Do Media Undermine Democracy?
1. Introduction
Nowadays, we all know the media. We think we cannot live without a television, because it gives you the feeling of missing essential information. A paper cannot substitute this information, but can only work in a complement way to it, because it is not updated every hour or even minute. Both methods of keeping in touch with information are part of the media. The question is whether the media does undermine the democracy. Are other persons deciding on what you got to see and hear or are you able to make your own choices? Therefore, the main subject will be the democracy standard of the media and when media is undermining the democracy and when not.
2. The beginning of the media
It all started in 1877, with the invention of the Cylinder Phonograph by Thomas Edison (Library of Congress (n.d.). He invented this machine, briefly called Phonograph, while he was working on several improvements to the former inventions such as the telephone and telegraph. Through this newly developed instrument, it became possible to record and play back audio fragments with the same machine. It is logical that this invention led to loads of new instruments to record and play both audio and video. On the other hand, print making was already invented in the prehistory by cave art and engraving on different object such as stones, bones and cave walls. There is a lot of discussion about the precious dates and inventions that have lead to what we call ‘the media’ at the moment. The first question that naturally arises is ‘what is media?’ exactly? Therefore, the meaning of media directly derived from the Longman Dictionary: “Media are all the organizations, such as television, radio, and newspapers that provide news and information for the public, or the people who do this work”. Media is organized by different organizations which function as source of information. The concerning mediums are television, internet, papers, tabloids, magazines, radio, cinema, e-mail, chat
Nowadays, we all know the media. We think we cannot live without a television, because it gives you the feeling of missing essential information. A paper cannot substitute this information, but can only work in a complement way to it, because it is not updated every hour or even minute. Both methods of keeping in touch with information are part of the media. The question is whether the media does undermine the democracy. Are other persons deciding on what you got to see and hear or are you able to make your own choices? Therefore, the main subject will be the democracy standard of the media and when media is undermining the democracy and when not.
2. The beginning of the media
It all started in 1877, with the invention of the Cylinder Phonograph by Thomas Edison (Library of Congress (n.d.). He invented this machine, briefly called Phonograph, while he was working on several improvements to the former inventions such as the telephone and telegraph. Through this newly developed instrument, it became possible to record and play back audio fragments with the same machine. It is logical that this invention led to loads of new instruments to record and play both audio and video. On the other hand, print making was already invented in the prehistory by cave art and engraving on different object such as stones, bones and cave walls. There is a lot of discussion about the precious dates and inventions that have lead to what we call ‘the media’ at the moment. The first question that naturally arises is ‘what is media?’ exactly? Therefore, the meaning of media directly derived from the Longman Dictionary: “Media are all the organizations, such as television, radio, and newspapers that provide news and information for the public, or the people who do this work”. Media is organized by different organizations which function as source of information. The concerning mediums are television, internet, papers, tabloids, magazines, radio, cinema, e-mail, chat
References: Bale, T. (2008). European Politics, a comparative introduction. Chapter 7, Page 200-237. Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan Copps, M.J. (9 September 2007). Democracy and media. Retrieved on 16 December 2008, from the news center website of Common Dreams: publication website of Vanessa Domine : http://www.kidsplay.org/medialit.html Eigenwijzer (2008) http://www.mediademocracyday.org/Media_Democracy NOS (5 November 2008) SBS Broadcasting (5 November 2008). Hart van Nederland: Scholieren kiezen massaal voor Barack Obama Summers, D. (2005). The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Wikipedia (8 December 2008). Media democracy. Retrieved on 15 December 2008, from the encyclopedia website Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_democracy Wikipedia (10 October 2008). Media - communication. Retrieved on 4 November 2008, from the encyclopedia website Wikipedia: