The mass media in virtually every democratic country in the world today play a huge role in public life and, in fact, have long been turned into an instrument of political struggle. And politicians of various views and beliefs do not hesitate to actively use the media in their interests.
Instructions
Step 1
It sounds paradoxical, but with the development of democratic processes in society, designed to protect the freedoms of citizens (primarily freedom of choice and freedom of speech), the media are turning into a powerful tool for limiting these very freedoms.
Step 2
The reason for this phenomenon lies in the ever-increasing role of the media in the political struggle. For in the current situation they exert a tremendous influence on the consciousness of the masses and the formation of public opinion. Each of the subjects of politics, be it the state power, political parties or independent political figures, strives to subjugate the media as much as possible, to make them an instrument of their politics.
Step 3
All mass media can be conditionally divided into dependent and independent. With the political orientation of the dependent media, everything is quite simple. They do not hide their bias and, for example, in print media, in their imprint, they clearly indicate the name of their owner - government agencies, political parties, etc. In democratically developed countries, they do not exert too much influence on the political consciousness of the masses, unless, of course, these are state television channels.
Step 4
But with the so-called independent media, everything is much more complicated. Despite the fact that there cannot be such a priori, a huge number of printed publications and mass media position themselves precisely as independent. Although, in fact, and even then not always, they can only guarantee their independence from state power.
Step 5
It is these media that are usually the main instrument of politicians in the struggle for the consciousness of the masses. Moreover, in this case, as a rule, methods of undercover struggle are used.
Step 6
In the midst of political battles, the media lose their impartiality in assessing certain events. They form communication strategies that are beneficial to them, using norms and methods of a manipulative type.
Step 7
Having become in the service of one or another political movement, the media use various methods of manipulating public consciousness. This can be a harmless suppression of any information, and throwing compromising evidence, and outright falsifications.
Step 8
Realizing the enormous potential of the media for the electoral audience, politicians are waging a tough fight for influence on certain media. Therefore, now, unfortunately, in the political struggle it is often not the politician who has the best pre-election program that wins, but the one who most competently managed to use the opportunities of the media.
