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Media And Economics

“What is tragic -or absurd- is the dominant perception of the ‘free press’ still regards the governments as the sole possible foe of freedom” (McChensney R.W. 1997)

The Mass media is considered to be synonymous with the Press i.e. the television newspapers, Radio and most recently the Internet. It is involved with the dissemination of information to a large number of people.

The media is seen as the informed and its role includes informing and educating the society of what goes on around them. It is supposed to reflect what is in the society and infact it lays claim to it been a mirror of society and only shows what the society is.

Journalist who are the reporters and presenters of the various issue that arise in the society claim to be impartial and objective to what happens. They have come to be seen as holders of the truth as they write everything that they see and detach themselves from the society.

From this belief comes the normative theory of Media. This shows how media have to operate to achieve their prescribed social values. The theory is important since it sorts to shape and legitimize the media institutions, it also has considerable influence on the expectations concerning the media that are held by other social agencies and the Medias own audiences (McQuail 2000). In essence the Medias claim to Public interests is observed in the normative theory. Here it is considered to be objective and impartial and they are supposed to report on the events as they see them and most probably offer an interpretation which should be true. They are therefore seen to exist in the Public sphere where they are supposed to help in the formation of Public Opinion. They are not only supposed to provide facts but to also create a mood for public debate and conversation. In the public sphere therefore they exist in their own vacuum with objectivity.

In the Ideal, Traditional Journalism sought to create a democracy where everybody’s view were put across and...