Highlights
Task:
TITLE:
“Media in public policy, it’s laws, ethics and impact on elections in India”
INTRODUCTION:
Over the last few decades the role of the media in the political process has changed fundamentally from a passive conveyor of messages to a political actor in its own right. According to Business Dictionary, Media implies Communication channels through which news, entertainment, education, data, or promotional messages are broadcasted. Media includes every broadcasting and narrowcasting medium such as newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, billboards, direct mail, telephone, fax, and internet. In general, media according to Jack Lule (2013)2 can be defined as a means of communication that is intended to reach a larger audience in order to transmit information, news or entertainment.
The media is essential to democracy, and a democratic election is not possible without the media. A free and fair election is not only about the freedom to vote and the knowledge of how to cast a
vote, but also about a participatory process where voters engage in public debate and have adequate information about parties, policies, candidates and the election process itself in order to make informed choices. Furthermore, the media in its historicity has been considered a watchdog in a democratic political system, thereby, safeguarding the transparency of the process. Hence, a democratic election with no media freedom, would be a contradiction.
ROLE OF MEDIA IN POLICY PROCESS:
In public policy process, especially the agenda setting stage every policy actors will always wish to emerge as a leader. Some of the key and common actors in public policy are political leaders,
bureaucrats, Media, civil societies, parliamentarians and the judiciary. Policy decisions are always influenced by policy actors who know how to effectively influence policy agenda. According to Anderson,3 there are two categories of policy actors; the primary and secondary actors. The primary actors include all official policy makers who have statutory duty to formulate policies. These officials include, the Legislative, Executive and Judiciary organs including the bureaucrats. The secondary policy makers include all pressures groups who can influence policy decisions but they don’t have binding decision power like the primary policy makers. These pressure groups are like Media, and Think Tanks etc.
In summary various communication and media specialists have highlighted the role of the media in policy process as follows. Their focus was the mass media political functions which correspond to the stages in the policy process. John Fincher proved the following 10 possible media functions in the policy process:5
• Anticipating problems in advance of public officials,
• Informing the public about problems on the basis of official warnings,
• Informing the public of the stakes the competing groups had in solving problems,
• Keeping various groups and the public informed about policy proposals,
• Contributing to the content of policy,
• Deciding the tempo of decision making,
• Helping lawmakers decide how to vote in the legislature,
• Informing the public about how policies are administered,
• Evaluating policy effectiveness, and
• Stimulating policy reviews.
ROLE OF MEDIA IN ELECTIONS:
The media play an indispensable role in the proper functioning of a democracy. Media works as watchdog role by unfettered scrutiny and discussion of the successes and failures of candidates, governments, and Election Commission, the media can inform the public of how effectively they have performed and help to hold them accountable for their work. Yet the media also have other roles in enabling full public participation in elections:
? educating voters on how to exercise their democratic rights;
? reporting on the development of an election campaign;
? providing a platform for the political parties and candidates to communicate their message to the electorate;
? providing a platform for the public to communicate their concerns, opinions, and needs;
? allowing the parties and candidates to debate;
? reporting exit polls and opinion polls;
? scrutinizing the electoral process itself, including electoral management, in order to evaluate the fairness of the process;
? providing information that, as far as possible, avoids discriminatory language, helping to prevent election malpractices.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
This study aims to focus on two broad questions :
1. Are legal restrictions on the media coverage- A threat to democracy or a blessing in disguise?
2. Has the growing supremacy of the media led to the emergence of new form of democracy- Media Democracy?
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