industry in terms of
collaboration with the education sector and greater discernment in the tools they provide for young
users.
 Citizenship opportunity: is the ultimate guiding principle without which digital citizens are unable
to hone their citizenship skills or exercise their rights and responsibilities. Citizenship opportunity
calls for a flexible, open, neutral and secure framework where algorithms are open-source, freely
chosen/customized by users, and where citizens can have their say without fear of retribution.

This materia needs further development of concepts

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Fig-1: Media Attitudes towards Israel-Palestine Conflicts A vs. B

Fig-2: Media Attitude on Religious and Social Affairs A vs. B

Fig-4: Media Attitudes towards conflicts and human rights

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