The media and the government

Many people call media the fourth branch of the government. Explain this statement in your work. How can the government control people through media?

 

Abstract

The government and the media around the world are closely interconnected. Each one requires the support of the other to run their business and ensure that its citizen or state benefits. This paper explores why many people term the Media as the fourth branch of the government. It also focuses on how to control people through media. Understanding these relationships implicates the public's information and how they demonstrate their democracy—the degree of political parallelism, commercialization, and journalistic professionalism in various media systems influences media-government relationships. The political actors, the public, and the media interact to achieve different goals under certain conditions. Additional variables such as power, cultural unity, and strategy affect the circulation of preferred support and attention from the public.

Key Words:  Media, governance, branches, media-government relationships.

The Media and the Government

Communication and media scholars discussed the relationship between media and the government. There is an eternal debate between journalists, media owners, and politicians concerning this relationship. A lot of legal scholarships have been directed to the impact f the media to the executive and legislative branches of the government. However,  there is little attention of scholarship given to media and judiciary branch.  The little research on these relationships dishonors the intent of our Founding Fathers; "establish a free and vigorous press is an essential part of our unique system of government."

Several people including the scholars have the saying that the media as the fourth branch of the government following the checks provided by the government institution on the three constitutionally-named branches (legislature, judiciary, and executive). The power of the media in choosing the news to report and influences of the public opinions all form the checks of judiciary branch. However, the overseen relationship between the Media and judiciary examines the public's opinion of the American democracy by the media and the perceptions of the court. Therefore, rhetoric saying that the media sis the fourth branch of the government affirms the notion of the constitution that serves the three branches of government.

Furthermore, Luberda (2014) provides some of the traits that best describe the media. They include providing a duty to speak the truth, the autonomy of the politicians and the government, and having a duty to both the public and the readers. However, the attempt of different scholars and journalists became a success when it came to national security, censorship, informed citizens, public interest, free speech, and various topics on the media and government relationships. Media, in its operation, portrays the capability to change policy agenda based on what it reports. It is also referred to as the watchdog. It checks on the branches of the government and influences balance within the three branches of the government—besides, the media checks on the power of the government and the political leaders. Therefore, the rhetoric claim that the Media is appears accurately as the fourth branch of the government with its significant roles in serving the public and the three branches of the government.

Furthermore, some theories describe the media-government relationship. These theories clearly illustrate why the people term media as part of the government branches. Hegemony theory supports the idea that the Media is an institution that develops a worldview that fits the existing political power structures within society. It believes that the government controls the information conveyed to the public in that it does not stray from ideological boundaries. Secondly, the propaganda theory focuses on ownership of media and reliance on the sources of information that enable the actors to marginalize dissent and manage the news. Thus, the political groups dominate the public discourse developing existing power structures with the help of the media. Besides, the indexing approach theory provides the idea that media coverage promotes government policies when there is an agreement between elites on given matters. However, when there is disagreement among the divisions and the government's elites, the media will significantly come from various perspectives

Furthermore, the media plays a significant role in improving government communication. According to Benequista (2019), the government developed the media sector and state broadcasters to help political transitions.  Government initiatives in countries transitioning to democracy focuses on media-government relationships. Benequista (2019) reveals that the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) spent over USD 80 million to promote media from 2010 to 2015. Therefore, the Media serves the government in crucial activities such as transitioning to democracy.

How The Government control People through the Media

The government around the world controls the people through the media. It uses the media to communicate agenda that impacts its citizens. The mechanism of control helps the government to regulate the development and use of power through the media.  In a democratic country, it communicates the need to have representatives to make their powerful engines. Moreover, the government monitors its citizens and manipulates elections using the media. Authorities in various countries cut off internet access for their citizens as part of control efforts, and others use propaganda to distort information over the media. Social media appear as one of the vehicles to spread propaganda better than censorship. Through various computer algorithms, several populists and authoritarians conquer the ballot box and run through the set rules designed for fair elections. By doing so, the government controls the people.

Hate speech is a disease that affects political aspirations and leadership around the globe. Through the media, most individuals throw insults at their enemies, which raises concerns and jeopardizes the peace and unity of the people. Therefore, the government controls the people by arresting the victims or closing the media channels that propel such activities.

Moreover, the government control tension arising from misinformation and ignorance using the Media as some leaders attack the government due to differences in opinions and agreement on various policies. They end up stirring unnecessary conflicts among the citizens, which leads to tension in public. Therefore, the government ends such tension-ridden relationships through the media, which plays a significant role in disseminating information between the state and civil society.

Furthermore, the government exercises its control of the people through the media by reducing the political exclusion through diffusing interest groups to place items on the political agenda. Here, the established actors in the political system combine social media and petition in dealing with issues and altering original decisions that affect the people (Mickoleit, 2019). However, the people might not be contented with the government decisions concerning issues that affect them. And that makes the government choose the right way of control theme using the media.

Through the media, the government can control trade amongst the people. Several business organizations and business people set high prices for goods and services. In saving the economy, the government controls the cost of various goods using the media. It communicates to them about policies set to them about prices of various goods and services and condemns illegal selling of goods and services through the media. Therefore, the government controls the people by allowing for suggestions and making critical remarks about trade, preventing the people in their daily businesses.

            Furthermore, issues of diversity affect several governments around the world. There are many reported cases of racism, tribalism, and nepotism that jeopardize peace in various states. Therefore, through the media, the government will control the people by sensitizing the need for equality and advocate for representation of the people in governance. Failure to maintain the people leads to conflict within various people, which ends up paralyzing government activities. Applying the media in the control system will help boost peace and unity among white people and people of color.

            Furthermore, the government uses the media to protect its citizens from various crises. For instance, the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic forced different governments to control their citizens in observing the control measures. The government, therefore, through the media, played a significant role by controlling tension among the people, providing information on curfews, vaccination, hand hygiene, and sanitization. The people will identify other inaccuracies and apply the media to communicate their needs to the government. Therefore, during this period of the Cold-19 pandemic, the government managed to control its people through the media by sharing the need for observing the policies set by the government.

            Indeed, the Media is the fourth branch of the government. It plays significant roles, such as working with the three branches of the government in completing various tasks. Also, the public communicates with the "fourth branch" in airing their views to the government. Moreover, through media platforms to control its people, the media proves to be part of the government branches. Several policies that the government creates reach the public through media sources, including journals, radios, television, and other media sources. Therefore, as the fourth branch, the Media plays many significant roles in governance and serving the public.

 The only disadvantage is that the government controls the media in several states around the world. Media coverage is significantly deprived of its roles in covering news in matters that concern the government. Also, the Media receives funding from the government, making it operate within the government interests and not the interest of other citizens. However, further research is needed to establish the media-government relationships, their roles, and how the public benefit from the government through the media. It is the right of every citizen to know the role of the media in the serving both the public and the government. Also, the government should provide funding to the media and recognize performing their duties.