The role of mass media in A democracy should be to convey knowledge and news. That's not to say that the role of mass media in society can be to entertain, sell things and hopefully also convey news and knowledge. But if a political system were to assign a role for media, it should really only be for enlightenment. However, obviously our government doesn't share my sentiment. All though citizens really only need the news (and who's to say they technically "need" that, even), our country's mass media is chalked full of cheap entertainment, sales pitches, and basically mind control. Did you know that watching television slows your brain waves?
I suppose corporate influence would be a bit of a threat to democracy, as it doesn't even really follow the basic principles of democracy. Everyone is not given a voice in the corporate influence over mass media, the fat cats with the most money have voices though-big loud voices with flashy commercials. I think how our media works would appeal more to capitalism than democracy, as TV, like most anything else, is a business in a free market. I don't really believe a wide range of views are available in our media. We are made to feel as if there are, but with censorship comes a limit to that range. I use television as an example, because it is pretty well understood on a mass level. We can watch televangelists, right wing news-nazis, yoga, cooking shows, you name it-as long as it's PC in our culture. Where's the satanist church broadcast? How come fox doesn't have a news show on the other end of the political spectrum? Why aren't there near-commies on a major news channel giving their point of view? Besides PBS, the history channel, and a handful of others, we watch TV and learn not much more than our culture and our capitalism. How American is that?
I suppose if media has to be privatized like it is, then it should technically be run by the producers of any given media, and not by corporations and politicians. However, it seems as though money makes the world go round, who knew. I don't really know what a good solution to that catch-22 would be. Though I will rack my brain until class Tuesday, promise!
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Our culture and our capitalism are HUGE things to be learning! What DOES it means that we as average citizens have little to no say on what does end up in something like TV- or film or music or literature for that example?
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