Some media outlets are a significant source of misperceptions, which often influences the public and politicians. Think about the phrase, “If it bleeds, it leads.” These misperceptions often motivate the public to call for action before any evidence has been presented or considered. Apply your knowledge of policy along with what you have learned in this unit, and explain whether we can prevent the media from influencing the public. Can this be done? If yes, how? If not, how should this be managed in the future?
ANSWER THE ABOVE DISCUSSION QUESTION AND THEN REPLY TO MY CLASSMATE’S DISCUSSION TO THE ABOVE QUESTION AND EXPLAIN WHY YOU AGREE. (MINIMUM OF 200 WORDS)
CLASSMATE’S POST
There are several ways through which news media can be made independent from the grip of politicians. Journalists’ unions and organizations should unite and cooperate at the national level and follow strict professional guidelines. They should be more outspoken about political interference and also campaign against disinformation (EFJ, 2020). They should campaign for the defense of public service media in collaboration with other stakeholder organizations and raise public awareness of the value of journalism.
Journalists and individual members of professional organizations should seek the support of their union or association when they become victims of political interference and should speak out about political pressure, harassment and censorship (EFJ, 2020). They should also respect professional, editorial and ethical guidelines. Self-regulatory bodies need to be fully representative of the profession, have a clear and mandatory competence and be ruled by professional criteria only.
For instance, In the UK, the NUJ has been carrying out campaigns for the defense of the BBC for several years: currently it is demanding “Hands off the BBC”. The NUJ was also a leading member of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom (CPBF), which was established in 1979 to work for a more accountable, free and diverse media (EFJ, 2020). That should happen across all the nations in the world because media freedom needs to be supported. More bodies across the world need to come out and advocate for media freedom.
Reference
EFJ. (2020, March 2). Building independent media to counter political interference. European Federation of Journalists. https://europeanjournalists.org/building-independent-media-to-counter-political-interference/
