Samuel Buchanan

Pol 102
Section 2
April 24, 2015
Media and Democracy
The media plays a vital role in democracy, freedom of the press and freedom of speech,
are paramount to having a free society. Fundamentally the question of what is a democracy and
what values are important to it is a question that is mulled over by politicians and scholars alike.
When it comes to the media in democracies it is vital that they can provide relevant and unbiased
news to the masses. Without these then it will not be possible for the people to be able to be
knowledgeable about the events that are occurring within their own nation.
Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are two of the key parts of the first
amendment in the United States. These come together to represent freedom of expression. This
way journalist would not have to fear from their government if they reported something that was
not liked by the people in power. These ideas come from the age of enlightenment, along with
new technologies such as the newspaper. Information and political discourse could be distributed
throughout the land and reach a broad audience. For western powers in both Europe and North
America these ideas of freedom of the press became tied together with the adoption of
democracy and other democratic freedoms that are associated with democracy. Some degree of
abuse is inseparable from the proper use of everything and in no instance is this truer than in that
of the pres. Itsbetter to leave a few of its noxious branches to their luxuriant growth than, by
pruning them away, to injure the vigor of those yielding the proper fruit (James Madison). The
founding fathers of the United States understood that it was necessary for democracy to have
differencing opinions and that it is better to have this news outlet continue to publish even if the

ruler of the state didnt necessarily believe in what that paper was saying. This leads to the most
important aspect with in a democracy which is freedom and justice. The media is the most
powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty
innocent, and thats power. Because they control the minds of the masses (Malcolm X). This
reasoning that the media is so powerful because it controls the minds of the masses has
developed into more of a contemporary problem in democracies around the globe, and with mass
media consolidation these problems of few people having so much power has become a major
issue over the last couple of decades.
When it comes to the media people like to think that their news comes from independent
sources and that it is not influenced by interests. However in America this has become more and
more unlikely. In America today the majority of our news is owned by only six corporations.
Those six corporations are Viacom, Time Warner, Walt Disney, General Electric, News
Corporation, and Vivendi universal. Having the majority of the news coming from only a few
sources can cause a problem within the democratic process. To have a free and advanced
democracy it is important that the people are given all the information that can be available, and
the censorship of that information is detrimental to democracy. This has become an issue in
America, because companies such as Viacom which controls CBS can dictate what they are
reporting on based on their political agenda. I do believe that a Republican administration is
better for media companies than Democratic one (Sumner Redstone). Redstone is the chief
executive officer of Viacom and with the power that he controls he was able to dictate what ads
his channels are going to broadcast which in the past have been predominantly right wing. The
problem is that then the other side of the story can get snuffed out or in the case of Viacoms
channels airing programming that was not in support of the war in Iraq. This may cause a

problem within the democratic process because how the media depicts the war as being universal
support in actuality it was not. Mass media consolidation is not isolated to just the television
networks. In the radio broadcast four companies control two thirds of the nations news format
radio programs. Two of these firms, Viacom and Disney, control major television networks
(DiCola 38). With the radio controlled by only a few corporations it becomes possible that the
same message or lack thereof to be broadcast to the radio listeners as well as television. In the
town of Minot, North Dakota in 2002 a train derailed spilling toxic chemicals. When the
authorities sought to get an emergency warning out via the radio six of the radio stations were
controlled by Clear Channel. Because of cut backs at this station there was no one at the station
and they were broadcasting the national radio broadcast. This caused a server delay in getting the
message out to the citizens that there was a danger. Only one person was killed from being
exposed to the toxin, but hundreds were injured from the toxic spill. Now this is an extreme
example of how mass media consolidation can be a hindrance to the people, but the
consequences from the Clear Channel blunder show how it also affects the narrative of the news.
In the after math, the story was not really picked up by the American news outlets, and very little
of the dialogue was about the role that media could have played in helping to better warn the
citizens of Minot. These scratches at a larger issue that is faced by democracies and the people
and that is mass media can dictate what the narrative is going to be as well as choosing what they
wish to tell their followers. With few different media networks this becomes especially
dangerous because they will not be as many opposing voices and there might not be anyone at all
that would cover a story that could or should make national news but instead stay strictly on a
local level.

With the rise to power of Vladimir Putin there has been a new trend when it comes to
media and the propaganda that is distributed by the state of Russia. Now the people are viewing
the news and the propaganda in a more favorable light the reception is being greeted by the
people of Russia. In the past totalitarian regimes would strong arm the news outlets into
broadcasting the message of the Russian government, with the threat of imprisonment and even
death. The propaganda produced during this time had a lot to live up to and would routinely be
disregarded by the citizens of Russia this however is no longer the case in Russia. From his first
days, Putin moved quickly to dominate the media landscape in Russia, putting not only state
media but privately owned broadcast media under the Kremlins influence (Dougherty). All of
the media came to be under the influence of Putin, one of the key things that he realized was that
if he wanted to maintain power then he needed to control the media. So this is precisely what he
set out to do. However he did not do it overtly as his predecessors had done, but instead he can
exert control over the media through softer tactics. With Putins background in the KGB, he
knows how important information is to power. This leads directly to his philosophy of whoever
owns the media controls what it says. So this is what he sought out to accomplish and to a large
extent he has accomplished in controlling the media. Now in Russia there is only one
independent news station that still resists control from the Kremlin. Putin does this in two main
ways one which is control of all domestic news organizations and any stations that do remain
independent forced from the light into irrelevancy. This is accomplished in a completely different
way than it was in the past. While in the past the Russian government would come and forcibly
remove the people from the station today they are attacked in much more subtle ways. One such
way is getting the station removed from the place they are renting so that they have to find and
move to a new location. Eventually the station will get back up and running but in doing all the
moving and the turmoil from having left the place where the majority of their viewers knew

where the station was equates into loss of viewership. This is ultimately the goal of this new
tactic rather than the publicity and potential backlash from it. The Kremlin can achieve their goal
without being overt about the actions that the Russia government are doing. The other main
tactic used by Putin is changing the way in which they are presenting international news while
before straight propaganda was used in todays world RT Russias primary international news
outlet seeks to present news that is the opposing view point from that of the western media. The
reasoning for this by Putin is so that the other side is also presented. What occurs in actuality is
essentially something quite similar to what was in the past with propaganda thrown into the news
to push the narrative in the direction in which government wants. All of this shows how truly
important it is to have a free press. Especially considering while at the moment Russia is doing
by far the best in understanding that with the turning century it is more important than ever to get
control of the media, and that Putins use of soft power. Not overtly infringing on the rights of
free press, yet still being able to control considerable power, and using a skewed truth presented
in a way in which it is the opposing side to that of western media has been incredibly affective.
Soon other countries may begin to move in a similar direction. This can potentially develop into
something bad for democracy across the globe.
Finally the biggest development in the media over the last couple of decades is the
growth and scope of the internet. In todays world the internet is completely ingrained into the
media, to the way they advertise the stories they choose to run. The internet has also done
something that is crucial to keeping an even footing when it comes to the spread of information
that is distributed to the people. By allowing people to access information that previously had
been unavailable to them. This is still not something that is fully realized however, and an
example of this was the protests in Okinawa. On the ninth of September 2012 one hundred

thousand Japanese citizens gather to protest the use of the Osprey aircraft being used by the
marines on the Okinawa military bases. Let that sink in a 100,000 people from a friendly nation
gather to protest against the United States military and it was largely ignored by the American
national media. However this is not the case most of the time with the adaption of the internet by
the media. The internet has lead to an even greater since on globalization. To give a picture back
during the 18th century when people would gather in saloons to discuss ideas and develop the
ideals that will eventually be known as the age of enlightenment to now the 21st century in which
at any given time someone can discuss any topic deemed relevant with people all across the
globe. This new technology also allows people to become aware of mistreatments and abuse by
oppressive regimes across the world. Overall the internet has become fundamental to democracy;
it allows more people to discuss current issues as well as to help people to gather to protest for
whatever cause or action they want.
Overall the role that the media plays in democracy is vital. It allows the people to be
informed about current events and the political sphere. This information that they would have
otherwise never been able to gather, then allows them to make informed decisions when they
vote. The media however is not invulnerable by any means. Through mass media consolidation
most of Americas media really only comes from a handful of networks. Rather than having
multiple voices that present the news all with their own biases, there is only a few. This can
potentially become detrimental to political system if the news networks abuse their power to try
and control the narrative. On the other side there is Russia whose president Putin seeks to control
the media. Putin has largely been very successful at this and now in Russia there are only a few
independent networks left, the vast majority taking their cues from the Kremlin. Though the
shining light in all of this is that threw the internet the more and more people are able to report

on the news that is occurring across the globe. It also facilitates discussion amongst people on
the issues that consume their lives.
Work Cited
Dougherty, Jill. 'How The Media Became One Of PutinS Most Powerful Weapons'. The
Atlantic. N.p., 2015. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.
Fepproject.org,. 'The Free Expression Policy Project'. N.p., 2015. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.
Peter DiCola, and Kristin Thomson, Radio Deregulation: Has it Served Citizens? Future of
Music Coalition, 2002, pg. 38.
Westlake, Adam. 'Over 100,000 Protest In Okinawa Against U.S. Osprey Aircrafts - The Japan
Daily Press'. Japandailypress.com. N.p., 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.