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Media Role in American Politics

The mass media in the United States serve to expand the forum of the principal candidates for elective office and for the principal political parties in publicizing their positions on issues. The mass media, especially television in the contemporary period, allow the principal candidates and the principal political parties to reach audiences quickly with their messages that could not be reached as quickly or possibly at all in any other way. This role of the mass media in the political system of the United States serves the process of consensus formation among the American electorate on important issues, as those issues are framed by the principal candidates for elective office and the principal political parties in the country.

Opposing this generally positive role of the media in American politics is the fact that the mass media in this country generally deny the same opportunity to candidates other than the principal candidates in an election or the principal parties in stating their positions on important issues. Thus, on one level, the functioning of the mass media in the United States works to assure either that minority viewpoints seldom reach wide audiences in political debates or that such viewpoints are denigrated by either media commentators, the principal candidates, or the principal political parties during the course of media coverage of elections and public issue debates.

The media also play a role in American politics that may be characterized as that of a watch dog. In this role, the media view the actions, statements, and positions of the principal candidates and the principal political parties in relation to actual performance or in relation to issue positions as critical analysts. This critical analysis, if unbiased, provides the general public in the United States with insights to events and issues that might otherwise go unnoticed by the public. When such oversight by the media is unbiased, this role o...

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Media Role in American Politics. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 04:00, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1694645.html