Does the Media Enhance Democracy?
I think that the media does not support an enhancement of democracy. In my opinion, the media is growing to be a threat to democracy. Some argue that it is one of the mediums that is owned by the people, which means democracy is enhanced by the government’s lack of control in regulating the content of broadcast media. Some may also argue that the increased reliance of the internet as a common political source “creates digital citizens [by] strengthening political dialogue, improving entry barriers to political participation, increas[ing] voting participation, [and] permit[ting] closer communication with officials” (Noam). However, my stance is that the media acts more as an interference with democracy rather than a strength.
One of the reasons for media acting as an interference rather than an enhancement is because of too many digital sources that make it difficult to find accurate depictions of political platforms. Eli M. Noam, a professor of Economics and Finance at Columbia University, claims the difficulty in political dialogue results from information clutter because [an increase in the quantity of information] does not mean that its quality rises. Researchers “Banwart and Bystrom extended the findings of previous research by examining the relationship between perceived political knowledge and interest and media use by women and men. Interestingly, women who perceived themselves as “highly informed” or “highly interested” relied on [similar] sources of political information as women who thought that they were uninformed and disinterested. They all watched morning talk shows and local television news more often than men. On the other hand, “highly informed” and “highly interested” men relied more on traditional media sources [such as] newspapers and magazines which researchers, Delli, Carpini, and Keeter also found to be most correlated with political knowledge” (Said 454). This study goes to show that male and female viewers paid attention to specific sources of media, which tends to create a skew in how political information is conveyed to males and females, thereby increasing inequality. While all the information is out in several forms of media that the government does not control, possessing accurate political knowledge is an equally important factor that must be considered in order to make a well informed decision for improving democracy.
Male and Female elected officials and candidates have been attempting to “balance “feminine” and “masculine” issues and images in their political speeches, televised advertisements and [campaign] web sites” (Said 446). Although media and the public are beginning to change, they still treat both genders differently in their issue coverage. “The media tends to associate women candidates and political leaders with traditional “feminine” issues such as education and health care, which could hurt perceptions of their viability and leadership when “masculine” issues, such as the economy or international affairs are at the forefront of voter’s concerns” (Said 454). This affects women’s political communication and further raises barriers in political participation.
The media will also increase barriers to political participation due to increased costs.
“The basic cost of information is rarely the problem in politics; it’s the packaging.
Instead of the broad stroke of political TV messages, “netcasted” politics will be customized to be most effective. This requires extensive information about individuals’ interests and preferences. Data banks then become a key to political effectiveness. In some cases, political parties [would have to own and operate them, but they cannot] maintain control over the data banks where a primary exist that is open to many candidates. A privacy problem results, when semi-official political parties store information about the views, fears, and habits of millions of individuals [thereby limiting] the ability of parties to collect such data” (Noam 2001).
Furthermore, electronic voting may raise voter turnouts. However, it changes the model of democracy from a representative to that of a direct one and the arguments against a direct democracy were well explained by James Madison’s publication in Federalist Papers #10 (Noam 2001). “When voting becomes like channel clicking on remote, it is left with little of the civic engagement of voting, [making votes and polls] indistinguishable” (Noam). This creates a backlash effect and discourages unpopular votes because “[p]articipation declines if people know the expected result too early [and] the legitimacy of the entire election is [brought] in[to] question.” (Noam).
Lastly, the idea that media brings closer communication with officials can be misleading. “A study of the political engagement of Internet users finds that they are only slightly less likely to vote, and are more likely to contact elected officials. The Internet is thus a substitute for such contacts, not their generator (Bimber) as cited by Noam. Another study [found] that users of the Internet for political purposes tend to already be politically involved. [Media only] reinforces political activity [and does not] mobilize new one (Norris, Pippa)” as cited by Noam. The process does not stop there. Due to the volume of replies that officials would need to deal with, only some responses will get through and others will be placed on hold or lower priority.
In conclusion, when evaluating the positive and negative effects posed by media, there appears to be greater setbacks to democracy that will be difficult to fix at the moment. Greater time and resources are being spent on counteracting effects as opposed to improving existing democracy in the United States.
Works Cited
Bimber, Bruce, “The Internet and Political Transformation: Populism, community and
Accelerated Pluralism.” Polity 31, 1998. pp. 133-160. Rpt. In Columbia Institute for Tele-Information. ACM Digital Library, Nov. 2001. Web. 21 May 2017. <http://www.citi.columbia.edu/elinoam/articles/int_bad_dem.htm>.
Noam, Eli M. "Will the Internet Be Bad for Democracy?" Columbia Institute for Tele-
Information. ACM Digital Library, Nov. 2001. Web. 21 May 2017. <http://www.citi.columbia.edu/elinoam/articles/int_bad_dem.htm>.
Said, Lynda Lee. "Handbook of Political Communication Research." Google Books. Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates, 2008, pp. 446-454. Web. 21 May 2017.