Media and Democracy

Priyanka Sarkar
Assistant Professor
School of Journalism & Mass Communication, SFI, Noida
Mob: 9716662558
Email: priyank.skr@gmail.com

Media came into existence in 1780 with the introduction of a newspaper namely ˜The Bengal Gazette” and since then it has matured leaps and bounds. It has been playing a very important role in shaping human minds. Media plays a crucial role in shaping a healthy democracy. It is the backbone of a democracy. Media makes us aware of various social, political and economical activities happening around the world.

It is like a mirror, which shows us or strives to show us the bare truth and harsh realities of life. It is therefore essential for media to maintain certain standards while dominating news. Media organizations are generally assumed to play an important role in democracies, but how effective are they in performing this function is a matter of study. The power of Media can be used to reinforce democracy.

It can be used as an instrument to bridge between governors and the governed. This Paper aims to analysis the supposed role of media in deepening Democracy. Through his research paper an attempt has been made to highlight the role of Media in strengthening democracy in India. The present study highlights the impact of media as a platform of nation building through political, social, economic and cultural democracy.

Democracy is a system of government in which all the people of a country choose and elect their representatives’ called democracy. Media came into existence in 1780 with the introduction of ‘The Bengal Gazette’ and since then it has matured leaps and bounds. It has been playing a very significant role in shaping human minds and opinion.

Democracy is a popular political notion in today’s world, fair and free elections are the prerequisite of democracy and rule of the law, protection and freedom of human rights and supremacy of the constitution are important elements in true democratic system. The media’s relationship with democracy has allowed people the right to participate in media and share the information they found and want to contribute to the people through the media.

Since media democracy allows people the right to participate in media, it extends the media’s relationship to the public sphere, where the information that is gathered and can be viewed and shared by the people. The public sphere is described as a network of communicating information and points of view from people, which is reproduced through communicative action through the media to the public.

The relationship of media democracy and the public sphere extends to various types of media, such as social media and mainstream media, in order for people to communicate with one another through digital media and share the information they want to publish to the public.

For a democratic country, access to information is essential, freedom to read or write is an important element to expose and reveal the truth, to ensure self-development and self-fulfillment of citizens and to help ensure participation of citizens in a democracy. In other words Democracy in general terms is understood to be a form of government which is subject to popular sovereignty.

Media are like a beacon that should be welcomed when there is nothing to hide and much to improve. Indeed, this is the concrete link between the functioning of the media and good governance – the media allow for ongoing checks and assessments by the population of the activities of government and assist in bringing public concerns and voices into the open by providing a platform for discussion.

 

Short film on women’s life produce by SJMC Students