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TOPIC: Democracy and Human Rights

Context: Role of the Media in a Democratic Society

By: Ushenka Angath
Grade: 12ELA

Contents Page:

Question 1
1.2) Article 1- The right to life is violated by a murder in this article. The right to a fair trial is implemented. Article 2 - The right to equality is violated for the article represents a situation where discrimination on grounds of race took place. Article 3 - The article referring to a stabbing represent the violation of the right to freedom and security of a person and the right to a fair trial is implemented.
1.3) The media is highly informative to society. The observant critical manner in which the media operates is essential in a democratic society where people must know what the South African government is doing. The media has the ability to hold the government accountable, forcing them to explain their actions and decisions which affect South Africa. The freedom of speech that the media has ensures that there is democracy exposing the truth. The media generally speaks for the people. Media allows for debate and discussion between various groups of people, expressing their viewpoints which aid a healthy democratic society. The wide coverage of information that the media presents to us allows us to elect a government of best fit and ability. Media has the ability to make a change and journalists hold the responsibility to report on all sides of a story in an unbiased manner. The media effectively communicates, informs and educates South Africans. Reporting on unfair and unlawful actions as well as the exposing corruption and mismanagement encourage people to vote for good leadership and governance. Effectively indentifying problems in countries and communities contributes to democracy. The media reflects on information and shapes a public opinion. People who inspire and do good are promoted with in turn inspires the nation and encourages them to do the same. The media provides for a basis for communication that promotes debate, discussions and freedom of speech. Nation- building is effectively promoted by the media by access of diverse viewpoints and world views including sports coverage. Media allows people to make informed decisions.
Question 2
2) Electronic media is incorporated into everyone's daily regime in the current century however it has been used rather inappropriately and irresponsibly by the democratic society. Society exploits the right to human dignity using electronic media for example when teenagers and sometimes well known actresses and actors have nude photos and sex tapes posted online without their consent. The current society promotes such behaviour that leads to attention and fame.
Democratic society abuse their freedom of expression by posting demeaning rude posts that discriminate against people in numerous ways. E.g. 22 Dec 2013, when Justine Sacco posted on Twitter "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!"
Political parties and leaders are ridiculed by society via electronic media whilst others are propagated. This causes a conflict of belief and opinion between people proving to be inappropriate.
The right to equality is abused when people upload posts that discriminate directly against people of different race, religion, gender, sex, colour, belief culture etc. E.g. On Twitter Joseph Cassano posted, " I like jews about as much as hitler."
The right to privacy is often violated by the democratic society especially when the privacy of people's communications are infringed. There are numerous occasions in which people's social media and email accounts are hacked into to expose demeaning and embarrassing information that violates the right to human dignity.
Question 3
3.1) Positive impact of electronic media on individuals: